Bernie’s Weekly Q&A (6/16)

Alleged Biden tapes, NewsNation, James Comey, and more!

Welcome to this week’s Premium Q&A session for paying members. I appreciate you all signing up and joining me.

Let’s get started:

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Bernie, so…with a justice system that apparently applies the laws of the land in a “them and us” style, and a media that seemingly chooses to report facts with the same lack of balance, is there not truly a need for great concern going forward? A one-sided, left leaning system and its mirrored reportage is not a plan that bodes well for the democracy I came to know. I’m not a Trump or Biden fan. I believe they both represent most of what is wrong with politics, but the uneven application of coverage on strangely similar “crimes” is appalling. This can’t end well in the long term. What say ye? — Larry H.

You’ve described a situation that explains why people choose the kind of news they want to receive. Conservatives don’t believe they’re getting a fair shot from a mostly liberal news media, so they seek out places — Fox, Newsmax, online websites — where they get a version of the news they won’t get in most other places. I’d prefer a different kind of news landscape, but wishful thinking on my part won’t change reality. CNN tried to move from a reliably liberal news outlet to something more balanced. The guy who ran the new CNN just got canned. So it looks like we’re stuck with what we’ve got, at least for the foreseeable future.

In your opinion, who should the people watch to get well balanced fact-based REAL NEWS? — Ron Long

I like Dan Abrams on NewsNation. His show (at 9pm ET) comes closer to really fair and balanced than the others.

Bernie: Whistleblowers have been in the news lately. The FBI recently had several of their own come forward to allege government abuse and retaliation. In Texas, whistleblowers reported the alleged crimes of AG Ken Paxton, who summarily fired them and just got impeached over it. And Daniel Ellsberg, the original whistleblower of the Pentagon Papers, is dying of pancreatic cancer and has issued advice and warnings for future whistleblowers in Politico. Two questions for you: As a reporter, is there great value or much to be skeptical about when using whistleblowers as sources? Did you consider yourself a whistleblower when you first authored your now-famous op-ed in the Wall Street Journal about bias in American newsrooms? — Steve R.