That’s not a typographical error in the headline! The spelling ‘journolist’ or ‘journolism’ comes from JournoList, an email list of 400 influential and politically liberal journalists, the exposure of which called into question their objectivity. I use the term ‘journolism’ frequently when writing about media bias.
Though I spent two years writing for the Kentucky Kernel, I was not actually a journalism student; my degree is not in journalism. But I do know enough to recognize thoroughly biased ‘reporting’ when I see it.
So here you go: from NBC News:
Kyle Rittenhouse hospitalized following bite from venomous spider
“The communists couldn’t take me out and i’ll be damned if I let a brown recluse take me out,” said the gunman who opened fire in Kenosha, Wisconsin, on Aug. 5, 2020.
By David K. Li | Thursday, May 7, 2026 | 10:42 AM EDT | Updated” 11:44 AM EDT
Kyle Rittenhouse, who gained fame for opening fire at a 2020 civil rights rally in Wisconsin, was hospitalized after a venomous spider bit him, the noted firearms enthusiast said Wednesday.
Did you catch that? In both the subtitle and the first paragraph, reporter David K Li used the description “opened fire” and “opening fire,” as though Mr Rittenhouse stood on top of a platform, put his weapon on spray and pray, and raked a (peaceful?) crowd indiscriminately, like a Philadelphia gang-banger.
Rittenhouse, 23, told his 100,000 followers on X that he fell victim to a brown recluse, posting pictures of himself in a hospital bed strapped to monitors with one close-up shot of the bite mark.
“The spider, like the commies, also thought it was a good idea to come after me while I was armed,” Rittenhouse posted. “He did not survive.”
Rittenhouse appeared to be in good spirits, joking that his only disappointment was that “I’m not Spider-Man now.”
He did not say exactly when or where the spider attack happened.
Rittenhouse’s post, predictably, drew thousands of responses — a mix of support and mockery.
Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., was among the first and highest-profile well-wishers, telling Rittenhouse “you got this.”
“Thank you, Senator,” Rittenhouse responded Thursday.
Others came at him with body-shaming ridicule, which the shirtless, stout Rittenhouse didn’t appear to respond to.
Rittenhouse became a household name in late summer 2020 after he fatally shot two men and wounded a third during civil unrest in Kenosha, Wisconsin.
There’s more at the original, and though Mr Li did note that Mr Rittenhouse was tried for “killing Joseph Rosenbaum and Anthony Huber and wounding paramedic Gaige Grosskreutz during the melee”, there is absolutely no mention made that Mr Rittenhouse was backing away when he was attacked by Messrs Rosenbaum, Huber, and Grosskreutz. The article did note that he testified in his own defense, claimed the men were shot in self-defense, and that the jury acquitted him on all charges.
Mr Li added hyperlinks to three of his previous articles, plus a fourth, all in the paragraph above, in which he declined to note that Mr Rosenbaum had mental issues and had spent most of his adult life in prison for sexually molesting underaged boys, Mr Huber “had spent time in prison twice, first for violating probation after strangling his brother and again for kicking his sister,” same link, and Mr Grosskreutz was pointing a firearm at Mr Rittenhouse as he was shot, again, same link. The link is to an article by National Public Radio, not some evil, reich-wing source.
If Mr Li’s article was your only source of information, you might be inclined to think that yes, Mr Rittenhouse was the a perched on a platform, mowing down mostly peaceful protesters. That’s journolism, not real journalism.
Mr Li covered the trial and most of the story for NBC News, and was absolutely aware that Mr Rittenhouse was thrice attacked, in succession, by the three men, two of whom were previously convicted felons, and the third armed and pointing his weapon at the defendant at the time he was shot, but he chose not to tell his readers that. His article was not something limited by the old 750-word limit, but had the freedom of the twenty-first century, and virtually unlimited bandwidth.
Both the reporter and his editor — there are editors at NBC, right? — had to have known the article was biased, and had to have known that the case was famous enough that [insert plural slang term for the anus here] like me would notice it, but apparently they just didn’t care. One thing is certain: you cannot trust Mr Li to tell the whole truth in any of his reporting, and NBC News itself must be suspect. The days of Chet Huntley and David Brinkley are in the distant past for NBC News.