Gallup released its annual poll on media trust this week, and you’ll never guess what they found:
A) Trust in media is making a comeback
B) Trust in media is at an all-time low
The thinking here is 99.9 percent of you answered B, and yes…you’re correct. Since Watergate, the percentage of Americans who find media as a whole trustworthy is now down 34 percent. It’s getting so bleak, even the fact checkers need to be fact-checked. Enter the Washington Post and one of its fact-checkers, Michelle Ye Hee Lee, who–more than anyone else at that paper–needs to put her biases aside and look at stories every day objectively in an effort to come to a logical conclusion on who gets the oft-cited paper’s Pinocchios (and how many) and who does not.
Ms. Ye Hee Lee came under harsh scrutiny last week when coming to the curious conclusion that Carly Fiorina’s claim of going from secretary (by all and every account, she was) to eventually a CEO deserves three Pinocchios. Why? Because, according to Ye Hee Lee, Fiorina had advantages other secretaries simply did not in becoming the first woman CEO of a Fortune 20 company in history, which therefore means she’s somehow lying about her resume, or something. Said fact-checker also notes that Fiorina’s working career didn’t actually begin until she received an advanced degree (MBA), therefore making any job she held prior irrelevant. Per Ye Hee Lee’s column:
We strive for consistency in how we apply these ratings. In this case, Fiorina’s career really began after she received her MBA, when she was hired as an AT&T sales representative.
Anyone know a good chiropractor? But the real comedy came on Tuesday, when Ye Hee Lee decided to send out this Tweet:
How much of Planned Parenthood’s services are abortions? Our #FactChecker — http://t.co/lOxjyqjjkR #standwithpp #pinkout
— Michelle Ye Hee Lee (@myhlee) September 29, 2015
Interesting hashtags at the end there, no? Because that’s not taking a side on Planned Parenthood or anything. And look, you can support PP or say it should be defunded. That’s not what this column is about. Instead, ask yourself how an allegedly objective, down-the-middle fact checker for one of the most influential newspapers in the world, can expose her bias like that and think it’s OK.
If she wants to take a side, by all means go for it. It’s called the editorial section. It’s what this column is…an opinion. So when Ye Hee Lee was called out on Twitter, her response was even more laughable:
@fantine21 Is there a hashtagfor the other side? Happy to tweet it out there too. I was only aware of those 2.
— Michelle Ye HeeLee (@myhlee) September 29, 2015
Upon checking for all of 18 seconds, here’s an opposition hashtag used by small-time names like Ted Cruz, Rick Santorum, Dana Loesch and Wayne Dupree: #defundpp.
So will Ms. Ye Hee Lee fact check herself and apologize, both for repeated bias and for insulting our intelligence? Of course not. #applyforanopinionwriterjobplease
Gallup says trust in media has gone deeper into the sewer than ever before. It’s so bad now, even the fact-checkers need to be checked.
Actually, scratch the word “bad” from that last sentence. Replace it with sad instead.
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