Truth

The Left will tell you that everyone has his/her/zher own truth. Thanks to postmodernism, we’re supposed to believe that objective truth is a myth — a relic of a bygone era.

Of course, if you dig a little deeper and question them, most will reluctantly admit to some level of objective truth (try telling one that you believe he’s an ultra-MAGA fanboy and homophobe, and see how fast he objects to “your” truth).

Unfortunately, it is getting harder and harder to get to the truth when it comes to the news. A social media post caught my eye this week that demonstrates what I’m talking about:

Is there really an Ohio woman storing up urine? I have no idea, and I don’t have the time to search for an answer. I don’t care enough about the story to waste my time on it. It’s silly and innocuous — and kind of funny.

But some stories are not so innocuous. Some have real-world life-or-death consequences. So when it comes to reporting news at PJ Media, I take my job as editor very seriously and do everything in my power to make sure we get the story right. A recent example is our reporting on the hospital in Gaza that was reportedly hit by rocket fire. Hamas propagandists, including those at the New York Times (which we reported here), took what Hamas said as Gospel Truth, even though they have a long history of blaming Israel for their own crimes.

When news dropped about this story, we took a measured approach. Matt Margolis said on our Slack channel that day that he would cover the story. Here’s how the conversation went.

This was our headline:

And Matt’s opening paragraph:

In the aftermath of a blast at a hospital in Gaza City, Hamas accused Israel Defense Forces (IDF) of launching a strike against innocent civilians. However, something wasn’t adding up. Contrary to the claims made by Hamas, which obviously can’t be trusted, there has been evidence contradicting the allegations being made against Israel’s military. In fact, evidence suggests that Hamas may have been responsible for the rocket that hit the hospital, causing a potential mass casualty event. [Emphasis mine]

Notice that we didn’t claim to know with certainty who was to blame but merely speculated as to what could have caused the blast. Contrast that with the evolving New York Times headline, which initially blamed Israel for the attack — full stop:

You would think the vaunted “Gray Lady,” who purports to bring us “all the news that’s fit to print,” would at least have some inkling of doubt when it came to a report from Hamas terrorists, but no. It was antisemitic blood libel against Israel from the get-go.

Now, nearly everyone, even the New York Times, agrees that a Hamas rocket torched the parking lot of a hospital building. There’s no indication that anyone in the hospital was injured.

“A lie travels halfway around the world before the truth puts on its pants,” as the saying goes, and with this story, the consequences of the left’s malfeasance in reporting this story have been devastating. Hamas declared a Day of Jihad, knowing it had left-wing media in its pocket. There have been attacks and threats against Jews worldwide and protests, some of them violent, in defense of poor, defenseless Hamas. Just last night, Jewish students were trapped in a library while a pro-Hamas mob tried to break down the doors. This is incredibly dangerous. It’s a scary time to be a Jew in America. In America!

The bottom line is that there is no such thing as “your truth” and “my truth.” There is one truth in any given news event, and our job at PJ Media is to do our very best to bring you that truth. If we do get a story wrong, we are quick to own up to it. We owe that to you, our readers.

Caveat: When the left-wing fact-checkers claim we’ve gotten a story wrong, it’s almost always because they disagree with our opinions on controversial topics. We don’t really care what they say or do at this point. They’ve throttled us out of existence on social media, and that’s probably never coming back. Even though we miss the revenue, it’s a relief not to have to argue with them aymore. They’re beyond help.

As we head toward 2024 and what will be one of the most consequential and contentious elections of our time, I promise that we’ll continue to seek truth and be diligent in reporting it. It’s not an easy job in this day and age, but we’re going to do our best because the truth matters, and you deserve nothing less from us.

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