Democracy also dies in a boutique with Kamala Harris
Sen. Kamala Harris, who's running for president, has quite a back-up crew for her photo ops as she campaigns in South Carolina.
The girls on the bus not only covered the news, they joined in the fun. A video posted by CBS News political correspondent Caitlin Huey-Burns shows her press buddy CNN correspondent Maeve Reston picking out a new jacket for Harris, the star of the show, to try on in front of a mirror in a South Carolina boutique. Squeals and giggles followed. As Harris staged a shopping trip with the cameras on, the whole chick moment, politicians and press united, was captured by Reston's buddy on Twitter. The women's vote is now assured!
When the campaign trail takes you to a boutique, and @MaeveReston spots a great sequined jacket for @KamalaHarris to try on. #campaignfashionreport pic.twitter.com/38bYJKqjRI
— Caitlin Huey-Burns (@CHueyBurns) February 16, 2019
Strike you as a little too close for objective journalism? From as self-important a news operation as CBS?
Update: Washington Examiner found that actually, there were a lot of these tweets, it wasn't exactly a slip-up or aberration.
Next question is whether Huey-Burns can be trusted to report the news next time Harris gets caught telling another phony story, or a scandal around her staff comes forward from other sources. Oh wait. One such case already did, and as a matter of fact, and CNN's Reston covered it all right, a day late, with the CNN story featuring Harris's denial of any knowledge of the matter. That scandal was that her top aide, her Division of Law Enforcement chief, Larry Wallace, forced the state of California to pay $400,000 in sex harassment compensation during Harris's tenure as California state attorney general. CNN uncritically framed its story about Harris's denial, in multiple paragraphs, as its news hook, making it basically a story featuring the denial, not the actual scandal itself. To learn why Harris's denial lacked any credibility whatsover, you would have to go to the local print reporting, such as that of the Sacramento Bee, which described just how close Harris was to this sex-harassing aide she now claims to know nothing about. CBS, meanwhile, relegated its denial-heavy coverage solely to its local affiliate and the story died there in the Sacramento darkness.
Girlfriend solidarity? You bet.
In CNN's case, the suckuppery is already pretty thick, with quite a few other cases of bias toward Harris. With the chick-bonding over the shopping trip out now, it all looks like gal solidarity, chicks who shop together, bias together.
Just don't call it news. This is in fact, public relations. These people are so close to their sources they participate in the photo ops to create the news, and now they're so far gone they don't even try to hide it. They want you to know they're pals with their candidate. They don't care if you think it might affect the objectivity of their reportage. They're going to do anything they think will help Harris and humanize her to get less politically cognizant people to vote for her.
Here are some of the negative tweets that came of the whole thing:
The mainstream media serve as the press secretary for the Democratic party. It's a laughable joke.
— Mike (@mike4libertyCA) February 16, 2019
This isn't reporting, it's fawning.
— Underwater (@ScubaStef2) February 16, 2019
Clearly objective journalisming going on here
— just gabriel (@presidentgabe) February 16, 2019
"journalism" pic.twitter.com/6iKr5p4LU8
— T D M рџ‡єрџ‡ё (@Timbo0927) February 17, 2019
Looks as if we’ll be able to rely on her coverage.
— Charles C. W. Cooke (@charlescwcooke) February 17, 2019
“Democracy dies in darkness” or in this case a boutique store #Journalism
— Adam Kleinfeld (@Ajkleinfeld) February 16, 2019
Could you be any further in the tank? It’s fine but just admit it and let’s move on.
— ERDR (@percocetopenia) February 16, 2019
And here's one last good one from Fox News big Brit Hume:
Talk about missing the point. Did journalists help Walker pick out his motorcycle, then gush about it on Twitter? Did they they help Romney on with his life jacket? That Kamala Harris shopping incident wasn’t coverage, it was participation. https://t.co/tjg7OqJ7uu
— Brit Hume (@brithume) February 16, 2019
What I'd really like to know now is why Harris isn't counting this as a political campaign contribution. It is, and these shills for Harris are debasing the very idea of news.
Image credit: Twitter screen grab