Reporters or Accessories? The Media’s Coverage of the Biden Allegations Douglas MacKinnon
https://themessenger.com/opinion/accessory-reporters-media-biden-allegations-hunter-biden-laptop
For some in the media, no allegation that might link President Joe Biden to unethical or even criminal behavior seems to be considered credible or worth investigating. Times have certainly changed. I remember when any hint of impropriety involving the White House administrations of Richard Nixon, Ronald Reagan, Bill Clinton, George W. Bush and, most especially, Donald Trump would catapult journalists into action, seeking to discover whether any of the suggested improprieties could be connected to those presidents.
I had no problem with that. In fact, I strongly support the practice because that is the role of journalists, especially investigative reporters: follow the facts to the truth, no matter the reporter’s personal feelings or biases they may harbor toward an individual or entity under investigation.
Many people believe that the ethical and professional conduct of some journalists and news organizations went out the window with the dawning of the Age of Trump. Soon after the New York City businessman declared his intention to seek the presidency in June 2015, many journalists began to openly declare their disdain, even hatred, for him.
Then, during the 2020 election, with seemingly little or no investigation, a report about the content found on Hunter Biden’s laptop was categorically labeled “Russian disinformation” by much of the mainstream media, with a large assist from more than 50 former U.S. intelligence officials, the Biden White House, and President Biden himself, who vigorously answered “Yes, yes, yes,” when asked if he believed the laptop contained Russian disinformation.
Case closed, apparently. No need for those in the media to do their jobs.
Except, of course, the Russian disinformation label turned out to be untrue. Many liberal-leaning news organizations were forced to grudgingly acknowledge that the Hunter Biden laptop story was not Russian disinformation, and might have tentacles leading beyond Hunter Biden.
Now, we have another story involving Hunter Biden — that he allegedly received $260,000 from Chinese business interests during his father’s presidential campaign, with Joe Biden’s address on the wire transfer.
Is that a “bombshell” finding, as some believe? Shouldn’t Joe Biden’s address on a wire transfer catapult journalists into action to try to connect, refute or explain any dots related to this allegation? Apparently not, for far too many journalists.
As reported by several media outlets, House Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer (R-Ky.) revealed that Hunter Biden received two wire transfers from Chinese nationals, worth a combined $260,000, just months after his father began his 2020 presidential campaign — and with the elder Biden’s Delaware home listed as the beneficiary address.
“Joe Biden’s abuse of public office for his family’s financial gain threatens our national security. What did the Bidens do with this money from Beijing?” Comer said. “Americans demand and deserve accountability for President Biden and the First Family’s corruption.”
Hunter Biden’s attorney says the bank transfers were loans from a private individual, and that Joe Biden’s address was used because it was on Hunter’s driver’s license at the time. He accused House Republicans of “twist(ing) the truth to mislead people to promote their fantasy political agenda.”
Comer posted on X (formerly Twitter): “The first payment of $10,000 came from a person identified as Ms. Wang Xin on July 26, 2019. The second took place about a week later on Aug. 2, 2019 for $250,000 from Li Xiang Sheng, who goes by Jonathan Li.”
Comer further noted: “When Joe Biden was vice president, he spoke on the phone and had coffee with Jonathan Li in Beijing, and later wrote a college letter of recommendation for his children.”
The Biden White House responded by attacking House Republicans. “Extreme House Republicans are pushing out half-baked innuendo and conspiracy theories that yet again show no evidence of wrongdoing by President Biden,” White House spokesman Ian Sams said in a statement provided to The Messenger, “just more discredited personal attacks on him and his family, in a sad effort to distract from their chaotic inability to govern that is leading us to the brink of a dangerous government shutdown.”
So that’s it. Like the original Hunter Laptop story, first reported by the New York Post in 2020, will much of the mainstream media take the White House at its word, or will they do their jobs for a change and investigate these latest allegations?
Comer is correct when he states that Hunter Biden’s business dealings, if proven to be true, could negatively impact U.S. national security. It’s a possibility that journalists should acknowledge. And they should be willing (if not eager) to investigate, to find the truth and reveal it to the American people — whether it proves the truth of President Biden’s denials or of the Republicans’ accusations. Protecting or harming either political side should not be part of the equation.
But by seemingly turning a deaf ear and a blind eye to allegations of potential wrongdoing involving some members of the Biden family, could some members of the media be seen as figurative accessories-after-the-fact? Findlaw defines an accessory as: “The accused assisted that person with the specific purpose or design to hinder or prevent that person’s apprehension, trial, or punishment.”
Rather than doing their jobs, are some journalists choosing to hinder news investigations out of an allegiance to Biden, the Democratic Party, or their personal biases? Perhaps — but one thing surely is certain: Journalism in the Age of Trump has changed for the worse.
Douglas MacKinnon served in the White House as a writer for Presidents Ronald Reagan and George H.W. Bush and afterward in a joint command at the Pentagon.
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