Republican Representative Maria Salazar, Fla-27th, Wednesday tried educating some young reporters, but it was like talking to a wall.
The Coral Gables lawmaker won five Emmy awards during the journalism career she had before running for public office. She tried to drop some knowledge on newer media members after a House Republican meeting but they seemed laser-focused on one subject. All they seemed to want to discuss was House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy’s, R-Calif., leaked conversations after the January 6, 2021, Capitol riot.
Salazar noted she had been a journalist for 35 years — starting when she was 22 — and loved doing the job as she began her knowledge drop.
“We have a problem in this country with the news media,” Salazar said, “because the news media is now… we’re not doing our job.” She added the media should be ashamed of how they are reporting news.
“We’re concentrating and we’re trying to look for headlines on what is not important,” said the congresswoman. “What’s important [is] that there’s a major threat in this country by what I call the socialists, or the neo-Marxists. That’s the real threat.”
A reporter interjected to ask if she thought Americans deserved to know what people are saying and Salazar acknowledged they should.
“What you want to hear is the headline,” Salazar rebutted, “but you know what? There’s a moment of reckoning. Don’t you feel responsible that what you guys are covering is not what the American people need to hear?”
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She questioned why they only seem to want to know about what McCarthy said and neglect to ask similar questions about Democrats like Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif. Salazar noted that many of the reporters left because she wasn’t talking about what they wanted to hear. “But I’m one of you! So I know exactly what you need to do but you’re just not doing it.”
“But we asked leader McCarthy what he said on January 6th and they lied to us,” a reporter replied. “And then there’s audio.”
The congresswoman reminded the reporters that people change their minds and things happen, and that is different from lying. She asked why reporters aren’t thinking about what’s happening right now? Salazar answered her own question by stating the media doesn’t want to do that because it’s not convenient and doesn’t produce headlines.
“The Dems who have the majority, they could be presenting different types of laws to lower the price of gas, to take care of inflation, you know, the border,” said Salazar. “For us, the Browns, the border is a major problem.” The congresswoman was born to Cuban exiles in Miami’s Little Havana, according to her official biography.
“We’re just trying to figure out what happened on January 6th,” countered a reporter.
“Of course,” responded Salazar, adding that is exactly what reporters need to do. “Investigative reporting, let’s find out. But why don’t we go to the other side, what did Madam Speaker know? No no no no no. The problem is you guys — ‘don’t confuse me with the facts, we don’t want to hear that, no, because we’re Dems.’”
“We’re Americans!” the congresswoman exclaimed. “We are Americans.”
A reporter later asked if he listened to the McCarthy audio that was released and asked her what her response was — as an American. The congresswoman opined it was edited.
She urged the reporters to focus less on just McCarthy and look at the whole story.
“Have you talked to McCarthy about what he said about January 6th?” the reporter asked. The congresswoman’s response appeared to have no effect based on the next question. “Is it concerning that at least one of your colleagues was calling on former President Trump to use martial law to overturn the election?”
“You know, do your job. As a news reporter,” Salazar said near the end of her remarks. “Do your job.”
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