One of the many fronts liberals have attempted to attack President Trump has been his claim that mainstream media publishes “fake news”. Hillary Clinton pounded him on it during the campaign and liberal politicians, pundits and the media itself continued to do so after the election. Recently, however, the same media that has claimed the President is trying to limit freedom of the press has given credence to his claims. Is it media bias or simply ineptitude? Either way, it does nothing to win over readers and subscribers.

One of the latest instances of either bias or ineptitude began with CNN. In a tweet that almost instantly went viral, it reported Donald Trump, Jr., tweeted about Clinton and Wikilinks on the same day he and others in his father’s camp received an email offering them information from hacked documents.

The problem? CNN got the dates wrong. Trump Jr’s tweet went out on September 4th. The email CNN was linking it to was dated September 14th. Those 10 days make all the difference in the world and it should make all of us pause and ask if this was simply a mistake by CNN, its reporters and editors or if it was a calculated attempt by one or more within their organization to cast mud on Trump, Jr., and the Trump camp.

(The correction begins around the 3:30 mark.)

The only good thing CNN did was issue a correction to the story several hours after it broke. However, CBS continued to run with it, especially on social media, for much longer. When it did respond, it initially issued a “Clarification”. Later, only after being called on their failure to correct the story, did they do just that. Again, is this a case of ineptitude or media bias? One mistake is reasonable. Two is coincidence. Does a third make a conspiracy?

Of course, CNN couldn’t leave well enough alone and simply apologize for making a mistake. It had to try to explain why what the actions of its reporters did not rise to the level of Brian Ross. Ross, if you remember, is the ABC newsman recently suspended for falsely reporting that President Trump ordered General Flynn to contact the Russians during the campaign. CNN, instead of making their reporters face the consequences of their actions, made excuses.

Think about that for a moment. If the reporters followed “followed the editorial standards process”, does that mean they didn’t read the documents provided by these “multiple sources”. Or does it mean they didn’t bother checking the documents against the claims of the sources? Either possibility doesn’t speak well of CNN or its editorial standards process. Remember, this was a 10 day gap between when Trump, Jr.’s tweet about Clinton went out and when he, and others received the email. Also, taking into account that 10 day discrepancy, it puts the lie to the claim Trump, Jr., used the hacked documents — or even referred to them. Again, you have to ask: media bias or incompetency?

At least some members of the media are calling on their fellow reporters to straighten up their acts.

At a time when the media, like Hollywood, is reeling under allegations of sexual misconduct, the last thing it needs are these kinds of “mistakes”. More than that, when their readership and viewership is on a steady decline, the media should be focusing on building trust with its customers instead of doing everything it can to tear that trust down. Is it any wonder people are starting to believe media bias is to blame and not simple incompetence or laziness?