Tim Graham of Media Research Center points out that during the Clinton administration, the media questioned whether Congressional investigations were worth the bother or the taxpayer money.
Congress was preparing investigations into illegal political contributions from China at the time, but, unsurprisingly, the media focused on the "partisan nature" of the Congress doing the investigating.
ABC wondered whether subpoenas and hearings weren't democracy in action, but a waste of America's resources. On the April 10, 1997 World News Tonight, anchor Peter Jennings promoted a story: "When we come back, two investigations of fundraising abuse, two of them on Capitol Hill. Is it a waste of time and money?" Reporter John Cochran underlined the problem of GOP partisanship: "Dan Burton is a hard-charging partisan and has resisted investigating anyone but Democrats."
Dan Burton was singled out for abuse time and again by both Democrats and their sycophants in the media. The short post by Graham is worth the read, just to see how investigations are worthwhile when they are about Republicans but not Democrats.
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