It was the middle of last October when we saw the news industry hit a low watermark in journalism. Just over a week after the horrendous terror attack on Israel, news broke of a hospital bombing in Gaza. Israel was blamed, and at least 500 people were reported to have perished in the blast. It was all completely fraudulent. (I gathered many of these reports at the time.) The rocket originated in Gaza, hundreds were not killed, and the hospital remained standing. Relying on a lone manipulating source from Hamas, it was a reckless and dangerous claim made on the airwaves and pages of outlets – journalism malpractice of the lowest order.

In response to this display, CNN’s media maven Oliver Darcy blamed these errors on the difficulty of reporting on breaking news of this nature. In his defense of the news, he chalked it up to “the fog of war is very real,” completely excusing the fact that these outlets were the ones generating that fog. Then he went on to say this: “It is of paramount importance for news organizations to remain in a heightened state of vigilance — especially during moments of breaking news when the stakes could not be higher and the situation remains fluid.”

Well, if the stakes could not be higher, that means the careless approach to the story saw that the resulting journalism failures could not be lower. This reductive behavior continues to this day. On Saturday, Donald Trump was the target of an assassination attempt, and the press reaction to this unfolding event was deplorable in many ways. Bonchie covered a number of media reports that were seen in the wake of the shooting, and we have more. We will also look at why these reactions are so warped.

While there were some sober and reasoned outlets covering this as a grave piece of news, what was disturbing was the level of interpretational coverage seen from many prominent outlets. Yes, many were putting out headlines that shaded or talked around the fact that a shooting took place, but there is a level of caution that could be in play, so beating up on these initial errant impressions is not our focus. The errant and interpretational reports, however, were in large supply.

NBC's Lester Holt was leading the charge early of not wanting to assess blame for the shooting.

WHAT???? NBC's Lester Holt: "We don't know what the (shooter's) motivation was for this..." pic.twitter.com/sl8l3Iby58

— Jorge Bonilla (@BonillaJL) July 14, 2024

At NBC, Kelly O’Donnell, who also serves as the president of the White House Correspondents Association, extended her bad week after having to deal with issues of correspondents exposed for taking directions from the White House. O’Donnell was hesitant to call this an assassination attempt, describing it as only a “shooting incident,” claiming she was resorting to journalism rectitude. The issue here is she posted this at nearly 10 p.m., more than four and a half hours after Trump and two others were shot, with one fatality, as well as the shooter being eliminated and identified. It was safe to describe this as an attempt on Trump's life. Also, by that point, the FBI had declared it an assassination attempt. It looks like neutered journalism and her being fearful of calling this episode what it was.

Our reporting guidelines require that we not use that term until law enforcement describes it as an assassination attempt if/when the investigation supports that designation. It is a measured approach for accuracy. There will be plenty of time to go further as needed.

— Kelly O'Donnell (@KellyO) July 14, 2024

Jake Tapper came out with the declaration that this was a lone-wolf scenario and nothing more.

CNN’s ⁦@jaketapper⁩ on the Trump assassination attempt: “Obviously the fault of what happened is the shooter’s and the shooter‘s alone” pic.twitter.com/mIgifCDwyK

— Tom Elliott (@tomselliott) July 14, 2024

What is witnessed here is the press actively walking away from their own framing of these stories. Whenever there is a “shooting incident” that they can politicize, they explore any connection they can find to assess blame. Recall the Buffalo shooting at a grocery store? Tucker Carlson and conservative media were cited as inspiring that killing, with no tangible connections displayed. Yet we have seen Donald Trump named repeatedly in the press as a “threat,” as a “Nazi,” yet here the journalists are playing the role of the “Hear No Evil” monkeys. 

This is the same press that has been wantonly declaring, for months on end, that Donald Trump will be the end of our democracy, that elections will cease to exist, and that our rights will be stripped. They have been promising a totalitarian regime will be installed, with even the irresponsible claims that Trump will jail and execute his opponents. Comparisons to Nazis and Mussolini are regular segments on MSNBC. Hell, one news outlet currently has Trump on its cover depicted as Adolph Hitler. 

Where is any condemnation of this inflammatory language? These are not cherry-picked examples - they are culled from the weekly-daily rants of this nature. It exposes their bias entirely when they do not adhere to their own standards on these matters. But even worse were those not simply avoiding looking into leftist rhetoric, some continued to look to the right as instigating tensions. Jonathan Martin, fresh off his appearance on Chuck Todd’s podcast admitting they both knew of Biden’s condition for years, came out in Politico with a bent-minded “Republicans pounce” approach to the shooting.

In wake of the rally shooting, GOP officials have been quick to blame Democrats for demonizing Trump.

The speed and intensity of the response reflected the boiling anger so many Trump loyalists felt long before tonight, writes @jmart. https://t.co/0UM4Jd0Flv

— POLITICO (@politico) July 14, 2024

What is more galling is that whenever the press looks for examples of the violent language they claim will spark attacks, they sift through comment sections and message boards to cite random anonymous accounts. We just recently saw a named actress produce a video clip calling for Trump’s assassination.

Reminder from just a few days ago from Instagram video:
Lesbian Actress Calls on Biden to Assassinate Trump: 'Take Him Out, Joe! This Is a WAR'https://t.co/kjnFtdN6u8

— MRC NewsBusters (@newsbusters) July 14, 2024

Speaking of Lester Holt, he brought on former FBI agent Frank Figliuzzi to discuss the shooting. Figliuzzi is a regular on MSNBC, and he has been predicting and promising violence from the right and from MAGA supporters for more than a year. He of course had no words of concern about left-wing talking points inspiring this man, given his preferred network of choice. He instead went on to describe what he fears will happen as far as upcoming violence – from Trump supporters.

Disgusting speculation. NBC's Lester Holt and contributor Frank Figliuzzi express concern Trump supporters could now try to murder anti-Trump protesters if they show up outside the RNC this week. pic.twitter.com/vf0kgyRzMc

— Curtis Houck (@CurtisHouck) July 14, 2024

Following this line of thought about striking back, CBS News also went to that well in their panel discussion.

On CBS, Margaret Brennan and Samantha Vinograd talk up "retaliatory violence" from right-wingers, and then we hear of January 6. Knew this line was coming.... pic.twitter.com/JO9572UlXn

— Tim Graham (@TimJGraham) July 14, 2024

As Bonchie noted, perhaps the worst example comes from Margaret Brennan at CBS News. In a bold display of obliviousness, Brennan saw a need to lecture conservatives about toning down the rhetoric in a classic example of short-skirt victim-blaming. And she managed to get worse! She brought on Steve Scalise, who himself had been shot by an extremist, and managed to go on and demand from him accountability in toning down messaging from the right. 

Amazingly here she is speaking to a Republican who was a victim of leftist violence, discussing the Republican nominee who was targeted with leftist violence, and actually lecturing about Republicans needing their language policed.

CBS's Margaret Brennan lectures Steve Scalise, who was nearly assassinated in 2017 by a leftist: "Have you specifically instructed members...to rein in some of the rhetoric...some are using online that is somewhat incendiary...really blaming this, somehow, on the administration?" pic.twitter.com/M3MQINzuuH

— Curtis Houck (@CurtisHouck) July 14, 2024

This is a media complex that has become completely compromised by its years of departure away from journalism ethics. Because they have thrown all-in with Joe Biden, they have been brought down by his political demise. Because they have collectively chosen to oppose Donald Trump, they cannot objectively cover news regarding their opponent. Because they tried for years to accuse Trump of ushering in antisemitism, they have to downplay and ignore the outbreak of antisemitism across the country on Biden’s watch.

And now, because they have long sold a narrative of impending violence arriving from the right when yet another example erupts on the left – joining the Scalise shooting, the Rand Paul attack, the murder threat on Brett Kavanaugh, the Nevada killing of a journalist by a Democrat politician - the press is ensnared once again due to their abandoning objective journalism.

This year has been a remarkable downfall for the press complex, and yet they continue to display the behavior furthering their foundering. Just when you think the press has hit rock bottom, they manage to dig a basement.