You don’t need to consult the ghost of Walter Cronkite to figure this one out.
A story breaks about the president’s half brother needing money to pay for his son’s medical procedure. The brother doesn’t pick up the phone and call the White House for help. Instead, he reaches out to an author and filmmaker whose latest movie critiques the president in serious and profound ways.
“Stop the presses!” Right?
Not exactly.
That very scenario took place last week, and a good faith search at TheWrap.com, EW.com and People.com revealed no stories about Dinesh D’Souza picking up the medical tab for President Barack Obama’s half brother.
D’Souza’s “2016: Obama’s America” is the sleeper hit of the summer, earning more than $2 million on a fraction of the screens available to most mainstream releases. So the story offers multiple tantalizing angles, including the simple fact that the president keeps talking about people paying their fair share and being their brother’s keeper.
What about other entertainment sites that routinely dabble in politics? Surely they lunged at such a meaty story, no matter where they fall on the ideological fault lines.
Movieline.com? Nope.
Deadline.com? No.
IndieWire.com? No, but they did previously slam the film.
Could it be that, because the story reflects poorly on the president, these sites would prefer not to cover it? Nah, liberal media bias is just a myth, of course. The press tells us so all the time.
Follow Christian Toto on Twitter @TotoMovies