The New York Instances just lately printed a hissy match concerning the White Home permitting reporters into the Briefing Room who didn’t vote for Kamala Harris. Right here was the superb protest sentence: “Longtime White Home reporters say the consequence has been an erosion of their independence.”
The presence of a reporter who didn’t vote Democrat doesn’t “erode” the anti-Trump animus (“independence”) of liberal activist journalists. It’d stability it, suggesting journalism and liberalism are usually not precisely the identical factor.
This spurred a pattern. Politico’s Ian Ward profiled these invaders beneath the headline “Meet the 8 MAGA Shops Disrupting the White Home Briefing Room.” It carried the standard labeling about “the divide between the MAGA-friendly media and their extra mainstream counterparts.” The intense hatred of Trump is “extra mainstream.”
Then got here CNN’s Donie O’Sullivan, who likes to wade into MAGA crowds looking for the dumbest-sounding Trump supporter he can discover. On this case, he went on the lookout for the dumbest-sounding White Home reporter. The headline over the video was “‘Do you contemplate your self a journalist?’ CNN meets MAGA media at White Home.”
O’Sullivan confirmed clips of those pro-Trump reporters admitting their bias, and he proclaimed “These are White Home correspondents such as you’ve by no means seen earlier than.” Actually? He spotlighted Cara Castronuova of Lindell TV asking in the event that they’ll launch Trump’s health routine, since he “truly seems more healthy than ever earlier than.” In 2009, a Washington Put up reporter touted Obama’s “chiseled pectorals.”
Then O’Sullivan replayed Actual America’s Voice reporter Brian Glenn asking Ukrainian president Vlodomyr Zelensky “Why don’t you put on a go well with?” He prompt to Glenn he was “trolling,” however it’s a query a number of Individuals would ask.
Natalie Winters from Steve Bannon’s Battle Room podcast mentioned “if it have been as much as me, I’d kick numerous these retailers out.” In different phrases, she agrees as CNN, solely reversed.
O’Sullivan requested Winters, “Do you contemplate your self a journalist?” He mentioned many say “you don’t need to be right here since you’re not an actual journalist.” She attacked the pro-Biden media: “I’m fairly positive the folks in there spent 4 years overlaying for somebody who was primarily lifeless, and that’s being charitable…You guys failed, and that’s why we’re right here.”
CNN: “Are you an actual journalist?”
Natalie: “The remainder of the media lined for a president that was primarily lifeless. You failed. That’s why new media is right here.” pic.twitter.com/ok5YtruWRt
— Natalie Winters (@nataliegwinters) April 23, 2025
CNN exemplified the purpose final yr when anchor Dana Bash was deeply troubled over bumbling-Biden movies. They have been “amplified on conservative media that in some instances are simply not proper and in different instances are extremely, extremely deceptive of President Biden.”
O’Sullivan lectured concerning the “new media” folks: “A number of them are extra cheerleading President Trump than difficult him.” He ended by quoting White Home Correspondents Affiliation chief Eugene Daniels: The general public “wants information produced by skilled, skilled journalists who ask powerful questions and produce honest protection.”
Beneath Biden, Daniels wasn’t identified for asking “powerful questions.” On the 2024 Kamala cuddlefest earlier than the Nationwide Affiliation of Black Journalists, Daniels started by gently asking if the American folks have been higher off after 4 years. Daniels went on reveals like Washington Week on PBS and denied Kamala was ever “border czar” and insisted she was a sufferer: “We’ve already seen numerous racism and sexism, and that’s going to be an enormous a part of this marketing campaign.”
Then there’s CNN itself. Probably the most memorable tongue-bath questions got here in 2009, when then-New York Instances reporter Jeff Zeleny requested President Obama what “enchanted” him about being president. Then-CNN anchor John Roberts praised the softball and Obama’s “considerate” reply. Zeleny was later employed by CNN.
Reporters asking softballs on the White Home is nothing new. It’s okay when the “mainstream” does it for Democrats.
