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Most everyone understands that the big media outlets choose what stories they consider most newsworthy enough to report. They often ignore stories such as the ones regarding Hunter Biden’s laptop, both before the 2020 elections and after. Meantime, they ran full speed with stories that associated Donald Trump with Russian connections before the 2016 election and throughout much of his term in office. Consider the following.

Last week, Rolling Stone magazine, a liberal icon publication, ran a story that the New York Times, Washington Post, ABC, CBS, and NBC have completely missed or ignored. On April 27, James Meek, an Emmy-winning producer and a highly respected national-security-focused investigative journalist whose colleagues and friends say was at the pinnacle of his career, seemingly dropped off the face of the planet after his apartment was reportedly raided by the feds in April.

FACTS

What we know, from the Rolling Stone story, was that an eyewitness saw a black SUV with deeply tinted glass block traffic on the street approaching Meek’s apartment. Additionally, a green tactical vehicle, similar looking to a tank that the FBI sometimes uses because of the ease of getting people in and out of quickly, was present. There were also local police vehicles in the area. Since that time, no one has seen or heard from Meeks. According to the Rolling Stone story on Meek’s seeming disappearance, his neighbor, John Antonelli, described the scene he witnessed outside of Meek’s Arlington, Virginia apartment building in the early morning hours of April 27. According to the neighbor, the incident was over in about 10 minutes. A follow-up story in the New York Post discovered that the Justice Department had gotten a search warrant from a judge one day earlier. The FBI has not confirmed a raid on Meek. They did state that agents had conducted a court authorized law-enforcement activity on Meek’s block on the day in question. They declined further comment citing ‘an ongoing investigation’.

When contacted, ABC said he did not return to work after that date. They had no further comment other than that he was no longer an employee and he had been working on a book. The 52-year-old was finishing up a book about President Joe Biden’s botched U.S. troop and ally withdrawal from Afghanistan last year, Rolling Stone reported.

Last year, the Biden administration put in place a policy prohibiting federal investigators from seizing journalists’ records without authorization from a deputy attorney general. To get Meek’s notes and records, it would have had to have been approved by U.S. Deputy Attorney General Lisa Monaco. Meek had not only vanished from the public, according to Rolling Stone, but he also left his presumably lucrative job at ABC News before the end of his contract, raising even more suspicion. His ABC colleagues told the outlet they have no earthly idea where he went.

“He fell off the face of the Earth,” one of his colleagues said. “And people asked, but no one knew the answer.” One would think that someone in management or those he worked with would be concerned enough to try to determine what happened and why he is missing.

THE ROLE OF AN INDEPENDENT MEDIA

Since before our nation was created, we have had news media that has prided themselves on their independence. That independence has given them the opportunity to explore the facts to determine if the government is doing what is expected of them.

The role of reporters and the news media is to ask questions and talk to sources to verify that the official story is accurate. The Meek case is a perfect example of what goes wrong when roles are not clear. Why has the Attorney General’s office not clarified why a reporter’s home was raided?

Why is no one trying to determine if Meek was tipped off and slipped out before the raid? If so, was he able to take his notes and manuscript? If not, does the FBI have him or his material?

Why did a deputy to the Attorney General approve a raid on a reporter? Why did a judge agree to a raid on a reporter’s home and why has no one asked on what grounds?

Why has no reporter followed up on Meek’s case? What else are we not being told or being misled?

Frank Ruff Jr. represents Charlotte in the state Senate. His email address is Sen.Ruff@verizon.net.