Michael Aron, the former long-time “dean” of the New Jersey press corps, passed away this week, Save Jerseyans, and his death unleashed a predictable flood flattering remarks from colleagues, politicians, and pundits.
Democrat State Chairman Leroy Jones called Aron “a giant who straddled the partisan line effortlessly while covering the critical information that fuels our day to day just as thoroughly and effortlessly as the sometimes sensational stories emanating from our State capital.”
Brian Thompson, recently retired from NBC’s New York affiliate, declared on X that it a “[s]ad moment for journalism and journalists in New Jersey. Michael Aron was a living legend and consummate gentleman. We will miss him greatly. Thank you Michael, and please take your microphone with you on your next journey! RIP.”
They liked him. Apparently he was a nice guy to bullshit with at a press conference, green room, or banquet table. But are they really going to miss Michael Aron?
I’m serious. Almost always am! And I’m reading testimonial, after testimonial, caked on top of testimonial from the political class about how great Michael Aron was – in large part because they see him as a classic, down-the-middle journalist – yet very few of the people beatifying him and his memory today behave similarly to their recollections of Aron in their own respective professional spheres.
Take Brian Thompson, a consistent far-Left troll on his X account now that he’s off the air; last week, after Brian criticized JD Vance’s and Donald Trump’s interactions with military service in the wake of the Tim Walz “stolen valor” revelations, my friend Alex Wilkes (a well-known GOP communications professional) called him out for passing on a big story pitch back in 2020.
“I wondered for years why you passed on the whistleblower audio I gave you first on the nursing home operator who told Judy Persichilli directly that people would die if they were forced to accept COVID patients,” opined Wilkes. “Finally understand!”
Very few New Jersey/regional journalists questioned the prevailing narrative during the Covid-19 lockdown days. They rarely question anything, whether it’s the undisclosed cause of the death of a lieutenant governor or the undisclosed spending in our state budget.
David Wildstein did what he does best by adding an illustrative story into his own piece on Aron’s passing rather than regurgitating another cookie cutter obituary. According to The New Jersey Globe‘s editor, back in the 1990s, “[President Bill] Clinton’s press office had ignored daily requests to interview the president for nearly a month by then, but Aron, through luck or sheer force of will — he didn’t say — found Clinton alone in a room with attorney Al DeCotiis, who organized the fundraiser.”
Aron’s pluck ultimately earned him a reprimand from Clinton, his press secretary AND a less-than-fun visit from the Secret Service. But he got the story. He did his job. How many New Jersey journalists would go this far to interview Kamala Harris or Tim Walz? And ask a tough question? At the moment, Harris is hiding in her bunker while media outlets churn out uncritical praise of their girl and her candidacy.
Put another way: how many of the “journalists” crying crocodile tears over their hero’s passing are doing their own jobs, as it appears Michael Aron did at the Clinton fundraiser?
I’ll answer my own question. Journalism in this country is dead, and despite what they’re telling you, I don’t think most of the people lamenting Michael Aron’s passing are really, truly sorry he’s dead. I’m not suggesting they wished him any ill. That’s missing the point. What I am saying: activists masquerading as reporters at NJ.com, Politico, the Gannet papers, and all of the other useless, propagandized shit rags surviving on liberal op-eds and “top ten pizzeria” lists around our state and across the country have no interest in emulating the best of what their profession used to stand for, and we’re all suffering for it.
They don’t miss what Aron represented. The new establishment media consists of a network of unregistered Democrat super PACs that are goal-oriented, not journalism-focused.
Real journalists report facts and respect their readers.
Hacktivists shill for their preferred worldview and outcomes and display little understanding for what used to make the Fourth Estate and indispensable pillar of our rapidly ailing republic.
