Mass media has another try to take down President Trump

The mass media's incessant baying for Trump's blood since his election victory in 2016 helps explain why the latest Gallup pollshows 59% of Americans remain largely mistrustful of the mass media to report the news "fully, accurately and fairly."

Gallup shows that only 13% trust the mass media "a great deal," and 28% "a fair amount".

This is a shocking indictment of the mass media's failure to be accurate and fair.

The New York Times treatment of "the complaint filed by an intelligence officer about President Trump's interactions with the leader of Ukraine" is the latest example.

Five sentences in the complaint have been highlighted and annotations added by the New York Times - but the very first sentence was not:

I am reporting an "urgent concern" in accordance with the procedures outlined in 50 U.S.C. §3033(k)(5)(A).

This section reads:

(5)(A) An employee of an element of the intelligence community, an employee assigned or detailed to an element of the intelligence community, or an employee of a contractor to the intelligence community who intends to report to Congress a complaint or information with respect to an urgent concern may report such complaint or information to the Inspector General.

The complainant did not make the complaint to the Inspector General as required.

He addressed it directly to:

The Honorable Richard Burr Chairman Select Committee on Intelligence United States Senate and The Honorable Adam Schiff Chairman Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence United States House of Representatives.

The New York Times should have added an additional annotation pointing out the unlawfulness of the complainant's action by setting out the provisions of U.S.C. §3033(k)(5)(D)(ii) which states:

(ii) An employee may contact the congressional intelligence committees directly as described in clause (i) only if the employee-

(I) before making such a contact, furnishes to the Director, through the Inspector General, a statement of the employee's complaint or information and notice of the employee's intent to contact the congressional intelligence committees directly; and

(II) obtains and follows from the Director, through the Inspector General, direction on how to contact the congressional intelligence committees in accordance with appropriate security practices.

Failure to comply with these strict reporting procedures resulted in a State Department official, Mr. T. Ulrich Brechbuhl, being outed in the complaint as having listened in on President Trump's call with President Zelenskyy.

Had the complaint been lodged lawfully - Schiff may never have seen the complaint whilst Brechbuhl's name and maybe other parts of the complaint could have been redacted.

Schiff seemingly had received the complaint unlawfully on 12 August – yet in the New York Times on 17 September Schiff was demanding acting director of national intelligence Joseph Maguire:

...turn over a whistle-blower complaint made to the inspector general for the intelligence agencies.

Schiff's public grilling of Maguire before the House Intelligence Committee on why due process was not followed was a sham and seemingly an abuse of his power as Committee Chairman.

Schiff's questionable conduct closely follows Department of Justice Inspector General Michael Horowitz's report vindicating the dismissal of former FBI Director James Comey for leaking to the mass media.

Another sentence not highlighted and annotated by the New York Times stated:

One White House official described this act as an abuse of this electronic system because the call did not contain anything remotely sensitive from a national security perspective.

False, inaccurate and unfair reporting about this whistleblower's complaint will continue notwithstanding – as more readers and viewers of the mass media defect in droves seeking far more credible news and analysis elsewhere.

The mass media has again become the media massed against Trump.