Media Bias: A Capitol Hill Intern's Perspective

Since the mainstream media have been crying lately because Trump hurt their feelings by not calling on them during press briefings etc, I thought I would give you all my perspective on this since I just finished a semester as a small, insignificant intern reporter on Capitol Hill.

I felt like a fly on the wall every time we’d go to a press briefing, like I was watching things happen that weren’t really happening, partly because I was so in awe of being on the Hill, during one of the most controversial Presidential elections in our nation’s history.

Just to give you a taste of what it is like up there for an intern reporting for a (very cool) non-profit organization, I was not really high on the list to be called on by Paul Ryan. We were told that certain reporters had certain seats, so you weren’t to take their spot etc. I understand the turf thing, and I was just a lowly intern, but I thought it would be every man for himself at these briefings. Myself and my fellow intern arrived an hour early once and sat on the second row from the front because it was safe to sit there.

So when the mainstream media was crying yesterday about Trump not calling on them and rather calling on outlets like the Christian Broadcasting Network, I thought “Tell the truth and then he’ll call on you.”

At CNS, I worked with some of the most honest and dedicated people I have ever known. They want the truth to be told, no matter what their personal views are. But they are a lesser known outlet. You don’t see stories they report on CBS or MSNBC.

Trump called out the mainstream guys because they are so biased. They think he’s “crazy” for doing it and accuse him of taking “softball” questions from these lesser-known news organizations. Well, the questions they were told to ask by their editors were about the Flynn “scandal,” or how Russia made him president. Fluff that sells.

I have a friend who has been at all of these briefings, even the one yesterday where he slammed the media. I don’t know what her question was, but she probably brought one with her that the media would deem “softball.” I know because I worked for her editor. He’s a tough guy who wants the truth, he’s passionate about telling people what is really going on, just like she is.

When we were sent to Capitol Hill to report, he’d send a very clearly worded question with us to ask during the briefing. We were to repeat it word for word, exactly as written. I would copy the question down more than once on the metro ride up there, making sure I wouldn’t make an idiot of myself if Paul Ryan called on me when I raised my hand. I did not have an agenda. I don’t know about the mainstream reporters, but I had a job to do and that was getting my question asked so that I could report back to the editor and write an article about it.

Now, as a lowly intern, I didn’t get called on. So that means I had to listen to the recording of the briefing and find something to write about so I could send my story in and have it edited and hopefully published the next day (I was pretty slow at writing the articles because I was new at it.)

Put yourself in my place. You’re a reporter for a lesser known news outlet whose passion is to report the truth. You go to a press briefing, but the mainstream guys get the seats up front and get called on more than anyone else. By the time it’s over, you haven’t gotten your question in and you’ve had to sit there like a bump on a log as everyone else gets their question answered. Then you’ve got to report on what some other reporter asked, not you. Or something Paul Ryan hit on that you thought was interesting.

It frustrated me to no end when I didn’t get my question asked. I’m a “I do what I’m told” kind of kid, I guess it was the way my parents raised me, and I wanted to get my question asked so I could take it back to the editor.

Alas, that didn’t happen often.

I also attended a question and answer event once in the Senate Press Gallery where all the reporters gathered around Lindsey Graham to ask him questions. It was cool to be in there, and I sat three seats away from him.

This was after Trump won the election, so Graham seemed to be reeling from the prospect of a Trump presidency. You know, because Trump was going to shake things up.

A lot of the questions the reporters asked were “How are you going to get along with Trump?” and “Do you think you can work with him?”

His response was, and I’m cutting a lot out here, “He’s got my number. He can call me.”

I wanted to throw my hands up and say “Dude, I voted for him because I want you to work with him. Get the chip off of your shoulder and do your job because your attitude about this affects me personally.”

This was when I was dealing with the hell that is Obamacare and having my doctor taken away from me after being promised I could keep her.

But it’s whatever.

What I’m saying here is, the questions asked by the reporters who worked for well-known news outlets were softball questions, not the other way around. I know the most unimaginable thing has just happened and the American people have voted a businessman into the White House, but get real.

Bottom line, drama sells. People (not including me) don’t want to read about policy issues, the real stuff that makes our government work like a well-oiled machine. It’s “boring.”

People can question my Christianity as a Trump voter, and I'm cool with that. But I tell you what, the man has hit the nail on the head so many times, I can’t even keep up. Especially during his briefing yesterday.

If you want to wade through the bias and the “He’s racist!” screams, read Star Parker’s book, Uncle Sam’s Plantation. I hope then you’ll understand why it resonated with me when Trump asked the African American community what they have to lose since their communities were suffering under the devastating effects of the welfare state and failing Democratic policies. It kills me, but nobody is brave enought to go against the mainstream media and tell it like it is.

And if you want to read a well-researched, awesome book on how the media distorts our thinking, read Left Turn: How Liberal Media Bias Distorts the American Mind. I hope it will make you at least a little bit grateful for outlets like CBN, Breitbart, and CNS News. The little guys who never get called on.

I read Left Turn in my Media Bias class at Wesleyan (which was life-changing), and I will never, ever forget it.

So, if anybody cares, there’s your perspective from a fly on the wall in the halls of government.