The bias and unethical conduct that the media insists is a figment of our imagination is quite real. We’ve discussed it many times. From Donna Brazile feeding debate questions to Hillary, to Jim Acosta’s press corps temper tantrums, to the media meltdown of the ages on election night; the bias and lack of ethics is there. The newest example is NBC’s Dafna Linzer and her attempt to shut down HuffPo’s Yashar Ali.

Ali was given a scoop about the DNC debate schedule. Not a big scoop in the grand scheme of things, but a scoop nevertheless. As his exceptional tweet thread highlights, he had it mostly verified and was going to publish when Dafna called. Did she have the scoop as well? Nope.

https://twitter.com/yashar/status/1111678823072854016?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1111681993648078849&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Ftwitchy.com%2Fsarahd-313035%2F2019%2F03%2F29%2Fjust-wow-journo-yashar-ali-details-highly-inappropriate-and-unethical-call-from-nbc-msnbc-managing-editor-on-behalf-of-the-dnc%2F

Read that last line again folks. Dafna, the current managing editor of NBC/MSNBC politics tried to bully Yashar into NOT publishing his mild scoop because DNC wouldn’t like it.

The DNC themselves had asked if Ali would delay his scoop so they could contact all the state parties. Ali said nope, he’ll run with it. Less than 5 minutes later he gets a call from Dafna.

https://twitter.com/yashar/status/1111678828428972032

The call went downhill from there.

““I realized that @DafnaLinzer, the head of all political coverage for NBC News and MSNBC wasn’t calling to advocate for her network, she was calling to advocate the DNC’s position. She wanted me to wait so they could call state party leaders,” he wrote. “I kept telling Dafna no, that I wasn’t waiting. And she kept getting more frustrated. She was exasperated…she didn’t understand why I couldn’t wait for the DNC to make their state notification calls.””

Seriously, read his entire thread. He ended up publishing the scoop in spite of Dafna’s tone and bullying. Ali then went to several prominent reporters whom he knows and did a gut check. To their credit, they told Ali to share the story. And boy howdy it’s quite the story.

Are some folks, as Ali fears, going to try to twist this to totally discredit the media? Probably. Because, the fact is, much of the media IS biased on multiple levels. This from Powerline’s Steven Hayward is a prime example. 

“Scott’s two posts on his and Victor Davis Hanson’s treatment by The New Yorker calls to mind one of the first and most important lessons I learned from my mentor in journalism, the great M. Stanton Evans. Most “mainstream” journalists are not merely biased, but have a narrative story line in mind when they begin “reporting,” so that when they call you on the phone, they aren’t looking for actual information and perspective—they are looking for a specific quote to drop in their story that fits their narrative. The point is: when you deal with the media, it is not just their innate liberalism you need to be on guard for—you need to keep in mind that they already have their story written“

Yup. Very true. So, should the media be dragged when their bias is on display? Absolutely.

Lara Logan asked a great question. One that Steven Hayward answered above. For far too many, the narrative has been written these last few years. It’s 100% Trump BAD!, Hillary good! Democrats and Leftists are our saviors, Republicans and Conservative must be stopped at all costs!

And with Yashar Ali’s exchange with Dafna Linzer we see not only bias but unethical behavior on vivid display. Should she be dragged for it? IMO yes, unequivocally.

if MSNBC's news chief is willing to go to bat like this on behalf of the Democratic National Committee for something that really doesn’t matter, i wonder what she does for the things that are of actual political consequence

— T. Becket Adams (@BecketAdams) March 29, 2019

That is the question. Its one we should be asking 24/7 of all the media. Yep, looking at you Jim Acosta, Anderson Cooper, Brian Stelter, and yes, Dafna Linzer and her bosses at NBC/MSNBC.

What Dafna did on behalf of her pals at the DNC for what was essentially a minor story was unethical on every level. Hope the DNC makes it worth her while.

Feature Photo Credit: Adam Fagan via Flickr.com, cropped and modified