By Guy Page
The mainstream media have finally woken up and realized that conservatives no longer care what they think. Now they’re trying to woo us back – in the case of the Burlington Free Press, with $25 gift cards.
A headline on page A5 of today’s Burlington Free Press reads, “Lean to the politically right? Let us know.”
Vermont’s biggest daily print newspaper has changed since I interned there in 1979, learning at the feet of greats like Mike Donoghue and VT Digger’s Jim Welch. Given the liberal lean of the Freeps and chain owner Gannett, the first thought of many readers might be “Why? Starting a registry?”
Editor Emilie Teresa Stigliani assures us that is not the case. This is about Responsible Journalism: “We are in the business of providing you the most relevant and trustworthy information we can offer on any given day.”
Ummm….okay.
“For this reason, I am concerned about a 2020 Gallup poll that found only 10% of Republicans reported having at least a ‘fair amount’ of trust in mass media — which includes newspapers. This number is a record 63 percentage points lower than that of Democrats.”
I know, unbelievable, right? But a poll said so. So it must be true.
In an attempt to stop this arterial bleeding of red voters, Emilie wants us Vermont conservatives to tell a trusted professor of the University of Texas journalism department why we don’t read or watch or listen to the mass media anymore.
Emilie, I can explain that in two words: Hunter. Biden.
Now, you may think I’m referring to Gannett’s longstanding opposition to gun rights, much to the frustration of Vermont hunters. But in case you missed it – certainly your readers did – before the 2020 election, candidate Joe Biden’s son Hunter Biden was caught red-handed getting filthy rich on bribes from China. His dad, A/K/A “the Big Guy,” apparently knew about it, did nothing to stop it, and may have benefited.
Joe Biden now has no chance to stand up to the People’s Republic of China. Like it or not, the PRC’s got the goods on him. The American worker and perhaps the entire world will suffer for his paternal laxity and/or corruption. And Emilie, you never said a word.
For some reason – oh heck we know why, you wanted Trump to lose – the Burlington Free Press, Gannett, and the rest of the ‘mass media’ decided weeks before the election this story just wasn’t news. Neither were the other credible reports of unseemly and possibly illegal election influencing before, during and after Election Day.
In short, Emilie, you and your MSM pals carried the water that doused the hopes of conservatives who want a thriving economy benefiting all Americans, a secure border, peace abroad and law and order at home, free speech, gun rights, right to peaceably assemble, and the right to life of all Americans born and unborn.
There. I told you. Now – where’s my gift card? In the new, China-first Biden economy, I’ll take anything I can get.
Categories: Commentary
OMG! Did you hit the nail on the head with this one Guy.
I don’t subscribe to the BFP, Russian Herald, VT Digger, nor do I watch channel 3 or 5 news anymore. Even FOX News started leaning to the left when Rupert’s Boys took it over, until NEWSMAX Filled the void when they left. Now they all seem to have read the tea leaves are come back to the (good) right side of reporting the news.
Thank you for what you do and how you do it. Your organization inspires me and gives me hope for the future of Our Little State.
Great and Brave Job Guy. 60 year BFP reader, I guess i just like Torture!
I remember the McLure paper, but when he retired he needed to take the $highest offer.
Almost every article, BFP and Gannett omit prime details.
Was that recent Store shooter with a horrid background of mental illness – ALLOWED HIM to buy that wierd semi-rifle with no stock -a weired sort of “hand Gun”
Did the Permit to buy Guns system completely fail??
Very Sad – and a great loss for North Western Vermont.
Thanks Guy, but at least with me, the answer is the totality of the mainstream media’s left leaning and their denial of the obviousness of it. It makes me question their integrity about every issue. The only reason that I do watch them is because as the old saying goes, “keep your friends close, and your enemies closer !” As long as they continue in their bias, they are the enemy.
Emilie, please consider what Guy has given you here. This may be give you cause to re-think some of agendas that drive your journalism.
Great article, Guy, and fine comments, all. Isn’t judge&jury, Oki Soga, that paragon of free-thinking, agenda-less journalism, still an editor with the Free Press, or has he been sacked? In 2016, about the time Soga arrived, the Free press blacklisted a contributing op-ed writer, who for decades had penned numerous letters and op-eds regarding the Israel/Palestine Conflict. Soga didn’t like the editorials’ pro-Israel flavor, so he backlisted the aforementioned contributor. Perhaps he can work for VT Public Radio, CNN, or MSNBC, Boston Globe, NY Times, etc., etc..
Seems to me that IF there had been unbiased reporting in the first place, there would have been no need for a $25 incentive to contribute “conservative” ideas/facts. There should be journalists who are allowed to do that, which it seems has NOT been the case. Every day I read of some employee, teacher, policeman, baker, store owner, etc., being fired or sued for even
innocently stating their opinion/fact or using a word/thought that is unacceptable to the cultural “norms”. What about the rest of us who don’t understand or like the reconfiguring of the English language, pronouns, etc, to suit the current “trends”? I read a lengthy article on what to do if we
use the “wrong pronoun”, which apparently insults someone—very complicated as we are going “off the rails” in our beloved nation.
Guy Page, you hit the bullseye!!
The MEDIA, have drifted so FAR LEFT, I would NOT trust any of them to even help this OLD MAN across an empty street.
How does one sign up? I’m an old radical, and I access various media. But I’m appalled at what is happening and I’d like to tell them. They can even keep the money. I want a voice.
Very amusing. I am a Vermonter-in-exile living in Maryland. After 40+ years of subscribing to the Washington Post, I dropped it last Summer. I get calls from pitchmen trying to woo me back. I tell them that I was fine when editorials were confined to the editorial page but when the entire front page became an anti-Trump editorial I lost interest. The fellow who called last night told me that there was so much more to the paper than politics and he delineated the many other features. I had to laugh as even the sports, local news, and theatre reviews are now “woke” and include irrelevant anti-conservative slants.
@ Kinnie
You hit the nail on the head. I used to subscribe to the NYT and the WAPO. I’ve dropped both; so tired of both rags being nothing but a giant op-Ed page. Four years of their demonization of President Trump and now the deification of Biden. Add to that the continued anti-Israel slant of their writing and it was the final mail in the coffin for me. The NYT has some good recipes but I’ll just use cookbooks or online recipe sites!
As for local VT news? I gave up on the Free Press years ago; they have nothing to say to me. VT Digger has likewise lost my support. Seven Days occasionally surprises me such as with their coverage of the BLM rally backstory so I haven’t given up on them completely. Otherwise, as a Conservative on the Right, VT MSM has nothing to say to me.
Kinnie, “…nothing to say to me.” Wouldn’t it be great if this whole thing bloomed into an opportunity for us to something sensible to them?
It’s not just the Burlington paper. I stopped reading the Bennington Banal years ago. And even the free Manchester Journal is sickening.
Relative and trustworthy! Wow… So glad for Vermont Daily and True North Reports – move over Gannett Corp! Worked for one of their chain outlets in CT many years ago – that branch met its demise and why was so obvious. More to go!!