The 2016 Election and the Demise of Journalistic Standards - Imprimis

The 2016 Election and the Demise of Journalistic Standards - Imprimis:
"...There was a time not so long ago when journalists were trusted and admired. 
We were generally seen as trying to report the news in a fair and straightforward manner. 
Today, all that has changed. 
For that, we can blame the 2016 election or, more accurately, how some news organizations chose to cover it. 
Among the many firsts, last year’s election gave us the gobsmacking revelation that most of the mainstream media puts both thumbs on the scale—that most of what you read, watch, and listen to is distorted by intentional bias and hostility. 
I have never seen anything like it. 
Not even close.
It’s not exactly breaking news that most journalists lean left. 
I used to do that myself. 
I grew up at The New York Times, so I’m familiar with the species. 
For most of the media, bias grew out of the social revolution of the 1960s and ’70s. 
Fueled by the civil rights and anti-Vietnam War movements, the media jumped on the anti-authority bandwagon writ large. 
The deal was sealed with Watergate, when journalism was viewed as more trusted than government—and far more exciting and glamorous. 
Think Robert Redford in All the President’s Men. 
Ever since, young people became journalists because they wanted to be the next Woodward and Bernstein, find a Deep Throat, and bring down a president. 
Of course, most of them only wanted to bring down a Republican president. 
That’s because liberalism is baked into the journalism cake..."
...Nations without economic liberty usually have little or no dissent. 
That’s not a coincidence. 
In this, I’m reminded of an enduring image from the Occupy Wall Street movement. 
That movement was a pestilence, egged on by President Obama and others who view other people’s wealth as a crime against the common good. 
This attitude was on vivid display as the protesters held up their iPhones to demand the end of capitalism. 
As I wrote at the time, did they believe Steve Jobs made each and every Apple product one at a time in his garage? 
Did they not have a clue about how capital markets make life better for more people than any other system known to man? 
They had no clue. 
And neither do many government officials, who think they can kill the golden goose and still get golden eggs..."
Lots here, read it all!