Why the Hunter Biden allegations got so little traction: Howard Kurtz
Fox News' 'Mediabuzz' host discusses The New York Times report authenticating emails that appeared to come from Hunter Biden's laptop on 'Special Report.'
It was once routine that damning reports about the president published by The New York Times would lead nearly every news program. That is no longer the case, at least under President Biden.
The Times ran a lengthy story Wednesday diving into the Justice Department's ongoing investigation of Biden's son Hunter and how a grand jury is still collecting witness testimony and records regarding his business dealings overseas. The Times also verified the explosive emails first published by the New York Post in October 2020, just weeks before the presidential election, that implicated then-candidate Biden despite public denials he had anything to do with his son's finances.
Since Wednesday evening, the Times' report has received zero attention on the five major networks.
ABC, CBS and NBC made no mention of Hunter Biden on their morning and evening newscasts on Thursday or Friday, according to Grabien transcripts. Neither CNN nor MSNBC dedicated time to the ongoing scandal despite being 24-hour news networks.
Additionally, CNN media correspondent Brian Stelter also ignored the Times' report in his media-centric "Reliable Sources" newsletter, but managed to squeeze in a mention about Meghan Markle's newest podcast.
Hunter Biden and his father, President Joe Biden. (Photo Credit: Getty Images)
In November, the five networks similarly avoided another Times report that alleged an investment firm that counts Hunter Biden among its founders helped a Chinese company purchase one of the world’s most lucrative cobalt mines from an American company while his father was vice president, renewing concerns about potential conflicts of interest and whether the now-current president had any knowledge about his son's business dealings, which he had previously denied.
The legacy media collectively disregarded the reporting from the New York Post that shed light on Hunter Biden's questionable financial ties, suggesting it was all a right-wing conspiracy or that it was the product of "Russian disinformation."
NEW YORK TIMES FINALLY CONFIRMS HUNTER BIDEN'S LAPTOP AFTER DISMISSING IT AMID 2020 ELECTION
CNN's top executives, including then-president Jeff Zucker and political director David Chalian, were caught telling staff on a conference call they were spiking the Post's reporting on Hunter Biden, according to leaked audiotapes published by Project Veritas.
In the days leading up to the 2020 election, personalities on CNN, MSNBC, CBS and NBC all downplayed the Hunter Biden scandal while ABC News completely ignored the story, according to a study.
Brian Stelter, a staunch defender of the establishment media who has a reputation among critics as being a "hall monitor," was confronted by Washington Times correspondent Susan Ferrechio as the Hunter Biden scandal was unfolding in October 2020, a rare moment for anyone in the media to be pressed about the dismissal of the New York Post's reporting.
Ferrechio called out the double standard, going all-in on every Trump-Russia collusion report, mocking how the media "now" has "ethics" when it comes to reporting about the Biden family.
"How dare - don't you dare!" Stelter shouted at her. "Don't you dare act like newsrooms didn't have ethics in 2017 and 2018."
"Oh, I know they didn't. You can 'Don't you dare' me all you want, Brian. I've been doing this for 30 years," Ferrechio fired back. "Say whatever you want. It's my view and I have the right to say it."
The New York Times itself also went to great lengths to dismiss the Post's reporting. However, the so-called "paper of record" changed its tune this week.
Hunter Biden. (Randy Holmes via Getty Images)
"The investigation, which began as a tax inquiry under the Obama administration, widened in 2018 to include possible criminal violations of tax laws, as well as foreign lobbying and money laundering rules, according to the people familiar with the inquiry," the Times wrote on Wednesday. "But prosecutors face a number of hurdles to bringing criminal charges, the people familiar with the investigation said, including proving that Mr. Biden intentionally violated the Foreign Agents Registration Act, or FARA, which requires disclosure to the Justice Department of lobbying or public relations assistance on behalf of foreign clients."
Buried in the Times piece was a paragraph addressing a "cache" of emails the paper reviewed as part of its report.
"People familiar with the investigation said prosecutors had examined emails between Mr. Biden, Mr. Archer and others about Burisma and other foreign business activity. Those emails were obtained by The New York Times from a cache of files that appears to have come from a laptop abandoned by Mr. Biden in a Delaware repair shop. The email and others in the cache were authenticated by people familiar with them and with the investigation," the Times wrote.
The laptop the Times referred to was the same laptop at the center of the New York Post's explosive reporting, which published several emails that came from a copy of Hunter Biden's hard drive just weeks before the 2020 election.
The New York Times on Wednesday subtly confirmed the Hunter Biden laptop story that was largely written off by mainstream news outlets as disinformation when the New York Post first reported it ahead of the 2020 presidential election, and media watchdogs want to see the organizations that initially dismissed it correct their reporting. (Getty images | New York Post)
The editorial board of the New York Post had choice words for the Times' long-delayed corroboration of its reporting, writing, "Forgive the profanity, but you have got to be s---ting us."
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"In the heat of the presidential race of 2020, the Times never missed a chance to cast doubt on the laptop, saying the information was 'purported' and quoting a letter from former Democratic officials who claimed — with no evidence — that it was Russian disinformation. As recently as September 2021, the Times called the laptop ‘unsubstantiated’ in a news story," the Post wrote Thursday. "Readers of the Times have discovered in March 2022 that Hunter Biden pursued business deals in Europe and Asia, and may have leveraged his father’s position as vice president to do it. Hunter also may not have properly registered with the government or declared all his income. All legitimate topics of discussion about a presidential candidate’s family, no?… Readers of The Post have known this since October 2020."
Fox News' Brian Flood contributed to this report.