NBC News suspended one of the most hateful “reporters” for his criticisms of Elon Musk. After making comments about Musk that NBC News found offensive, Ben Collins, a self-described “disinformation” expert, was placed on involuntary leave.
NBC News has now suspended one of its journalists for posting on Twitter and being harshly critical of Musk. NBC News suspended Ben Collins, a tech reporter, temporarily from NBC and MSNBC. Two sources claim that Collins’ criticism of Musk, including mocking Musk’s ignorance regarding the company’s general counsel was not appropriate.
Collins has made a lot of unprofessional comments about Musk’s official role. It is difficult to pinpoint exactly what caused the upset. However, Semafor said that Collins shot a picture about Musk not knowing who the General Counsel of Twitter was (the now-fired James Baker).
The scandal here is that Elon Musk discovered who his company’s deputy general counsel was six weeks after he purchased it. pic.twitter.com/vGgKrHcOHv
— Ben Collins (@oneunderscore__) December 7, 2022
Collins posted that message during his “coverage” of the Twitter Files. He tried to downplay the tweets as old news, despite the shocking revelations made by Matt Taibbi and Bari Wiess. Collins was also the subject of another controversy when he falsely portrayed the Q-Club shooter, and there is still no evidence to support that claim. However, Collins had to later report that the shooter was not a woman.
Journalists are now challenging some of the boundaries that they used to respect. On Thursday night, multiple bans on Twitter were placed on “journalists” for doxxing Elon and his family members. This has led to much infighting among the right about what is appropriate enforcement. The rules are not always applied equally to all sides, so conservatives can help.
Collins won’t learn any lessons from his time off. Instead, I expect Collins to continue flailing on Twitter until his job is restored. Based on his track record, the only justice would have been for him to be fired, and not given a vacation. It would have sent a clear message. Collins is not an impartial journalist and it’s unfair for major news outlets to continue to allow him to be that way. In this situation, I suppose you have to take responsibility.
