Though I’m a media analyst with some three decades or so of experience in analyzing and dissecting the media, I’ll be the first one to admit that I’m not a “media expert” (though I’ll put my creds up against self-styled “expert” Brian Stelter’s any day of the week).
But while I’m also not a mechanic, when I smell a strange smell or hear a weird noise coming from my car, I know something’s wrong with it. This same instinct is also present when it comes down to poor journalism. That’s what inspired this post.
We’ve previously reported on the media’s obsession with painting anyone who uses the “Let’s go, Brandon” expression (code for “F*** Joe Biden”) as a wannabe “insurrectionist” or whatever, even though using expletives to express one’s disdain for occupants of the Oval Office goes back centuries and, last I checked, was considered protected First Amendment speech.
And as recently as the Trump years, we were reliably told by the press that such gestures as flashing the middle finger at the POTUS as he rode by in a motorcade was considered one’s “patriotic duty.”
The rules were changed to protect the precious because we have a Democratic president. And as such, the New Rules give us questionable “reporting” like the story below, in which the police chief of a small town in New Jersey (population 93,000) gets blown up by a Daily Beast “reporter” for the sin of wearing a “Let’s go, Brandon” pro-Donald Trump sweater at a Christmas party:
EXCLU: Police Chief Wore ‘Let’s Go Brandon’ Sweater to Christmas Party
Experts and residents were enraged at the embrace of a far-right catchphrase at an “Ugly Sweater Party.”https://t.co/N0uByRg93H via @thedailybeast
— Pilar Melendez (@pbmelendez) February 4, 2022
From the “exclusive” story, we learn that Hamilton Township Police Chief Gregory Ciambrone appeared at an “ugly sweater” Christmas party some time on or before December 5th, 2021, which was the date the photo was uploaded to Facebook, according to the Daily Beast’s Pilar Melendez.
Melendez also interviewed some supposed locals who were fauxfended by the horrifying display, noting the display had “struck a nerve”:
A police chief who uses a right-wing catchphrase to jokingly or in other ways strikes a nerve in a nation still reeling from police brutality, and struggling with an ongoing lack of trust in police enforcement.
“Can’t believe he wore that in public to a party,” one area resident, who wished to remain anonymous for fear of retribution but knows the chief, told The Daily Beast on Monday.
Because Hamilton is known for making it difficult to feel loved by Joe Biden supporters, this video shows how Hamilton’s chief was identified. It was as though the situation required a line-up police of suspects.
The incredulous resident was among many who confirmed that Ciambrone was the one in The Daily Beast photo. The photo also matches up with images of Ciambrone that have been posted on the police department’s official Facebook pages and in local media outlets.
Though the reporterette suggested she consulted with multiple “criminal justice experts,” exactly one – who we were told was “aghast” – was quoted in the piece:
“Police executives should refrain from making comments that violate their agency rules of conduct or portray police in a poor light where it would question their ability to fairly and impartially enforce the law,” [Penns Grove, New Jersey Police Director Richard Rivera] added.
In theory, Rivera said, the Hamilton Township committee that appointed Ciambrone could be forced to investigate the sweater—and possibly discipline Ciambrone—if a resident were to file a formal complaint.
Correct me if I’m wrong here, but pretty sure that evening Small Town, America, law enforcement has better things to do than “investigate” their police chief for wearing a sweater that some town gossips find “offensive.”
But beyond that, this is the kind of story you typically see in tiny one-page news bulletins like the “Peach Fuzz Journal” on an extremely slow news day, not a purported national news outlet and especially not at a time where there’s a crapton going on in this country that deserves more attention than a police chief in Anytown, USA who got “caught” wearing an LGB sweater two months ago and we’re just now hearing about it.
We would love to know more about this man if he was involved with something illegal or seriously questionable, such as hoarding drugs and cash from crime scene seizures. But he doesn’t sound like the type.
In fact, Melendez reports in the piece that the chief has “received multiple awards” and is well-educated, having dedicated his life to law enforcement since 1997.
But let’s pile on him over a “Let’s Go, Brandon” sweater, because out of all the things we’re having to deal with in America, this one makes the top of the list.
Melendez was a participant in bad reporting at DBs before. dunked accordinglyCommenters, including Bonchie who is our commenter replied: “This is the most pathetic piece I’ve ever seen. Congrats.”
My colleague makes a good point, as per usual.
Flashback–>> Watch: The First Official Utterance of ‘Let’s Go Brandon’ Has Been Made on the House Floor
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