Mark Angelides
Mark Angelides is Managing Editor of Liberty Nation.com. Hailing from the UK, he specializes in EU politics and provides a conservative/libertarian voice on all things from across the pond. During the Brexit Referendum campaign, Mark worked to promote activism, spread the message and secure victory. He is the editor and publisher of several books on Ancient Chinese poetry.
Senator Chuck Grassley (R-IA) released an unclassified FBI document containing allegations that both Hunter and Joe Biden “coerced” Burisma CEO Mykola Zlochevsky into handing over millions of dollars. The partially-redacted FD-1023, a form used by FBI agents to record unverified reporting by a confidential human resource (CHR), details one source’s apparent recollections of a meeting with the Burisma boss. According to the informant, he said: “It cost five (million) to pay one Biden, and five (million) to another Biden.”
That the CHR was regarded as “highly credible” begs certain questions regarding why FBI Director Christopher Wray had to be threatened with a contempt of Congress charge to hand the unclassified form over to lawmakers. Why were the IRS investigators looking into Hunter Biden’s business dealings provided with this evidence? Perhaps most perplexing of all would be why the nation’s legacy media has decided en masse to make this story disappear as quickly as humanly possible.
Credibility?
The form in question could legitimately be attacked as unreliable from many angles. For instance, it is not the direct words of the Burisma CEO, or it could be claimed that there is no corroboration for the CHR’s allegations. But it seems the Fourth Estate would rather not inform its audience that such a document even exists. A curious mind might ask why the media is so willing to jettison its remaining credibility to bury a story of such potential magnitude.
In fact, today, July 21 (just hours after the release of the document), a look at the digital front pages of the nation’s most-prized outlets reveals that, for the left, this story has been sent the way of the Fourth Estate memory hole. The New York Times had zero coverage. Washington, DC’s, most prominent media organ also opted for no stories on the FD-1023 this morning on its homepage. This pattern of journalistic and editorial omission continued across other outlets.
Notably, there was plenty of digital space to devote to former President Donald Trump’s continued legal travails. Liberty Nation presents a brief snapshot of this morning’s coverage. NYT omits any mention of Burisma in favor of four stories on Trump; a search of the Times’ digital site reveals that the last comment on “Burisma” was on June 30.
The prominent DC outlet also goes zero for Burisma and a whopping six on the former president. MSNBC pushes out the proverbial boat with nothing on the latest Biden scandal and a frankly overkill 15 anti-Trump stories.
The litany continues:
- CNN – two memo stories vs 13 negative Trump stories.
- ABC – one memo story vs three negative Trump stories.
- Politico – two memo stories vs 17 negative Trump stories.
The Biden Omission Mission
Trust in the media is in a long, steep decline. Audiences are abandoning once-favored news organizations in droves – not because of the production values but because of the journalistic values. Outlets may well regard the FD-1023 form with suspicion, but it is their duty to investigate and evaluate the content and present the evidence. By burying the entire story under a deluge of partisan electioneering, they prove only that they can’t be trusted with open and honest reporting.
From ignoring and attempting to debunk the Hunter Biden laptop scandal to glossing over Joe Biden’s numerous gaffes and missteps – with a brief stop-off by way of overlooking the complete collapse of the Russian collusion scandal – the nation’s left-leaning media outlets have demonstrated a gross dereliction of duty.