DARIN DAMME

Leak of classified Trump report shows mainstream media has gone off deep end

Jan 12, 2017, 2:31 PM | Updated: Jan 13, 2017, 11:28 am

(AP Photo/Cliff Owen)...

(AP Photo/Cliff Owen)

(AP Photo/Cliff Owen)

It’s times like these — days when the news seems to talk to everyone else but people who see the world as I do — when I am extremely grateful for this opportunity to clear the air on KTAR News.

I’ve driven my wife and Facebook friends crazy by pointing out the obvious agenda of the news. Now, I have an outlet, an opportunity to share the other side of the story that isn’t being presented — the common sense view that more and more people share.

I’m going to say this as calmly as possible, as clearly as possible, in as few words as possible so my message is crystal-clear and impossible to misunderstand:

The mainstream media has gone off the deep end.

Whether we agree or disagree on specific issues, I think one thing we can all agree on is only facts can educate us and make us a better-informed nation.

Historically, the American media has been a beacon of truth. The press was so revered that they were even given special privileges and protections in the U.S. Constitution.

Up until recently, the media took that responsibility seriously. They went out of their way to report the truth, no matter how it made people look or if they were Republican or Democrat. Facts and the truth were all that mattered.

The media was heralded, and took pride in, being the watchdog of democracy, the purveyors of fact.

The most basic of journalistic standards was to present the truth and keep your personal opinions out of it. The salacious, non-verified rumors and innuendo were relegated to the supermarket tabloids

That media we grew to trust hardly exists anymore.

There was a time when news anchors and organizations were held to a standard so high that they were immediately fired or forced to resign upon reporting news that wasn’t 100 percent accurate or sourced.

Brian Williams was pushed out of “NBC Nightly News” simply for exaggerating an event in Iraq

Dan Rather, one of America’s longest running newsmen, was forced to resign and retire for reporting on documents that made allegations against then-President George W. Bush. Those allegations were later learned to be false.

Rather lost his career for doing exactly what Jake Tapper, CNN, BuzzFeed, Carl Bernstein, Jim Scuto, etc. do today.

On Wednesday and Thursday, you witnessed the final breath of any credibility CNN and several other news organizations will ever have.

BuzzFeed and CNN reported that “unnamed sources” in the intelligence community leaked CLASSIFIED information to them about the DETAILS of a report was given to President Barack Obama and President-elect Donald Trump.

This unconfirmed, unsourced, unverified, easily refuted and disproven — do a little basic research — report was used as a political hit piece on the eve of Trump’s first news conference.

What you are witnessing is a bloodless, attempted coup by the establishment and their media lapdogs against the person America voted to be the next president.

It’s unfair and irresponsible to all of the hardworking, ethical, fair journalists out there who hold their profession in the highest of regards. It’s unfair to the fine people here at KTAR, whom I respect greatly and appreciate the vetting, hard work and incredible double-checking and research they do on each story they present.

Journalists are humans. Sometimes they get it wrong.

This is not the case here. This is a blatant attempt to undermine the people’s choice for president and it’s an attack on the country and its people.

If you are upset about Russia releasing truthful Hillary Clinton emails, if you agree with Sen. John McCain calling the release an act of war, if you believe that Edward Snowden is a traitor for leaking documents that prove the NSA was tapping our phones, then you have no choice but to hold those responsible for this report as traitors to our country, enablers of our enemies and criminals who released classified information; not to protect our Constitution, but to bring down the person the establishment is terrified will expose their corruption.

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Leak of classified Trump report shows mainstream media has gone off deep end