Who would have guessed that with founder Tina Brown out the door, the Daily Beast could become an even bigger garbage fire. Enter editor-in-chief John Avlon, and what you have is the left-wing outlet serving up a 2015 jam-packed with serial-face plants. The Daily Beast was never much more than a Gawker-lite outlet, but somehow new-depths were achieved this year.
Walker’s AG and Undergrads Hate His Sex Assault Cut: The 2016 Hopeful Just Made a Bunch of Enemies
Scott Walker’s budget proposal to delete the requirement that universities report sexual assault cases has not only turned students against him, but also his Republican attorney general.
Except, you know, it wasn’t even close to true.
Daily Beast editor Justin Miller Twitter-screams “F*ck You!” at Rand Paul.
Miller later apologized and returned to hiding behind a phony shield of objectivity. A few months later, the shrill obscenities were back when Miller exploited a mass-shooting to restrict our Second Amendment civil rights.
The Daily Beast breaks the amazing news that Mitt Romney is running for president … in 2016!
To make matters worse, the outlet then tried to cover up its error with a stealth edit.
Why be right when you can be first?
A graver example occurred at the end of the year, when the Beast falsely identified one of the suspects in the mass shooting in San Bernardino, California. Not only did the article confuse Navy veteran Syed Raheel Farook with his brother and the actual suspect, Syed Rizwan Farook, the site also published details and photographs of the wrong brother that were passed around instantly via social media. (A paragraph describing the apparently exotic basmati rice and sandals visible in Farook’s home did not go down well among many readers, either.)
Syed Raheel Farook is a decorated Navy veteran.
Daily Beast Didn’t Know American Was Stuck In Iran When It Published Anonymous Story Attacking Him
On Sept. 15, The Daily Beast published an article by “Alex Shirazi” — a fake name that the news outlet said was a pseudonym for a “a well-known Iranian dissident” — describing Iranian-American businessman Siamak Namazi as part of “The Shady Family Behind America’s Iran Lobby.”
As much as I despise the media, doing something like this — wow.
Daily Beast Executive Editor Calls For ‘Boycott’ of Donald Trump
Dripping with sanctimony, John Avlon not only defended this, he revealed that these weirdos refer to one another as “beasts.”
“First, all Beasts are entitled to their own opinion on social media.”
“Second, a core part of our mission is to stand up to bullies, bigots and hypocrites.”
This, coming from the same bigots who confused a terrorist with a decorated Navy Veteran.
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The Daily Beast identifies as an objective news outlet.
Follow John Nolte on Twitter @NolteNC
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