By James Wilson
The CNBC television network set a new mark for non-professionalism covering the October 28 Republican debate. The moderators – Carl Quintanilla, Becky Quick and John Harwood – asked such inane questions as, “Are you running a comic book campaign?” and, “Are you planning to insult two candidates?” They frequently interrupted and argued with the candidates. They were nastier than Candi Crowley, the infamous 2012 MSNBC moderator who lectured Mitt Romney on addressing a president and corrected his “wrong” statements that Iran and Russia were threats to the US. But the larger issue is not corrupt journalists. It is a culture of corruption in media. That culture peaks in the NBC family that includes CNBC and MSNBC.
Former Nightly News Anchor Brian Williams lied about being shot down, seeing a dead body in New Orleans, and coming under fire from Hezbollah. He never flew into Baghdad with Seal Team 6, which does not embed reporters. He was even busted for claiming to be at the Brandenburg Gate the night the Berlin Wall came down.
NBC admitted recutting the 911 call from George Zimmerman the night Trayvon Martin died to make him sound racist. They hired Chelsea Clinton – with zero credentials – for $600,000.00 just to gain access and gave Al Sharpton his own program on MSNBC. Sharpton, let’s recall, made his name by abetting the Tawana Brawley rape fraud. He presided over the, “What do we want? Dead cops,” campaign and lied repeatedly on the air about being an FBI informant on his mobster friends.
This culture is not limited to NBC. Dan Rather blew his CBS career when he lied about George Bush’s military service. When John Kerry was outed for fraudulent claims about his own military service in 2004 all the networks covered for him, even inventing the term, “swift boating” to disparage and discourage political whistle blowers. More recently Hilary Clinton admits to Congress she lied about an anti-Mohammad video causing the Benghazi massacre – later retracting her confession – and is hailed as heroic by media. I did not like Walter Cronkite’s politics, but I sure miss his integrity; he reported the news without manufacturing it.
Nobody ever suggested Barack Obama resign from the senate when he set a record for being absent during votes, or voting simply “Present” before and during the 2008 campaign. He was again not asked to resign when it was revealed the President skips his national security briefings – there are a record number of events he says he hears about only on CNN. Yet Senator Marco Rubio was asked if he ought to resign over votes missed while campaigning. The senator replied that the media is the biggest SuperPAC there is. He is right.
What should a good citizen do? How about if that citizen is a Christian?
We can accept the reality that ordinary people have no access to the big media types – whether on-air or in board rooms. Likewise for the fat cat donors who really call the shots in both major political parties. But we can also recall the reality that the God-man who changed the world was born in a manger. He worked with his hands and walked from town to town. Taking his example in the present instance we can cultivate relationships with local media types and their bosses. We can help them see they need to break the mold and hold the network big guns of the world up to the ridicule they deserve. We can ask our neighbors to think it a star in the crown of candidates ridiculed by the supposedly objective commentators – to actually vote for those despised by this shamming and shameful elite. We can reflect that Jesus – He who came, served and died so humbly – said there was abundant life in following Him both in Person and in Style.
It seems impossible. But after some discouraged Jews came to see if Jesus was really the One (Matthew 11:2-12) – and Jesus showed them how the Kingdom was manifesting before their eyes as He worked and others worked with Him – He said the Kingdom was being taken by force and forceful men laid hold of it. What He meant was that God Himself has no defense against our simple cry of need. A weak man can successfully arm-wrestle the Father while the strong man hasn’t got a prayer – pun intended.
We can re-engage with our neighbors instead of letting the talking heads do our thinking and our talking and our acting for us. We can take back our nation by being once again our nation. And we can take back the world by becoming the Body of Christ.
James A. Wilson is the author of Living As Ambassadors of Relationships and The Holy Spirit and the End Times – available at local bookstores or by e-mailing him at
praynorthstate@charter.net
