The latest outrage occurred this week on MSNBC when faux journalist Lawrence O’Donnell breathlessly reported that the President may have had loan documents co-signed by dreaded “Russian oligarchs.” Supposedly, one source convinced O’Donnell to move forward with the story. It was never verified and, as usual, just like the Steele dossier, it was fabricated.
The President’s lawyers demanded a retraction and the next day O’Donnell had to respond on his show for hyping a non-story. Laughably, O’Donnell said that the story did not “go through our rigorous verification and standards practice.” If MSNBC had any “verification and standards practice” half of their unhinged Trump stories would never air on their poor excuse of a cable news network.
O’Donnell apologized and said that “I shouldn’t have reported it and I was wrong to discuss it on the air.”
This lame apology did not satisfy Eric Trump, the President’s son. He called the story a “reckless attempt to slander our family and smear a great company.” Trump said that the company would be “taking legal action” and that such “unethical behavior has to stop.”
It is a good step for Trump to move forward with legal action as it may serve to dissuade other liberal media outlets from promoting false stories with the sole purpose of harming the President and his family.
O’Donnell and too many of his liberal media colleagues are reporting stories with little or no verification. O’Donnell promoted his story due to a “single source close to Deutsche Bank.” The source claimed that the President needed the Russians to co-sign for his loan and that “if true that would explain every kind word Donald Trump has ever said about Russia and Vladimir Putin.”
Of course, the President denied the story. He tweeted that it was “Totally false, as is virtually everything else he, and much of the rest of the LameStream Media, has said about me for years.”
The White House Press Secretary Stephanie Grisham lambasted O’Donnell and MSNBC noting that it is “one of the reasons a majority of Americans have lost trust in the media.”
According to Grisham, “Instead of applying ethics and standards to their reporting, journalists and left-wing outlets have weaponized the media, using it to attack and harass people with little to no regard for the truth.”
In this case, O’Donnell will not be fired or suffer any consequences for getting a major story wrong and slandering the President of the United States. It shows how real journalism has disappeared in this country and journalistic credibility has never been lower. No wonder the American people have more faith in used car salesman than members of the media.
Jeff Crouere is a native New Orleanian and his award winning program, “Ringside Politics,” airs locally at 7:30 p.m. Fridays and at 10:00 p.m. Sundays on PBS affiliate WLAE-TV, Channel 32, and from 7-11 a.m. weekdays on WGSO 990-AM & www.Wgso.com. He is a political columnist, the author of America's Last Chance and provides regular commentaries on the Jeff Crouere YouTube channel and on www.JeffCrouere.com. For more information, email him at jeff@jeffcrouere.com
Wow.Good one!Very good.
