The Hunter Biden saga has only escalated in the days following his plea deal with his father’s administration, particularly as two IRS whistleblowers have been sounding the alarm about alleged misconduct with the Justice Department’s handling of the investigation.
However, members of the legacy media aren’t exactly covering the IRS whistleblowers; they’re covering IRS “whistleblowers,” in scare quotes.
The New York Times made news on Tuesday when it confirmed a claim made by IRS investigator Gary Shapley, who alleged that U.S. Attorney David Weiss told multiple people the DOJ rejected his requests to bring harsher charges against Hunter Biden in California and Washington, D.C. Instead of labeling him a whistleblower in the article, the Times described him as “testifying under what Republicans say are whistle-blower protections.”
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“In today’s lesson of blatantly biased media outlets, the New York Times gives the Hunter Biden IRS whistleblowers the quotes-around-the-whistleblower-word treatment to imply skepticism regarding their credibility and/or allegation. Just incredible,” Fox News contributor Joe Concha similarly reacted.
Tristan Leavitt, Shapley’s attorney, took a swipe at Baker, writing that “it’s irresponsible to keep putting ‘whistleblower’ in quotes to write about Gary Shapley & the other IRS agent. Especially when the @nytimes has confirmed their key allegation of obstruction!”
On Wednesday’s installment of “Today,” NBC ran a banner that read “Hunter Biden ‘whistleblower’ speaks out” in reaction to CBS News’ interview with Shapley, who had provided testimony to Congress about the DOJ interference he said he faced while spearheading the investigation.
NBC added quotation marks to the word “whistleblower” in its on-air graphic during a report about IRS agent Gary Shapley. (Screenshot/NBC News)
Later in the day, Los Angeles Times senior legal affairs columnist Harry Litman flatly told MSNBC’s Andrea Mitchell that Shapley is “not” a whistleblower.
“A whistleblower goes within the agency, follows the procedure, says something wrong has happened. This guy is just a complainer with maybe a political ax to grind or maybe just professional,” Litman said.
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And as Ross pointed out on Twitter, Litman previously celebrated convicted intel leaker Reality Winner being dubbed “2021 Whistleblower of the Year” by the Constantine Cannon Whistleblower Team.
“#RealityWinner wins a tough and righteous competition for Whistleblower of the Year,” Litman wrote in February 2022.
Meanwhile, The Washington Post was ahead of the trend, running a story last week with the headline “Who are the House GOP’s ‘whistleblowers’ about Biden and the FBI?” which recapped all the whistleblowers who have come forward to Congress, in addition to the IRS officials.
Fourth Watch media critic Steve Krakauer call the use of scare quotes “instructive.”
“When quotation marks are used by the press in circumstances it feels like they aren’t warranted, it’s usually a red flag that whatever is contained within the quotes is true and the quotes aren’t necessary at all,” Krakauer told Fox News Digital. “But the quotes provide a bit of a buffer for the audience — a sign to their consumers that you should be distrustful of this phrase or word. Because the corporate media claims they try to be ‘fair’ — but often their hypocrisy is pretty obvious.”
