ABC taps former Handgun Control Inc. employee Jake Tapper to report on gun issue
By Tim Inwood
As many gun owners are aware, the United Nations is starting their Small Arms and Light Weapons conference in New York City this June. This is yet another assault on our gun rights but, for a change, it is not being launched from Washington D.C. or a state capitol. This conference is part of a global effort to take your guns, and it is gaining momentum.
So while the UN sits down in June to do this, Second Amendment defenders will be watching....but who will Americans be watching to report the facts to us? An unbiased reporter who will give it to us straight? Unless you are watching Fox News, probably not. Most especially not if you are watching ABC. That's because the American Broadcasting Corporation added former Salon.com reporter Jake Tapper to their line-up in July 2003, and has been using him to cover firearms-related stories.
Who is Jake Tapper, you ask? Prior to working for Salon.com, Mr. Tapper worked for Handgun Control Inc. - something that ABC leaves out of his bio on the ABC website. Reporters will frequently tell us that whatever their privately held convictions, they don't let that interfere with giving us the straight story. I have no doubt Jake Tapper will say the same if he is challenged about his credibility. However his writing for Salon.com shows that he is yet another anti-gun leftist hack.
In one March 2001 piece he laments "Still no new gun laws in the wake of Paducah, Jonesboro, Springfield, Columbine and now Santee,...Congress hasn't passed a new gun control law since 1996." (as if we need new anti gun laws constantly). This is not reporting, it is advocacy, and Jake Tapper's writings are full of it. (Included at the bottom of this article are links so you can go look at a smattering of his pieces on guns).
Is this what passes for ABC's standards for a qualified reporter? We should not be surprised, I suppose. For as long as I can remember in my 43 years on this Earth I have heard of liberal bias in the news media. They have always denied it, but I can't help but think they enjoy insulting our intelligence since they have been so blatant about it in recent decades. They have given shows to people like Chris Matthews, who wrote speeches for Jimmy Carter and once worked for Tip O'Neil. George Stephanopolis, one of Bill Clinton's high profile top aids replaced David Brinkley (shoes little George can hardly fill). Tim Russert
was chief of staff for anti-gun Senator Daniel Patrick Moynihan. Katrina Vandenhoovel at CBS was a high ranking aide to Hillary Clinton....but we are told we can expect the networks and CNN, CNBC and MSNBC to cover issues fairly. Uhm, right. By their standards you might as well assign Bill Clinton to cover VFW conventions and a Satanist to do the Vatican beat. I might even suggest ABC hire Rosie O'Donnel to help Mr. Tapper with his stories aimed at the NRA, the UN is a big place after all.
So if you see Jake Tapper this summer standing before the UN smiling and nodding while telling us for our own good we need to eradicate the 650 million firearms privately held in private hands, and how the UN is right in doing this, remember that his mind was made up before he arrived.
Tim Inwood is the current Legislative Liaison and Past President of the Clinton County Farmers and Sportsmen Association, and a volunteer for Buckeye Firearms Association. The writer expresses thanks to those at TheHighRoad.org and AR15.com for bringing issues needing discussion to light.
If you want to express your opinion to ABC about this, please do so here.
To comment on Jake's ABC blog about this, click here.
Samples of historical anything-but-fair-and-balanced reporting from Jake Tapper on guns:
As Atlanta mourns, Washington waits
The NRA's big guns - Meet the 10 biggest obstacles to gun reform legislation
Professor John R. Lott Jr. points out in his book, The Bias Against Guns that there is either a concerted effort to shape the gun debate by the establishment media or gross negligence on their part. Either way the fact remains that the establishment media through their one-sided reporting of the gun issue is making the news instead of simply reporting it.
Right now, supporters who donate $50 or more to the Buckeye Firearms Association will receive a complimentary AUTOGRAPHED copy of Dr. Lott's latest book, The Bias Against Guns. Supplies are limited.
Click the book cover or this link to make an online donation. Please act now! The 2006 campaign season will be a crucial time for this political action committee, and your help is needed.
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