There’s one line politicians utter that always sets off a reporter’s Spidey senses.
I’m leaving politics to spend more time with my family…
That instantly sparks a media reaction. Is it true? Or does the politicians fear a scandal, a whupping on Election Day or something, gasp, even worse?
A good reporter doesn’t take a line like that at face value. He or she digs in, checks some sources and, at the very least, casts suspicion on the quote.
Why? It’s the right thing to do. Some political cliches are begging for a deep dive. The readers deserve it.
So when a prominent talk show host left the game this week to spend more time on “activism” you expected a similar reaction.
Did Chelsea Handler’s Netflix talk show Chelsea get canned for lousy ratings? Was her attitude an issue (her show runner left after three weeks, mind you)? Or were here hate-drenched Tweets aimed at all things Trump partially to blame? How many times can you slam the First Lady and not feel some blowback?
Nope.
Instead, news and entertainment outlets dutifully shared her “activism” excuse for the show’s demise with nary a trace of skepticism.
Few outlets properly labeled her as a “liberal” or “progressive,” either.
Here’s the first line from the Washington Post, which reminds us “Democracy Dies in Darkness.”
Meet the new Chelsea Handler.
What follows is the usual blather, including a sharp focus on her current activism – based entirely on both her Netflix series and the power it afforded her. Why would a dedicated “activist” give up a platform like that willingly? Hmmm.
CNN wouldn’t just regurgitate her talking points, though.
Right?
(CNN) Chelsea Handler is saying farewell to her self-titled talk show on Netflix to dive deeper into what she feels is her next chapter — activism.
Oh.
TheWrap.com just marched out Handler’s canned comments without an ounce of context or curiousity. So did Entertainment Weekly. I’m not surprised by the latter.
Also left unsaid? Her raging hypocrisy, which was clear to anyone with a few senses in working order. One day Handler would slam anyone with an “R” affixed to their name or title. The next day? She’d talk about reaching out and learning more about fresh perspectives. She did the latter again in her Tweet explaining the show’s end.
It all begs the question: Why are reporters behaving this way? To protect Handler, of course.
She’s a raging liberal who projects left-wing arguments while shielding Democrats from harm. Therefore, media outlets are circling the wagons to shield her from what real journalists would do in this scenario.
Ask tough questions, first and foremost.
Maybe Netflix saw middling ratings, a creatively empty vehicle and hateful Tweets like this and decided to pull the plug:
[Cross-posted from Hollywood in Toto.]
