Thread by @rolmeda

Without judging @JamesRosenTV's motives, I will say that sometimes reporters ask striking questions to evoke a response, and he blurted his question out as she was walking away. He had no time to frame it delicately. [Thread]

2. People tend to read into the questions asked by reporters, as if those questions reveal something about us. Not always fair. Often we ask questions that are deliberately provocative, not because we're biased, but because they will evoke the most passionate response.

3. I'm reminded of a colleague who was fired because she asked probing questions of a crime victim who fought back, with a gun, twice, on separate occasions. She asked him if he was trigger happy, "shoot to kill." Some viewers were so outraged they didn't hear the man's answer.

4. And that's a shame because his answer was heartfelt and powerful. No other question would have elicited that eloquent response. And she got FIRED for it by cowards who caved to ignorant, "outraged" viewers with an agenda to expose the liberal bias in media.

5. The same people who ignored the subject's beautiful answer because they were so outraged by the question. Which brings me back to @JamesRosenTV. I don't know his biases. Based on employment at Fox and Sinclair, I have my suspicions. But I know some fine journalists at both.

6. Maybe @JamesRosenTV WAS accusing Nancy Pelosi of hating Trump. Or maybe, hear me out, he used his quickly evaporating time to fire off the one question that would stop Pelosi in her tracks, to make her turn around and deliver a powerful rebuttal.

7. One thing's for sure: @JamesRosenTV reaches an audience that truly believes Pelosi hates Trump. And his question gave Pelosi the opportunity to address that accusation. I can't blame Rosen for asking the question. I wish I had! He got Pelosi to call Trump a coward!

8. That was dynamite television and, in tandem with the rest of her answer, it was legitimate news.
In print, reporters have the luxury of keeping our questions out of the story. Our broadcast colleagues don't usually have that luxury. Maybe Rosen, a fellow former Bronx journo...

9. ...is as biased as some people are saying. Maybe Pelosi was right to question his professionalism. I suspect not. He asked a question. He got a substantive answer everyone is talking about. To answer Speaker Pelosi's question, yes, that IS journalism.

10. Pelosi's passionate answer would never have been evoked by a weaker question. It's a shame that his professionalism is called into question because he did his job. It was a good question and an even better answer.
Again, not trying to exonerate Rosen.

11. I just think it's impossible to convict him of bias based on one question and the political biases of his employer. Sure, maybe he's biased. But even if he is, that was still a good question.
End thread.