It usually starts with a reporter with an agenda or a vendetta, depending on your perspective. And it often ends in death threats and concerns about physical safety for those who serve in public office.
In the case of Arizona State Senator Janae Shamp, it all traces back to her decision to lead efforts to examine the Government’s response to the COVID-19 pandemic through an ad-hoc legislative committee. What was expected to be a critical look at decisions that changed the lives of millions, and arguably cost the lives of thousands, made her a target of a liberal media intent on discrediting her before the hearings could occur. There was the predictable media rush to portray this ordinary operating room nurse and rodeo cowgirl as some sort of tinfoil hat wearing lunatic. Rumors were spread that the committee hearing was a secret QAnon operation. And the majority of the reporting was done by reporters who had no intention of seriously covering the content of the hearing itself.
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Because Shamp and her husband had been present at the U.S. Capitol back on January 6th, 2021, liberal activists and so-called “extremist investigators” scoured hundreds of hours of footage from the January 6th rally in the hopes that Shamp and her husband might be caught on film doing something – really anything – wrong.
When it turned out that they arrived at the Capitol after the violence that marred the day, and that their activities consisted largely of Shamp offering first aid to civilians who were inadvertently hit with pepper spray, and participating in the singing of the national anthem, it became enough for reporters to point and shout “She was there!” in their stories and social media posts about her. It did not matter that Shamp and her husband behaved properly and helped others, her mere presence became justification for another round of click bait writing, designed to stir up the worst kinds of animosity that our American political system can generate among its citizens.
And that is when the hate, intolerance, and threats surged against State Senator Shamp. When there are threats of immediate violence or credible threats against the safety or lives of elected officials, they are passed along to Arizona’s Department of Public safety for investigation. Such threats are not particularly rare, but when they result from a media inspired feeding frenzy that distorts reality in a deliberate effort to anger a large portion of a state’s population, they are a strong indication that America’s fourth estate, our free press, is riddled with a cancer that continues to grow and decay its host body.
“Don’t think for a minute that any of these reporters would feel the slightest remorse if their writing led to physical harm against a conservative lawmaker or even someone’s death.” said one long-time Capitol lobbyist who has watched the quality of political coverage decline. “They don’t care, they wouldn’t be bothered, and they’d eagerly write about the violence in the hopes of scoring more clicks.”
As The Federalist’s Mollie Hemingway wrote back in March of this year, in a tweet copied by scores of online readers, “However much you loathe the corporate press, it is not enough.”
Arizona’s elected officials no doubt agree, even as they work to keep themselves and their families safe from the violence generated by the local media corps.
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