Intentionally misleading reporting - a news room tradition at the Washington Post

Huh?  The past three days X has been filled with variants of this news clip.  

WAPO reporter doubles down: You didn’t say that you condemn white supremacy though.

She immediately regrets it.@VivekGRamaswamy isn’t going to play the game. pic.twitter.com/2NHshriVZa

— Chris Carapezza (@Chris_Carapezza) January 3, 2024

On the right, of course, there are various claims of Republican presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy as having owned the Washington Post reporter Meryl Kornfield for having asked a stupid gotcha question intended to trap and embarrass Ramaswamy rather than shed any useful light.  

And indeed, viewing the video, it was a manipulative gotcha question and his muscular response was refreshing.  Once again, the Ben Rhodes journalist were out trying to create an agenda where there was no agenda and they were mocked by the supposed victim in front of the the profession and nation.  

Rhodes specified that the journalists were 27 years old and Kornfield appears to only be 25 but the point holds.  They don't know much about . . . anything.  Not about journalism and ethics, not about rhetoric, not about military tactics (where reverse ambushes are not infrequent), not about social norms.  

None of this is out of the ordinary other than what happened next.  They had their exchange.  A little bit of spice in the midst of the drudgery of a campaign.  But Ramaswamy, in upbraiding Kornfield for the unsophisticated attempted ambush, made a specific prediction that would demonstrate whether he understood what was going on and whether Kornfield was just an ideological hack.  

Ramaswamy continued, "And I know you're going to go print the headline tomorrow. I already know this, we already know how your game works. 'Vivek Ramaswamy Refuses to Condemn Racism,' because you asked a stupid question. The reality is, I condemn vicious racial discrimination in this country, but the kind of vicious and systematic racism we see today is discrimination on the basis of race in a very different direction."

One would think, having been called out as an ideologically religious obsessive and embarrassed before her peers and the nation that Kornfield would have then taken great pains not to appear to fulfill Ramaswamy's prediction.

One would think that and one would be wrong.  She went right ahead and fulfilled his prediction.

Given that there should be a high probability that she will erase her tweets, I render it as an image but the originals are here.  

Click to enlarge.

"He said he condemns “vicious racial discrimination”" is obviously a correct quote of Ramaswamy but she can't help herself.  She has to try and make this son of Hindu emigrants into a white racist.  She conditions her quote of him with "but would not “bend the knee” and condemn white supremacy."

What is the disease that afflicts these naive and unknowing credentialed Cretins?  Of course the answer is almost certainly in the leaves of Eric Hoffer's True Believers but their actions seem almost incomprehensible.  

She got caught practicing racist ideology and partisan politics under the guise of journalism and instead of being embarrassed or laying low, she doubled down.  As Kenny Rogers noted in The Gambler.  

And the night got deathly quiet

And his face lost all expression

Said, "If you're gonna play the game, boy

You gotta learn to play it right

You've got to know when to hold 'em

Know when to fold 'em

Know when to walk away

And know when to run

Ramaswamy made a prediction based on her actions and behaviors.  He predicted she would confirm his prediction and then . . . she did.  Everybody expected she would fold and walk away but she doubled down.  

Clever of Ramaswamy from a rhetorical stance.  He framed it so that she would either back away from her ridiculous question or she would hold fast.  But if she held fast and embraced his prediction, she would be also confirming the characterization upon which his forecast was made.

Am I going to play your silly game of 'Gotcha'? No, I'm not. And frankly, this is why people have lost trust [in the media]."

[snip]

And frankly, this is why people have lost trust [in the media]. 

 

Ramaswamy continued, "And I know you're going to go print the headline tomorrow. I already know this, we already know how your game works. 'Vivek Ramaswamy Refuses to Condemn Racism,' because you asked a stupid question. The reality is, I condemn vicious racial discrimination in this country, but the kind of vicious and systematic racism we see today is discrimination on the basis of race in a very different direction."

[snip]

"You people have been responsible for dividing this country to a breaking point, creating a projection of national division. . . . And you, with your catechism that you try to get politicians to -- whatever fake headline you're going to print on the basis of this conversation tomorrow -- that's what's dividing this country to a breaking point. Shame on you. Look people in the eye and tell them what you've actually failed to tell them for the last five years. Own the accountability for your own failures as the media -- that's how we rebuild trust in this country. And until then, I don't have a lot of patience to play the games."

No, Meryl Kornfield is now on record as demonstrating that she should not be trusted as a journalist.  Pity for her but her choice.

What is it with the Washington Post with young(ish) Woke reporters getting into trouble owing to an absence of professionalism and an overabundance of fealty to Wokedom - Meryl Kornfield, Taylor Lorenz, Felicia Sonmez, etc. Are there any real journalists left over there?  

Of course the Washington Post has a long history of lax editorial oversight.  I was at Georgetown University in Washington, D.C. where the Washington Post is the hometown paper when the whole Janet Cooke "Jimmy's World" imbroglio broke in 1980.  43 years of untruthful reporting - seems like it is systemic for the Washington Post.