Topic: CNSNews.com
CNSNews.com has a White House press pass, it seems, and the CNS reporter who has it a majority of the time is Melanie Arter.
But according to ConWebWatch research, Arter is using that press pass the way the Trump administration would like the news media to act: as a servile stenographer.
In September and October alone, Arter wrote 26 articles that primarily or entirely -- including making it the story's lead element -- are simply repeating what White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders said, largely without full context, fact-checking or analysis.
Here they are:
- White House: Decision on DACA Expected Tuesday
- WH: Trump Had Two Options on DACA - Both of Which Would Shut Down the Program
- WH: If Congress Won’t Do Its Job, They Should Step Aside and Let Someone Else Do It
- WH: Trump Right for Firing Comey Given Comey’s False Testimony, Leaking of Privileged Information
- WH on Whether Trump Would Encourage DOJ to Prosecute Comey: ‘That’s Not the President’s Role’
- WH: Trump Did ‘More for Bipartisanship in the Last 8 Days Than Obama Did in 8 Years’
- WH: Trump Meets with Sen. Tim Scott About Improving Race Relations, Unifying the Country
- White House: ESPN Should Hold Employees to ‘a Fair and Consistent Standard’ on Political Speech
- WH: Trump’s Comments on NFL About ‘Honoring Our Flag’
- WH to Puerto Rico: We Are All Behind You
- WH: ‘Premature’ to Talk About Policies Like Gun Control Until All Facts Are Known About Las Vegas Shooting
- WH: ‘There Will Be No Conversations With North Korea’ - Unless Talking About Detained Americans
- WH: Trump ‘Deeply Touched’ by Shooting Survivor Who Rose to His Feet to Meet Him Despite Leg Wound
- White House ‘Open’ to Conversation About Banning or Regulating Bump Stocks
- WH: 'Sad' That San Juan’s Mayor Chose to Make a Political Statement With 'Nasty' T-Shirt
- WH ‘Glad’ to See NFL ‘Taking Positive Steps’ Towards Asking Players to Stand for Anthem
- WH Says Trump Joking When He Said He'd Win IQ Contest Against Tillerson
- WH: Sen. Corker ‘Entitled to His Own Opinion, But He’s Not Entitled to His Own Facts’
- WH Says It’s a ‘Disgrace’ Media Is Making Trump’s Phone Call to Widow Into Something It Wasn’t
- WH: Media’s Focus on Trump’s Phone Call Should Have Ended After Kelly’s Comments
- WH: Rep. Flake's Retirement ‘Probably a Good Move’
- WH: History Will Remember Trump’s Achievements on Economy, Defeating ISIS
- WH: ‘If There Was Any Collusion With Russia, It Was Between the DNC and the Clintons’
- WH: Mueller Indictments Have Nothing to Do With Trump
- WH: There's a Difference Between a Meeting and Millions Spent on ‘Fake Information to Actually Influence the Election’
- WH: ‘All of Our Leaders Have Flaws’
That's 26 stories by Arter in which the White House saying something is presented as the most important aspect of the article and in the headline -- something that fully functioning journalistic judgment should tell you is not accurate. A spokesperson's parroting of official talking points about a given thing is almost never the most important thing said about it, let alone worthy of an article in its own right, yet Arter is repeatedly portraying it as such.
In short, she's a stenographer, not a reporter. And CNS is paying her to do exactly that.
