The perils of undercover journalism

It’s pretty likely my readers are familiar with Project Veritas journalist James O’Keefe, who is best known for being the man behind videos recorded undercover much like investigative journalism used to be done by “60 Minutes” and other such shows. His latest target has drawn interest from journalists around the state because Thiruvendran “Thiru” Vignarajah is a Deputy Attorney General for the state of Maryland. In eleven minutes we found out he’s a closet gun grabber (which seems to be a prerequisite for working with Maryland AG Brian Frosh), he has no real issue with giving out privileged information (although most of us could have guessed this would be the outcome), his boss doesn’t want to be governor, and he’s trapped in a loveless marriage. (Given the situation the undercover journalist put herself into, one has to wonder what Vignarajah does off-hours at these conferences. Meeting in a non-public place is a little suspicious.)

But the coverage of this footage, whether local, state, or national, prefaces their description of O’Keefe as “conservative” journalist. Yet you never hear about stories coming from the “liberalNew York Times or “left-leaning” Washington Post. It’s evident the reporting is trying to defend Vignarajah as a victim of “gotcha” biased conservative journalism with ulterior motives.

Yet, as always, the truth is somewhere in the middle. While it’s rather embarrassing for the Deputy AG to admit there are times he doesn’t know what he’s doing, it’s not like he’s an elected official we can recall. Last year we had the chance to put in an Attorney General who wouldn’t be anti-Second Amendment or be a party on the job-killing side of a lawsuit but the people voted to elect Brian Frosh, who in turn hired Vignarajah. For the deputy, the worst he could do is get fired; someone will hire him in something he specializes in.

All this video does is reinforce a couple of stereotypes and confirm Frosh doesn’t have the best judgment in his hiring. With the Planned Parenthood videos driving the news cycle over the summer, perhaps this is O’Keefe’s way of getting back into the limelight. It may play well in Peoria, but those of us in Maryland who know how that side works have already priced this into the political equation. In short, it’s no big deal.

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