60 Minutes of Scandal

               Remember earlier this year when Republicans led a crusade within House Committees against the supposed cover-up and scandal within the Obama Administration to prove that Benghazi was more than it seemed? If you’re not a political junkie, it may be hard to remember 8 or 9 “scandals” back to earlier this summer when Republicans were convinced that the September 11th, 2012 attack was the act which would destroy the administration. The attack, which left 4 dead including Ambassador Christopher Stevens, was a terrible tragedy. But Republicans saw it as more than a tragedy. They smelled cover-up, and when 60 Minutes reported “insider information” which seemed to implicate the administration in knowingly leaving those at the Consulate defenseless, they had their proof. After weeks of Sunday morning talk shows and congressional panels which included 18 congressional hearings and 25,000 administration documents, Ambassador Susan Rice was forced to withdraw her nomination to become Secretary of State and Congressional Republicans had once again managed to tie up the President’s legislative objectives in the mire of a “scandal”.

             Too bad that the “insider information” 60 Minutes and CBS chose to run as their exclusive revelation into Benghazi was fictitious, as we learned this week. The story was based on the lone testimony of a security contractor named Dylan Davies who testified under the alias Morgan Jones that he managed to get to the compound during the attack, repel invading forces, and then verified Ambassador Steven’s death during the attack. This was THE SOURCE, the basis for every Fox News article insinuating cover-up for the better part of 2 months. So imagine my surprise last week when it was revealed that Dylan Davies was nowhere near the Benghazi attack and just made up the story to try and grab his 15 minutes of fame, which worked remarkably well. He wasn’t even willing to lie to the FBI or other federal investigators about it, instead admitting he made the entire thing up while sitting in his villa and was now doing remarkably well profiting off the tragedy. Apparently, nobody at CBS or within the 60 Minutes program thought about seriously vetting him even after this simple disclosure. Couple that with the fact that they tried to keep this disclosure on the down-low to avoid potential damage to a book deal a CBS company made with Davies and away we went on a magical scandal ride.

           This is the problem with trying to appear impartial to people who are horribly biased. TV networks and journalists have gotten so paranoid about being called out as liberally biased or part of the evil MSM (that’s Mainstream Media, for those of you who don’t know Red State lingo) that they are trying to make sure every view and fact is presented equally, even when some facts are unequal. Being fair and balanced is a noble goal and journalists have long prided themselves on keeping the government in line as part of their role as the 4th Estate. Journalism is at its core about the search for truth. The problem occurs when, in trying to be fair, you lose track of the truth and instead start the search for sound bites. It doesn’t make a lot of sense to try and give equal coverage to the real diary of Ambassador Stevens and the fake report of Mr. Davies. In trying to seem fair and balanced, 60 Minutes failed of one of the most important rules- verification of the truth. Sometimes tips, facts, and stories just aren’t true. There’s no reason to act like they are for the sake of partisan appeasement. Let’s face it; the readers of Info Wars (the truth is out there!) aren’t any more likely to believe you now than before the story ran and you’ve done irreparable harm to your journalistic integrity. The apology and cancellation of his book is too little, too late to prevent any real damage.

            Journalism isn’t about trying to cater to one political view or another; leave that for the talk show hosts and opinion shows. When a story isn’t fair in the facts, don’t try to make it so just to appease somebody. That’s what journalists do in Pyongyang.

Reprinted from 5th District State Sen. Curt Thompson's (D-Tucker) blog. Thompson represents parts of unincorporated Duluth, Norcross, Tucker, and Lawrenceville. Also, check the senator out on Facebook and Twitter.