Recently, A few stories that highlight the vast gulf between the elite mainstream media and your humble correspondents at PJ Media caught my eye.
The first is Donald Trump’s hush money NDA trial in Manhattan.
Pool reporter Zach Schonfeld relayed that “Trump has been leaning back in his chair with his body turned slightly toward [Douglas] Daus as he testifies. The former president’s eyes have been closed for multiple minutes, though he has been fidgeting in his chair, suggesting he’s not actually asleep.”
Another pool reporter, Aysha Bagchi, wrote, “Former President Donald Trump is slouched back in his chair currently, with his eyes often closed for extended periods but sometimes opening slightly. While earlier today he didn’t seem to be watching Hope Hicks directly as she testified, he is now looking at her when he does open his eyes.”
Did any of that happen? How would we know? New York law does not allow cameras in courtrooms, and so we must rely on a handful of privileged reporters to tell us what’s happening. Zach and Aysha may be very nice, but are they truthful reporters? Who knows, but they essentially get to write the history of the first trial of its kind of a former president of the United States.
Even the Los Angeles Times questioned whether we are getting the truth: “At the trial’s outset, some reporters suggested that it appeared there were times that Trump drifted off to sleep while watching the proceedings. The former president’s campaign disputed that. With no video camera in place and trained on him, there’s no way of knowing for sure.”
CBS New York’s Alice Gainer was one of the Chosen Few reporters to be allowed in the courtroom. She described the media coverage there:
I’ll have a guaranteed seat in the main courtroom for most of the trial, but during jury selection all but six reporters are in the overflow room because prospective jurors take up all available seats in the main courtroom.
In overflow, we have a video monitor with four different feeds. The six rotating pool reporters tell us what we can’t see happening in the main courtroom.
So essentially, we’re counting on six reporters to relay the play-by-play of the trial of the century.
This is nothing new, but I’d hoped that we’d made more progress by now. PJ Media (then Pajamas Media) was one of the first websites to break through the control that media gatekeepers held over reporting in the United States. In fact, we were the first non-mainstream-media organization to have a booth at a Republican National Convention. That was back in 2008, and we all believed we were seeing a paradigm shift in media. No longer would the gatekeepers control the news and the narrative. The internet democratized things, giving start-up sites and mommy bloggers alike a voice. It was revolutionary in many ways.
But then we look at the Trump trial, and it feels like we’re right back where we started. PJ Media doesn’t have a seat at the trial, nor do you, Normal American. So we sit and wait for news to trickle out and hope they’re not lying to us. It’s disconcerting, to say the least. Terrifying if you think too hard about it.
The other story that caught my eye is one that our own VodkaPundit wrote about here. A pretentious reporter from The Atlantic (redundant, I know) described his experience sailing on the inaugural voyage of the “Icon of the Seas,” the largest and arguably most extravagant cruise ship ever to hit the high seas. All he could do was weep and complain about the trip for which his employer presumably shelled out $19,000—half the annual salary of one of The Atlantic’s 700 employees!
I can only dream of having a budget like that, let alone 700 employees, to cover important stories and expose corruption in our government and elsewhere. It’s absolutely insane the resources these left-wing echo chambers have. PJ Media only has two full-time staffers—Chris Queen and me—and two part-time employees. The bulk of the writing is done by contractors who are paid way less than they’re worth. Nevertheless, we’re able to publish an average of 30 stories a day! We’re grateful for the hundreds of readers who have taken up for us and supported our work by becoming VIP members.
Thank you, dear readers, for your support, encouragement, and feedback over the years. You make it possible for us to face the headwinds and the nonstop attacks. With your help, we will continue to break through the stronghold the mainstream media has over the messaging and get the truth out. If you’re not yet a VIP member, please consider supporting us for around $2/month ($4/month for VIP Gold). You have my promise that management won’t use your hard-earned money to treat me to a $19k cruise! Sign up here.