Maria Bartiromo Debasement Roundup

 One-Time "Money Honey" Trades Credibility for Trump Fealty; What Happens after January 20?

It's really sad to see how far Maria Bartiromo has fallen, at least as a journalist. Those, like

me, who remember her best as the go-to reporter during the glory days of CNBC in the late 90s and 2000s, when the markets were on a roller coaster.

Since 2013, she has been on Fox Business Network and Sundays on Fox News Channel for "Sunday Morning Futures." FBN, like its sibling, has been a predictably friendly forum for Donald Trump. Anchors like Stuart Varney and Lou Dobbs--like Bartiromo, CNN alumni--foment and generally foam at the mouth over anything 45-related. Bartiromo may be less venal, but she is something worse--an enabler for Trump in exchange for access.

That was on exhibit today, when she was on the receiving end of Trump's first interview since Election Day. It's not the first time she's gone one-on-one with Trump. And one reason for that is she throws softballs Big Orange is only too willing to hit out of the park. Even worse, she is all too willing to buy into the whack-a-doodle conspiracy theories Trump and his diminishing minion of minions are trying to palm off. Lies piled on lies, but Bartiromo either stayed silent or leveled broadsides like these.

“Elections are the reason that our young men and women go on battlefields across the world and in some cases lose their lives. Because they believe that their vote, my vote, matters just as much as your vote. And if that is not true, this is a very serious turning point for America. So, this is no longer about you, President Trump. This is about America.”

Eeew. Really does make your stomach churn. But it might be what she needs to do in order to get Fox back in the good graces of Trump, who's been excoriating the network for taking a break from butt-kissing and urging far-righties to abandon Murdoch World for Newsmax and OANN.

And it may have done the trick. As The Washington Post reported, Trump tweeted four clips today. 

More critical coverage of Bartiromo's "interview" can be found at USA Today and CNN ("It was filled with lies"), 

Bartiromo may no longer be the "Money Honey" (a term she reportedly trademarked), but she's mindful of her own bottom line and where she works. We'll see how much her stock falls once her biggest fan decamps for Mar-A-Lago on Jan. 20.

Journal-News Takes Unwarranted Flak over Gun Map

Wheezing Gannett Paper Shows Signs of Life Fulfilling Its Journalistic Mission

You know it's a slow week when a newspaper becomes news. And you know it's a really slow week when that newspaper is The Journal-News, the underachieving (to put it charitably) Gannett property serving New York's northern suburbs (and a former employer of mine from way back when).
The J-N fell into the media's crosshairs this week following publication of an intriguing map that showed readers the names and addresses of registered gun owners in Westchester, Rockland and Putnam counties.
All in all, a pretty cool idea for a paper that's usually devoid of inspiration. Not surprisingly, lots of folks are in a tizzy over this information, and not just the nattering nabobs of negativism at the NRA.
While waiting for my car to be fixed this morning, the TV in the waiting room was turned to Fox & Friends, where substitute co-host Clayton Moore, who will never be mistaken for a rocket scientist, just shook his head and said it's "wrong" what the paper did. His compadres on the couch, Kelly Wright and Juliet Huddy were also doing their "tsks, tsks" and expressing as much outrage as they could muster without a second cup of coffee.
That's been typical of much of the coverage I've seen, which includes useless person-on-the-street interviews that make no mention of the First Amendment or public record laws.
The value of this information is certainly arguable. At best, the map is an interesting sidebar to Newtown. But the fact that some of your friends and neighbors are legally exercising their Second Amendment rights as currently interpreted by the courts is not terribly newsworthy in an of itself.
And the Journal-News could have handled the contretemps a little better. I'm not sure what was the point of the note attached to the article accompanying the map, which mentioned that reporter Dwight Worley, who wrote the piece, "owns a Smith & Wesson 686 .357 Magnum and has had a residence permit in New York City for that weapon since February 2011."
Bully for Dwight. But so what? Does that make him any more qualified to report the story? Nah. Go back into the J-N archives and take a look at the gun control stories I wrote. In 1988. And the last gun I fired was at the riflery range in summer camp.
Also, why is the paper not being more forceful in responding to the reaction to the pece? It has, alternately, either not commented or issued mealy-mouthed canned statements, like this one from publisher Janet Hasson:
“We knew publication of the database (as well as the accompanying article providing context) would be controversial. But we felt sharing information about gun permits in our area was important in the aftermath of the Newtown shootings.”

That's the best you can do, Janet? Given that she's never worked as a reporter., maybe it is.