Wednesday, November 25, 2015

Local Gun News (TV) Reporting Sucks


Get used to an unfiltered stream of crap being shoved under your noses and being called journalism. Starting with Fox 5’s deceptive segment on the universal background check initiative that we castigated at length, local TV news is picking up their stories on the issue. Granted, it’s sure to be a hot topic in the 2016 election, but why is it cropping up so suspiciously? Fox 5 one week, NBC 3 the next week, along with the Las Vegas Sun vomiting up some different articles, one praising the Moms who support gun control, another trashing states with such ‘liberal’ gun control laws like ours.[1]

The supporters, former New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg’s Everytown for Gun Safety (which does nothing to promote actual gun safety, such as teaching people how not to accidentally shoot themselves) are pumping out media releases and contacting local media to run stories favorable to their perspective. Using their allies in the leftist infected media world, they can present their agenda as objective ‘news.’

I have a beef with anti-gunners, obviously, but they would be nothing more than another voice in the debate if the reporters, again mostly local TV reporters, did their job. I am incensed with them for either being too stupid realize their being played by the anti-gunners or willingly supporting this assault on our private property and Second Amendment rights. It’s not hard to see why the more paranoid think the media is in leagues with the anti-gun lobby.

The anti-gunners can’t win on facts or admit that they want to create a gun registry and eventually ban guns. Reality and popular opinion is against them, so only through lies and manipulation can they win. It’s why they picked our state. Just like Washington and Oregon before us, Nevada is a ‘purple’ state where a large percentage of the population tends to vote Democratic. Their reasoning is that if they tell the same lies enough times, in a frightening enough matter, and use money and influence to peddle ads and news stories in their favor, they can scare or fool enough people to vote away their rights.

Don Turner, president of the Nevada Firearms Coalition, which opposes the background check initiative, found a piece of propaganda from Everytown that lays out all of the anti-gun assertions made by the so-called ‘journalists.’ Talking points and ‘suggestions’ to cover stories have been disseminated by Bloomberg affiliated groups before in Nevada and in other states. If one looks back through the various media statements and opinion pieces in Nevada media, the same phrases and tortured statistics all start to sound the same. They have a common source.

We can't allow 'truths' to be created and facts diluted by partisan groups who present their biased views as an impartial reality. We are in an age dominated by media that plays to what it perceives as the public good, based upon their own interpretation of what the public good is, as if we were children and they our parents. Too many people stupidly trust the media (like the government) to be in their best interest and will make their decisions on these reports.

Half-assed reporting is part of the problem. I’m not sure what the qualifications for a TV reporter are exactly any more. I haven’t seen very many reports worthy of being called journalism. Rather than do research and spend time thinking hard about a topic, it’s easier just to cut and paste talking points from a media release, which is obviously what the guilty parties did here (see above).

What happened to investigative reporting? Where are the deep in the weed searches for new stories? The LVCCLD library open carry issue has potential to explode into major protests and even a lawsuit—something sure to capture national attention—yet only the LVRJ has shown any interest, mainly because we ran into a reporter. No one other than this blog has been interested in covering the issue (and we admit our bias). Sadly, the only journalistic outlet of any size in Nevada that seems to have any true investigative interest left is the LVRJ.

On background checks, the LVRJ has come out against the issue several times in their opinion pages. John C. Smith isn't a big fan of gun rights, but he's a columnist. I'd say more of their articles have exposed the initiative as the farce it is.  While they commentators' opinions have varied, they have correctly pointed out the pros and cons of both sides. Our last bastion of mainstream true journalism isn't parroting Everytown's lies and actually takes the time to provide more than just a superficial dig into the issue all while pushing an agenda. It would be great if people still read the paper with the regularity they did in years past.

Besides the obvious liberal bias in media, fueled perhaps by reporters who attended liberal-dominated colleges and journalist programs, what dark evil fuels this near universal narrative? What could they possibly have to gain? Only tin foil hat wear creeps would imagine the various network executives, new directors, and local station franchisees gathering together to discuss world domination. Is there a diversity of opinion in journalism? Surely they all can't have the same ideas on everything.

You can’t trust the mainstream media to accurately inform you about much. News reports should be limited to a call that causes us to say “I’m going to look into that” rather than trust what that made-up face under klieg lights is saying. Get used to a stream of utter bullshit coming from the TV in 2016. Learn the truth now and spread it. Your family, friends, and co-workers trust you more than they trust an news anchor.

-G. C.

[1] Sorry for the Vegas bias, your editor lives down south.

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