WaPo and CNN Journalists Show True Colors with 'Merry Impeachment' Tweet, Give Absurd Explanation
Clearly, it doesn’t take a lot of critical thinking to be a Capitol Hill reporter.
The establishment media has been peddling myths about its own stories fairness and objectivity for decades, but since the rise of Donald Trump in national politics, those claims have reached nauseating levels.
Despite mountains of evidence to the contrary — like the unrelentingly negative news coverage of the Trump campaign in 2015 and 2016 and every day since Trump was sworn into office — the media and its Democratic allies have sworn up and down that the idea of a media bias is a conservative boogeyman.
But one tweet showing Washington Post reporters apparently celebrating the House vote to approve articles of impeachment against Trump demolished that once and for all.
Do these people have any self awareness? Any at all? pic.twitter.com/GaLa0lcV9U
— Stephen Miller (@redsteeze) December 19, 2019
And hastily deleting it — with apparent shock that it had been “misinterpreted” — didn’t help matters at all.
As Fox News reported, the tweet was published late Wednesday by Washington Post reporter – and CNN political analyst — Rachael Bade.
It showed Bade and Post colleagues Paul Kane, Mike DeBonis, Seung Min Kim and Karoun Demirjian – who also moonlight for the anti-Trump CNN – celebrating after a long day of watching the House impeach the president liberals loathe.
It wasn’t well received.
Trump campaign manager Brad Parscale called the tweet another example of media bias on open display.
Ladies & gentlemen, your fair and objective press corps in action! What a joke.
Media needs to stop acting like they are “impartial”. https://t.co/F89tPhbRZT
— Brad Parscale (@parscale) December 19, 2019
And media professionals agreed.
Washington Post reporter and CNN political analyst Rachel Bade celebrates Impeachmas, which isn’t a horrible look for both news organizations or anything… https://t.co/Q7fTgGXAOe
— Joe Concha (@JoeConchaTV) December 19, 2019
Washington Post celebrating the impeachment of their biggest political opponent. An impeachment that they worked so hard to achieve over several years. pic.twitter.com/IYVpzT2cCP
— Mollie (@MZHemingway) December 19, 2019
Shortly after publishing the offensive post, Bade took it down, with an explanation that bordered on unbelievable. There was nothing wrong with the post itself, it seemed, just that it had been “misinterpreted.”
She’s deleting her “tweeting” now bc we all misunderstood pic.twitter.com/OR3k4hJfzJ
— Jayne T ⭐️⭐️⭐️ (@MrsJanieDoe) December 19, 2019
“I’m deleting a tweeting tonight that is being misinterpreted by some as an endorsement of some kind,” Bade wrote. “To be absolutely clear, we at the Post are merely glad we are getting a break for the holidays after a long 3 months. I will retweet the group photo w/ a better caption!”
Really?
Even if that were true, it wouldn’t take a lot of thinking to realize there are better ways to explain being relieved that a long story is finally over.
For someone who makes a living creating words, after all, a little clarity on that score wouldn’t seem that difficult.
It also shouldn’t have taken a lot of brainpower to realize exactly how a Twitter post of journalists from an openly anti-Trump news organization — who make regular appearances on an avowedly anti-Trump “news” network — wishing readers a “merry impeachment” would be taken by the public.
This Twitter post from KTTV reporter Bill Melugin summed it up pretty well.
What the hell were you thinking when you tweeted this? Some of us still care about ethics and unbiased reporting, and this garbage makes it harder for all of us by reinforcing a stereotype. Come on guys.
— Bill Melugin (@BillFOXLA) December 19, 2019
Anyone who’s worked in a newsroom knows that even honest journalism breeds its own kind of dark humor — a kind that generally won’t translate well into the normal world. But even accepting the weak explanation at face value — that the drinks were a harmless celebration — it’s difficult to see how anyone who wasn’t utterly self-absorbed couldn’t predict how a tweet like this would go over.
And the anti-Trump track record of media outlets like The Washington Post and CNN don’t exactly engender trust — which makes the apparent surprise that the tweet was “misinterpreted” absurd.
The Trump impeachment was a disturbing day in American history, it could likely be a disaster for the Democratic Party in the polls. But those WaPo reporters — and CNN analysts — were out, to all appearances, celebrating what they saw as a setback to the president Democrats despise.
And they now expect Americans to believe that it was nothing of the kind.
Clearly, it doesn’t take a lot of critical thinking to be a Capitol Hill reporter.
Truth and Accuracy
We are committed to truth and accuracy in all of our journalism. Read our editorial standards.
