On MSNBC yesterday, when asked for her “thoughts and reaction” on CBS’s decision to cancel Stephen Colbert’s Late Show, and “what that might say about media in general and media in the world of a Donald Trump presidency,” former NPR CEO Vivian Schiller declared, “Yeah, well look, this has not been a great week for free speech and speaking truth to power.” An 𝕏 post by RedState contributor “Bonchie” on this (typical) MSNBC segment made a common (among conservatives) but important point. Above a video of the MSNBC clip, Bonchie concluded, “Thinking late-night comedy shows exist to ‘speak truth to power’ is why people hate the press.”
Of
course, there are many reasons to hate the drive-by media, and Bonchie provides
another good example, but there was a better and more important one this
weekend. Trending number one on 𝕏 most of the weekend was the name “Tulsi.” Trending number
two was the word “treason.” (The screenshots below were taken yesterday evening
around 8 pm.)
(Click on the images to enlarge them.)
This
happened as the result DNI Tulsi Gabbard’s Friday afternoon release of her bombshell report on how “intelligence was
politicized and weaponized by the most powerful people in the Obama
Administration to lay the groundwork for what was essentially a years-long coup
against President [Donald Trump].” “Tulsi” and “treason” trending so high on 𝕏 is significant for obvious
reasons (it’s a massively important story), but it’s also
important because Elon Musk’s 𝕏 is now the number one source for news, at least according to its
owner.
If 𝕏 is not the number one source
for news, it is at least a significant news source for tens-of-millions of
Americans. More Americans now get their news via social media than any other source. This is huge
for a variety of reasons, but one in particular: by definition, social media is
user-generated content, and thus virtually anyone can participate in reporting,
commentary, etc.
Additionally,
thanks to Elon Musk’s takeover of 𝕏 and his dedication to free
speech, and Mark
Zuckerberg’s recent changes to “content moderation” (censorship) at Meta,
social media is now not so dominated by one particular viewpoint. In other
words, the left in America no longer has a stranglehold on the news.
Nevertheless,
leftwing news sources still attempt to act as the arbiter of what is
newsworthy. The best recent example of this is DNI Tulsi Gabbard’s release of
her report this past Friday afternoon. In spite of how significant is this
story, and in spite of how it the story was trending on 𝕏 (and no-doubt other social
media), the drive-by media virtually ignored the story, at least through late
Saturday evening (the time of this writing).
Below are screenshots of the websites of NBC News, CBS News, ABC News, CNN, The New York Times, MSNBC, AP News, and USA Today from about 8 pm yesterday (Saturday, July 19). Each screenshot is of the very top of each webpage. (Click on the images to enlarge them.)
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As one can easily see, DNI Gabbard’s shocking report was
given no significant attention by any of these so-called “news organizations.”
Not only was there “no significant attention” given by these organizations of
Gabbard’s report, as I scrolled down the webpages, I couldn’t find one
single mention of the story except for a single article by CNN.
On the other hand, most of Saturday (July 19), Fox News prominently
displayed the story “DNI
Gabbard refers Obama's Russia hoax documents to DOJ after bombshell report.”
And the top piece at Real Clear Politics on Saturday was “Russia
Hoax Exposed, New Era of Accountability Begins” by Matt Taibbi at Racket
News.
Thus, again we see why so many Americans
despise the drive-by media, and why so many of us are simply tuning them out
and turning them off.
Copyright 2025, Trevor Grant Thomas
At the Intersection of Politics, Science, Faith, and Reason.
www.trevorgrantthomas.com
Trevor is the author of the The Miracle
and Magnificence of America
trevorgrantthomas@gmail.com
