Column: 'Public Broadcasting' Bored Silly by Republican Hearings

Attorney General Merrick Garland offered a “fiery defense” in a “grueling hearing” of a House Judiciary Committee “stocked with far-right stalwarts,” as The New York Times described it. The front-page story by Glenn Thrush quoted no Republicans on the cover, just Garland, as Thrush said many Republican “insinuations” against Garland "were not supported by fact.”

At least it made the front page. The Washington Post didn’t even manage that. CNN and MSNBC joined Fox News in offering a decent amount of live coverage, interrupted on CNN by anchor Brianna Keilar calling it an “unserious circus” and reporter Evan Perez wrongly claiming Hunter Biden “has struggled” to sell his amateurish paintings (they made $1.3 million).

A special bucket of opprobrium should go to what they call “public broadcasting,” PBS and NPR. On the PBS NewsHour, they could barely manage a two-minute story on the Garland hearing.

Reporter Lisa Desjardins quoted from Republicans, then added, “Democrats were frank in cross-examination.” Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee asked Garland: “Does the rhetoric regarding the Biden case have any basis in reality?” Garland replied: “No, it does not.”