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The New York Times recently published a hissy fit about the White House allowing reporters into the Briefing Room who didn't vote for Kamala Harris. Here was the amazing protest sentence: "Longtime White House reporters say the result has been an erosion of their independence."

The presence of a reporter who didn't vote Democrat doesn't "erode" the anti-Trump animus ("independence") of liberal activist journalists. It might balance it, suggesting journalism and liberalism are not exactly the same thing.

This spurred a trend. Politico's Ian Ward profiled these invaders under the headline "Meet the 8 MAGA Outlets Disrupting the White House Briefing Room." It carried the usual labeling about "the divide between the MAGA-friendly media and their more mainstream counterparts." The extreme hatred of Trump is "more mainstream."

Then came CNN's Donie O'Sullivan, who loves to wade into MAGA crowds, trying to find the dumbest-sounding Trump supporter he can find. In this case, he went looking for the dumbest-sounding White House reporter. The headline over the video was "'Do you consider yourself a journalist?' CNN meets MAGA media at White House."

O'Sullivan showed clips of these pro-Trump reporters admitting their bias, and he proclaimed, "These are White House correspondents like you've never seen before." Really? He spotlighted Cara Castronuova of Lindell TV asking if they'll release Trump's fitness routine, since he "actually looks healthier than ever before." In 2009, a Washington Post reporter touted Obama's "chiseled pectorals."

Then O'Sullivan replayed Real America's Voice reporter Brian Glenn asking Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky, "Why don't you wear a suit?" He suggested to Glenn he was "trolling," but it's a question lots of Americans would ask.

Natalie Winters from Steve Bannon's "War Room" podcast said, "If it were up to me, I'd kick a lot of these outlets out." In other words, she has the same opinion as CNN, only reversed.

O'Sullivan asked Winters, "Do you consider yourself a journalist?" He said many say, "You don't deserve to be here because you're not a real journalist." She attacked the pro-Biden media: "I'm pretty sure the people in there spent four years covering for someone who was essentially dead, and that's being charitable. ... You guys failed, and that's why we're here."

CNN exemplified the point last year when anchor Dana Bash was deeply troubled over bumbling-Biden videos. They were "amplified on conservative media that in some cases are just not right and in other cases are highly, highly misleading of President Biden."

O'Sullivan lectured about the "new media" people: "A lot of them are more cheerleading President Trump than challenging him." He ended by quoting White House Correspondents' Association leader Eugene Daniels: The public "needs news produced by experienced, professional journalists who ask tough questions and produce fair coverage."

Under Biden, Daniels wasn't known for asking "tough questions." At the 2024 Kamala cuddlefest before the National Association of Black Journalists, Daniels began by gently asking if the American people were better off after four years. Daniels went on shows such as "Washington Week" on PBS and denied Kamala was ever "border czar" and insisted she was a victim: "We've already seen a lot of racism and sexism, and that's going to be a huge part of this campaign."

Then there's CNN itself. One of the most memorable tongue-bath questions came in 2009, when then-New York Times reporter Jeff Zeleny asked President Obama what "enchanted" him about being president. Then-CNN anchor John Roberts praised the softball and Obama's "thoughtful" answer. Zeleny was later hired by CNN.

Reporters asking softballs at the White House is nothing new. It's okay when the "mainstream" does it for Democrats.

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Tim Graham is director of media analysis at the Media Research Center and executive editor of the blog NewsBusters.org. To find out more about Tim Graham and read features by other Creators Syndicate writers and cartoonists, visit the Creators Syndicate website at www.creators.com.

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