In what we're hoping will soon become a trend, ABC News has suspended their reporter Brian Ross not for boob grabbing, fanny patting, weeny waggling, or misuse of an under-the-desk "rape button," but rather for committing actual journalistic malfeasance.
Specifically, Ross broke the story (perhaps not realizing just how broken it was) that former National Security Advisor Michael Flynn was prepared to testify that candidate Donald Trump had told him to make contact with the Russians during the election - no doubt for purposes of heinous collusion in the first degree.
Wow! That's a pretty damning story - and the stock market reacted with a plunge of over 300 points as evil millionaires and billionaires rushed to the exits, aware that the criminal Trump administration was finished.
Fortunately for us, and quite unfortunately for ABC, the story was 100% untrue - although we can't say yet if this can be attributed to straight up lying or just ham-handed ineptitude.
Actually, Flynn was prepared to testify that President-Elect Trump (after the election) predictably and appropriately asked him to make contact with Russia as any transition team would do - in this case to discuss the possibility of joint US/Russian military options to fight ISIS.
Ross has been suspended without pay for 4 weeks, and ABC has issued a retraction of the earlier story...albeit without the hoopla surrounding their original "scoop." Frankly, we're hoping that Ross spends his time off productively, perhaps watching old reruns of "Dragnet." He'd at least be reminded of the importance of gathering "just the facts."
Related to Busty?
ReplyDeleteYes, that was what I had expected too.
DeleteI think what was even more satisfying was seeing the women of, and the audience of, "The Spew", getting tingles up their legs in a moment of premature a-jerk-elation. Their show was over (I believe), by the time the "correction" was issued. But still in time to ruin their mood for the weekend.
ReplyDeletehttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PFlWJdEr-eE
Poor thing.
https://pbs.twimg.com/media/DQH1miJXUAAawko.jpg
Justice always (hopefully) follows truth.
ReplyDelete1. I believe it was intentional on the part of ABC; and 2. while he may not be out front for the next four weeks, Ross is still being paid.
ReplyDeleteActually, beleive he's suspended without pay.
DeleteI wonder if anyone will notice he is not on air. I am guessing that ethics in journalism is not taught in college anymore. From Connie Chung (?) lying to Newt Gingrich's mother to some of the wild accusations such as the Russian fiasco. But, right now the soap opera of General Flynn and sleazebag Muller is a lot more interesting. Muller as a fisherman telling how big the fish he caught, what kind of fish he caught and the tackle used. Yea, that is fun.
ReplyDeleteI hope that this is the beginning of a trend; honest journalism. We shall see what happens over the next four hundred years.
ReplyDeleteThe comic reminds me of the story of David eating gefilte fish with ghost peppers and then the next day playing his twin harps for King Saul... "Lyre, lyre, pants on fire".
ReplyDeleteWho is brian ross ?
ReplyDeleteBRUCE...
ReplyDeleteLyre Lyre? Bwahahaha!
When the news presented and the people presenting it become the topic of the presentation, the infotainment industrial complex has clearly jumped the shark.
ReplyDeleteI'm SO glad we have alternative sources anymore!
Awesome punchline today. Will be spreading this one around.
ReplyDeleteHaven't heard any excuse directly from Ross, but I suspect it would go something like "I accidentally hit the send button for the story I would have liked it to be instead of the one it actually was".
I actually have to thank Ross, as I was in the midst of re-allocating a bit of my portfolio that morning. The 2% dip that I bought at and the 1% we're up again this morning really will make a difference in my retirement. Thanks Brian! Although I do feel a little bad for the hapless Democrats who thought this was real and sold off at 2% down. That's what you get for believing everything you read in the MSM.
Love your daily columns! Can't stop laughing, wish I could write like you do. Please correct your spelling of the word, judgment.
ReplyDeleteCould it be that good old Ross is trying to be the second coming if the Great and Wonderful Walter Cronkite? I remember when good ole' Walt almost single handedly lost the Vietnam War for us. Eisenhower would have had him hanged.
ReplyDeleteA media moron actually getting axed for lying. Does anyone think this might be a new trend? If so, there won't be many left.
ReplyDeleteSomeone should tell Mr. Ross that the best part of beating one's head against the wall is how good it feels when one stops doing it....
ReplyDeleteThis kind of nonsense is par for the course at Disney (who owns ABC).
ReplyDeletehttp://deadline.com/2017/11/john-lasseter-behavior-pixar-disney-1202213821/
Just another example of how corrupt Disney is.
LOVE the strip!
ReplyDelete@Pete (Detroit)
ReplyDeleteYeah. It struck me many years ago that there was something amiss when panel discussions on TV had reporters interviewing/discussing with other reporters, with no "newsmakers" or primary sources involved. Self-licking ice cream cones.
@Keith- She says no.
ReplyDelete@Jason Anyone- Schadenfreude is a delicious thing.
@Judi King- I wish I was sure of that. Hillary Clinton springs to mind as a case in which that hasn't happened.
@Jim Irre- Oh, I believe that it was absolutely intentional to run the story immediately (without checking) with the intent of harming Trump. But then EVERY newscast these days has the intent of harming Trump.
@Fish Out of Water- Yes, it's my understanding that Ross was suspended without pay.
@James Daily- There was a good piece in the Wall Street Journal today (Tues) about why Mueller is too compromised to continue his role of special prosecutor. He should step down or be thrown out.
@Fred Ciampi- Sadly, I don't think ABC is mad about the journalistic impropriety, but rather the fact they got caught so quickly.
@Bruce Bleu- I believe that was in the Bleu Testament, right?
@REM1875- True fact: if you rearrange the letters of "Brian Ross," it spells "Soros Brain." Well, almost.
@Gee M- I think we need more stringed instrument humor around here.
@Pete (Detroit)- You couldn't pay me to watch network news these days. A plague on all their houses.
@John the Econ- Good move to have a little buying holiday in the stock market while the lie is still circulating. And this is another good reminder that stock market prices are based as much (or more?) on emotion than actual reality.
@Anonymous- Glad you enjoy my posts. And yes, I'm aware that the American spelling is "judgment" and the British spelling is "judgement," but I like the look of the word with the "e" better. I hope you can forgive me and not hold a grudg. (grin)
@Fred Ciampi- All of this nonsense goes back to Watergate days, when journalists stopped wanting to just report the truth, but instead wanted to "make a difference" by whatever means necessary.
@Regnad Kcin- But don't tell him too soon.
@Mike Bennett- I was sorry to read the accusations against Lasseter because I've really liked his films. That being said, Disney has long had a reputation for troublesome practices.
@S. B. Sweeney- Well, I certainly can't argue with your taste!
@Dan- I love your example of "self-licking ice cream cones." That's exactly what these talking heads are doing!
Totally off topic, but intriguing none the less.
ReplyDeleteTrump has signed an Executive Order removing around 50% of the Grand Staircase-Escalante from National Monument status, effectively opening it up to coal mining. Liberals are losing their minds.
Although the area does contain some natural beauty, it is nothing extrodinary for Utah.
Here's a little history lesson on the place:
The Monument sits on the world's largest known deposit of Lignite coal - the cleanest burning most efficient type there is. There already was mining operations in place, which were only shaft mines - not open pit, when president Clinton shut it down by declaring it a National Monument in 1996. This put many locals out of work and destroyed the local economy.
What they do not want you to know is that the world's second largest deposit is in Indochina, owned by mining concerns that just, coincidentally I'm sure, donated many millions of dollars to the Clinton re-election campaign.
Al "I'll do anything for a dollar" Gore did the dedication ceremony for the Monument. I happened to watch them set up the stage for him to speak from the day before the ceremony.
No, I did not travel to Utah, and have never been to that particular National Monument.
Probably because the locals would have wanted to lynch him, plus the fact that the scenery was not all that spectacular, the ceremony was actually held on the South Rim of the Grand Canyon here in Arizona. Not only did they strategically angle the cameras to only show the top portion of the North Rim so as not to reveal the true location, but they even cut down several ancient Pinyon Pine trees just so Al would have a beautiful background when he gave his hypocritical speech.
Now, thanks to President Trump, shaft mining can resume in the area and our dependence on foreign coal for our energy needs will drop dramatically.
@ Geoff....Another point on the plus side for Trump.
ReplyDeleteGeoff...
ReplyDeleteLOL! I saw a blurb on the net of demon-straters protesting evil Trump giving the Military-Industrial Complex the green light to tear down all the sacred monuments in the country...or some such panicked assertation!
Bye bye Yellowstone and Old Faithful? Like the Taliban demolishing the Bamiyan Buddhas...does the Washington Monument have a few months left? LOL!
I read that they were wearing jumpsuits...WTF that means is as unfathomable to me as being a knee-jerk Leftie (except for getting close to Lefty Lucy; I'd suffer a bit of Left Lunacy to hang with that cutie!).
NOW I get it...and it makes excellent Trumpian sense to MAGA by doing the many things your post pointed out...yay Donald.
Thanks for sharing the info...I am content.
Thanks for the reminder, @Geoff King, on the reality of the monument scam. A monument so vital and beautiful that they can't even be bothered to do their photo-op on site?
ReplyDeleteAnother topic: Been enjoying the op-eds on all the people the GOP is going to kill with their tax overhaul. Make no mistake, people will die!
@John the Econ: That was really funny!
ReplyDeleteDan - self licking Ice Cream Cones sounds SO O'Bummer era...
ReplyDeleteBut I gotta give you credit for the LOL!
Ross losing any pay? Bullshit. He probably got a bonus.
ReplyDeleteBravo, Stilton! Well Done!
ReplyDeleteStilton,
ReplyDeleteI believe it was in the Talmud, which is not Scripture, or maybe it was in the Jerusalem Enquirer next to the story of aliens coming to Earth on flying pottery, (they didn't have saucers to make allusions to at that time).