Grave Implications

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Ethical journalists are driven by a single agenda – chase the truth wherever it leads and report it. The Society of Professional Journalists created the Journalism Code of Ethics to serve as the guiding framework for ethical practices. Its key tenets include seek the truth and report it; minimize harm; act independently; and be accountable and transparent. These tenets are nowhere to be found in most of what passes for reporting today.

 

Jake Tapper is the Chief Washington Anchor for CNN. Last year he authored a book titled "Original Sin” that exposed the Democrat and media cover up of Joe Biden’s mental and physical decline. His laughable attempt to distance himself from one of the greatest frauds ever perpetrated on the American people came in the form of a tepid admission, “I feel like I owe the American people an acknowledgement that I wish I had covered the story better.”

 

Last July when Senator Rand Paul released Dr. Anthony Fauci’s diary, the American people learned that Jake Tapper and his wife had a close personal relationship with Dr. Fauci and his wife. Fauci was the lead voice in shaping the government response to the COVID pandemic. During the time he was advising Americans against any social gatherings, he and his wife were dining at the Tappers. This exposed not only Anthony Fauci’s hypocrisy, but also the clear violation of journalistic ethics by Jake Tapper who could not possibly objectively report on an individual who was a good personal friend.

 

Tapper further damaged any credibility he may have once had on September 15 when he and Gavin Newsom, California’s Democratic Governor and presumed 2028 candidate for President, appeared together fly fishing in Montana. Tapper took a beating on social media for what he called an “interview” but in reality was a promo for Newsom for President – just two cool dudes in their aviator sunglasses fishing and talking.

 

The American people are on to Jake Tapper. His daily show “The Lead” on CNN averages 525,000 viewers, which is 11% of the cable audience. 

 

Marc Caputo is a reporter who works for Axios since January 2025. Previously he worked for Politico. After leaving Politico, Cavuto started talking publicly about how his editors had suppressed reporting on the Hunter Biden laptop, which contained information that would have been very damaging to Joe Biden’s bid for the Presidency. According to Cavuto, he was told “Don’t write about the laptop; don’t talk about the laptop; don’t tweet about the laptop.”  He stayed at Politico and kept his mouth shut. It was only after leaving for a new job that he spoke up about what had transpired.

 

Terry Moran worked for ABC news from 1997 until 2025 when he was fired for calling President Donald Trump a “world class hater” on social media. ABC said he violated its standard of “reporter neutrality.”  Similar to Caputo, it took leaving the organization for Moran to begin exposing the unethical practices he claims were taking place at ABC.

 

According to Moran, ABC editors altered his 2021 story about COVID being caused by a lab leak after first sending it to Anthony Fauci to review. Moran claims he was “absolutely livid,” yet he was willing to keep his mouth shut and continue his employment with ABC.

 

Last week, Moran came forward again claiming that he pushed ABC leadership to report on Biden’s failing health after traveling with him and witnessing firsthand how he had declined. “I tried to do the story of Biden’s health before anybody else did in network, because I’d seen it. And I got shot down very hard.” 

 

The real story of Marc Caputo and Terry Moran is that renowned reporters in “respected” news organizations are actively engaged in suppressing the truth. They don’t seem to recognize that their “after the fact” revelations are meaningless except to expose their own dishonesty.

 

On September 16, Charles Franklin, Director of the Marquette University Law School Poll, released his latest poll with the title “New Marquette Law School national survey finds Democrats expand lead on Congression ballots; Trump approval declines.”  According to the poll Democrats are preferred on the Congressional ballot 54% to Republicans 41% among likely voters, and Democrats are preferred on the Congressional ballot 50% to Republicans 42% among registered voters.

 

This Marquette poll was a nationwide survey of adults using the SSRS Opinion Panel. The SSRS Opinion Panel, established in 2016, is a “representative panel” of individuals who are “randomly selected” and invited to participate. Organizations pay to access this panel and members of the panel make themselves available to regularly respond to survey questions on a variety of topics including employment, religion, family, health care, politics, and more. The Marquette survey was administered online and participants were paid, as is the standard practice for SSRS panel surveys. The Marquette survey included 864 registered voters and 581 likely voters.

 

Charles Franklin knowingly abets dishonest reporters. He presents the raw data without interpretation. Credible researchers spell out the limitations of their findings and elaborate on what conclusions, if any, can be drawn from the data to prevent misuse of their work. If Franklin followed these standards, dishonest journalists would not be able to do exactly what CNN did immediately following the survey’s release.

 

CNN anchor Dana Bash cited the Marquette survey, announcing that Democrats are celebrating the new national poll that has Democrats preferred among likely voters by 13 points on the Congressional ballot over Republicans. Imagine public reaction to Bash’s sweeping proclamation if she disclosed the survey sample consisted of 581 people.

 

Last week President Trump denied access to the White House to CNN, MS NOW, and Politico. He posted his rationale on social media: “Media outlets shouldn’t be able to constantly write or report fiction and lies when they’re covering the President of the United States, the Trump Administration, or the United States of America.”

 

Last Tuesday, Trump spoke to the United Nations General Assembly. In my judgment, it was an outstanding presentation and included important detail about what he has done and is doing in very clear and understandable terms. The American people would have benefited from hearing it. CNN and MS NOW did not cover him live, as is frequently their practice. CNN’s Wolf Blitzer told the audience that CNN would monitor the speech and let the audience know if Trump said anything newsworthy.

 

Reporters are rallying in solidarity with the banned news organizations and pontificating about their “constitutional right” to cover the White House. There is no indication they understand the responsibilities that accompany that right. They speak passionately about the serious implications of this Administration or future administrations banning the free press from covering the Government. I agree, but today we are far more threatened by the grave implications of the corrupt and dishonest media.