Welcome to a special year-end edition of "Forgotten Fact-Checks," a weekly column produced by National Review’s News Desk. This week, as we look toward a new year, we recap the biggest media misses of 2024.

Joe Biden: America's Dad

Despite repeated assurances from the president and the White House that he would not pardon his son Hunter, the president did just that with less than two months left in his term, humiliating both his own aides and his defenders in the media, who repeatedly cited his refusal to pardon Hunter as the primary example of his respect for the rule of law.

"His decision not to pardon his son is not an expression of restraint or removal in any way from what his son has gone through and is continuing to go through, but of principle," White House press secretary-turned-MSNBC host Jen Psaki told viewers in June.

"Because the justice system that convicted his only surviving son is the same justice system he vowed to protect," Psaki said at the time. "If that doesn't tell you who Joe Biden is, I don't really know what does."

MSNBC legal analyst Andrew Weissmann offered similar praise, calling Biden "a president living the rule of law."

"He's not pardoning his son . . . because he's living what it means to have a rule of law. . . . If you want to know if he believes it, you can see what's happening with his own son," he said.

The ladies of The View also gushed over Biden's impressive character.

"He stands with [Hunter] and he's not pardoning him because he's a true American who believes in democracy and the way the system is supposed to work," Joy Behar said.

Whoopi Goldberg agreed: "He didn't pressure Merrick Garland to kill the case or to fire the investigator or to rail against the judge. He didn't complain that this is rigged. He promised not to pardon his child, so this is kind of what it looks like when you don't abuse power."

Having been thoroughly burned by the president’s lie, progressive pundits quickly jumped in to explain why it was okay that Biden had gone back on his own word: It was merely an unfortunate consequence of his opponent's weaponization of the Justice Department.

"It's terrible politics and precedent but I'm going to be honest and say that the Trump team has been brutally clear they want revenge on their enemies, they are obsessed with Hunter in particular, and that would weigh like hell on me if I were his father and could protect him," said Ezra Klein.

"Joe Biden bent over backwards not to intervene in order to show, you know, sort of how much of a respecter of norms he was, unlike Donald Trump," New York Times columnist Michelle Goldberg said. "But you know, we see kind of what that got him. And I certainly understand why [he] would not want to forfeit the future and life of his son to uphold a set of norms that are about to go up in smoke."

The Bulwark published its own piece "in defense of the Hunter Biden pardon."

And of course, right on time, CNN's Jessica Dean stepped in to say the 2015 death of Biden's son Beau makes the president a more sympathetic character as he disregards the rule of law for his family.

Israel-Hamas War

NR started out the year with some excellent reporting about the Washington Post's apparent inability to cover the Israel-Hamas war in an evenhanded manner. Before January's end, the outlet had already uncritically cited casualty figures provided by the Hamas-run Gaza Health Ministry in 148 separate articles since the start of the war on October 7, 2023.

And yet, things only continued further downhill from there.

The outlet was at it again in June, when four Israeli hostages were returned home from Gaza thanks to an Israeli rescue operation. But the Washington Post struck a different tone in its coverage of the rescue: "More than 200 Palestinians killed in Israeli hostage raid in Gaza," the outlet reported, citing al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital and al-Awda Hospital, while failing to mention that the two hospitals, like the Gaza Health Ministry, are under Hamas control.

At the time, Abraham Wyner, a statistics professor at the University of Pennsylvania Wharton School, fact-checked the Gaza Health Ministry's figures, finding that the casualty numbers produced by Hamas have not been independently verified and show clear signs of manipulation.

The Washington Post also seemed to want readers to feel bad for Hamas sympathizers: "They criticized Israel. This Twitter account upended their lives."

Then, when Israeli forces killed Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh in August, several outlets called the radical leader "moderate" in their obituaries, including the New York Times, The Guardian, and the BBC. (Here at National Review, readers could find an appropriate message about the death of the terror group's leader: "Good riddance.")

And Western media outlets proved they couldn't even set aside a single day to highlight the suffering of Israelis without qualification when the anniversary of the 10/7 Hamas massacre rolled around. Instead, outlets including Sky News, Vanity Fair, Reuters, and the New York Times focused on the suffering wrought by Israel's war of self-defense, never mind why that war was necessary and who started it.

The 'Vibes' Election

Remember when a CNN panel dedicated an entire segment to whether Harris "is brat"?

The media was quick to hop on the Kamala train when the vice president replaced President Biden as Democrats' presidential nominee with less than four months to go until the election. In turn, Harris was excused from doing interviews or providing any clarification on her policy positions as reporters sought to manufacture a grassroots support that existed more in their newsrooms than in the real world — a fact that became clearer than ever on Election Night as Trump easily sailed to victory.

MSNBC political analyst Michael Steele complained during Harris's honeymoon period that his fellow members of the media were "whining" about her unwillingness to take questions from the press.

But of course it would make sense that Harris wouldn't be keen on doing media appearances, Washington Post columnist Fareed Zakaria argued, because she's running a "vibes"-heavy campaign.

"Harris has not yet given extensive interviews or done news conferences which would force her to detail her positions on specific issues. Instead, she has introduced herself to the American people in entirely human terms, presenting herself as a dynamic, warm, funny and optimistic person," he added. "It's heavy on vibes, and, so far, it seems to be working."

And who could forget the "folksy demeanor" of her running mate, Minnesota governor Tim Walz, a characterization repeated by outlets including Bloomberg, NBC, Politico, NPR, and the BBC.

Conservatives Keep 'Pouncing'

Less than a week into 2024, the media seized on its first "Republicans pounce" story of the year: the melee around then-Harvard president Claudine Gay that led to her resignation.

Gay resigned from her role as Harvard president amid growing backlash over her oft-criticized testimony before Congress and reports of at least 50 examples of plagiarism in her published works.

But Politico centered its report on "the right's coordinated campaign that helped engineer the departure of the head of the most influential university in the world," while the Associated Press claimed Gay's resignation "highlights new conservative weapon against colleges: plagiarism."

Of course, Republicans continued to "pounce" on a variety of topics throughout the year, from President Biden's decision to pardon his son Hunter, despite repeated assurances he would not do so, to Trump supporters responding with outrage after Trump was nearly assassinated at his Butler, Pa., rally.

Madness on Campus

Protesters who seized Columbia University's Hamilton Hall this spring vandalized the building, breaking doors and windows and blockaded entrances before the New York Police Department performed a sweep of the building. At least 119 people who barricaded themselves inside the admissions building were arrested.

At California State Polytechnic University, Humboldt, students took over two campus halls and caused property damage that could cost the university millions of dollars, according to a spokesperson.

And at UCLA, students erected a fortified encampment. After police dismantled the encampment and made arrests, demonstrators left a massive mess in their wake.

But left-wing pundits looked around at the pro-Palestinian, anti-Israel chaos on college campuses around the country this spring and said actually, this is fine.

"Ok for the last damn time: THE OCCUPATION OF A BUILDING IS A PEACEFUL PROTEST," said Nathan J. Robinson, editor in chief of Current Affairs magazine.

And MSNBC's Chris Hayes couldn't wrap his mind around why, exactly, the forcible occupation of public buildings rubbed some observers the wrong way: "People understand that "occupying buildings on campus" is, like, one of the most common forms of student protest for decades and not some devious new ploy devised by professional anarchist plotters, right?"

Then there was Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D., N.Y.) lauding the student activists' "excellent" leadership at Columbia. "It's really special. It's really amazing," she said.

And yet that same day, the spokesman for Columbia University Apartheid Divest (CUAD), Khymani James, was banned from campus over inflammatory antisemitic comments he made back in January during a campus disciplinary hearing.

"What is a Zionist? A White supremacist," James said in the video.

"Be grateful that I'm not just going out and murdering Zionists," added James, who uses "he/she/they" pronouns. "I've never hurt anyone in my life, and I hope to keep it that way."

He said he feels "very comfortable, very comfortable, calling for [Zionists] to die."

Trump-Hitler Comparisons Abound

Joy Reid, a Forgotten Fact Checks regular, kicked off the year comparing President-elect Donald Trump to Nazi leader Adolf Hitler during a segment on "fascism and how it takes root."

Reid said fascism does not usually advance through a coup, but "more often a deal, a bargain between the would-be dictator and the establishment, both political and media," who believe power will tame the dictator.

"Like Trump, Hitler was also viewed as a clown, a goon who could be kept in line. And then there are the accommodations that the media makes with autocracy," Reid said, before likening Hitler's failed coup, the Beer Hall Putsch, to the January 6, 2021, Capitol riot.

Those comparisons were renewed by MSNBC and others after Trump held a political rally at Madison Square Garden in October.

"Trump's MSG rally comes 85 years after pro-nazi rally at famed arena," read a chyron from MSNBC.

For fear they were being too subtle with their fascism argument, the network played footage from a "pro-America" Nazi rally held by an American pro-Hitler organization at MSG in 1939 during its coverage of Trump's rally.

"But that jamboree happening right now, you see it there on your screen in that place is particularly chilling because in 1939, more than 20,000 supporters of a different fascist leader, Adolf Hitler, packed the Garden for a so-called pro-America rally," the network told viewers.

Yet the crowd for the "Hitler rally" was surprisingly diverse, filled with Jewish, Hispanic, and black New Yorkers, as NR's Caroline Downey reported from the event. (A pattern that held true at the ballot box one week later, where Trump made historic gains with black and hispanic voters.)

The 'Nothing to See Here' Crowd Finally Acknowledges Biden 's Decline

Conservative media figures were shouting their concerns about Biden's mental acuity from the rooftops for months, or even years, before he completely flopped at the first presidential debate this year and later dropped out of the race. But it took mainstream media a long time to catch up.

Mainstream outlets spent months defending Biden, even after a report from special counsel Robert Hur on the president's mishandling of classified documents described him as a "well-meaning, elderly man with a poor memory."

They even brought in a drove of "experts" to defend Biden.

NBC News reported, "Forgetting the names of acquaintances or having difficulty remembering dates from the past doesn't affect decision-making or judgment, brain experts say."

A neuroscientist told readers of the New York Times, "Many of the special counsel's observations about Mr Biden's memory seem to fall in the category of forgetting, meaning that they are more indicative of a problem with finding the right information from memory than actual Forgetting [sic]."

No need for concern, then, that Hur said Biden could not recall when his son Beau had died, even within several years.

Now, courtesy of excellent reporting in the Wall Street Journal, we learn just how stage-managed Biden's presidency truly was:

To adapt the White House around the needs of a diminished leader, they told visitors to keep meetings focused. Interactions with senior Democratic lawmakers and some cabinet members — including powerful secretaries such as Defense's Lloyd Austin and Treasury's Janet Yellen — were infrequent or grew less frequent. Some legislative leaders had a hard time getting the president's ear at key moments, including ahead of the U.S.'s disastrous pullout from Afghanistan.

Senior advisers were often put into roles that some administration officials and lawmakers thought Biden should occupy, with people such as National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan, senior counselor Steve Ricchetti and National Economic Council head Lael Brainard and her predecessor frequently in the position of being go-betweens for the president.

Of course.

Biden's Fall from Grace

And yet, even after Biden's all too predictable fall from grace, pundits were still tripping over themselves to protect and even praise the president.

With the writing on the wall, Biden ended his reelection campaign with just 106 days left until Election Day. While Biden's stubbornness to hang on that long put Democrats in an entirely preventable bind, pundits apparently viewed Biden's decision to step aside under extreme duress as an act of selfless patriotism.

CNN commentator Van Jones grew emotional talking about Biden's brave decision to step back. "When your arm gets tired you let somebody else finish pitching the game," Jones said. "That's what Joe Biden has done. And he's done that for all of us."

New York Times columnist Ezra Klein hailed Biden as "an actual hero."

MSNBC's Rachel Maddow admired "what a patriot" Biden is, praising his "act of selfless devotion" to his country.

The Nex Benedict Story

We now know for certain that the facts of Dagny "Nex" Benedict's life don't conform to the progressive media narrative of bigoted teens and educators driving a trans kid to suicide.

Benedict died on February 8, one day after a fight with classmates in the girls' bathroom turned physical, leading Democrats and the media to call foul on apparent bullying against LGBT teens.

The New Republic blamed the death on GOP lawmakers: "Oklahoma Republicans Passed a Bathroom Bill. Now a Trans Kid Is Dead."

White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said, "Every young person deserves to feel safe and supported at school. Our hearts are with Nex Benedict's family, their friends, and their entire school community in the wake of this horrific tragedy."

Meanwhile, former House speaker Nancy Pelosi shared a post from the Advocate with the headline, "Oklahoma transgender student dies after allegedly assaulted by students at school."

But after the release of Nex Benedict's full autopsy report from the Oklahoma medical examiner one month later, we know that Benedict's death did not result from the alleged school attack by her peers. Instead, the death has been ruled a suicide, as there were "massive" amounts of Benadryl in the teen's blood. Dr. Paul Wax, the Executive Director of the American College of Toxicology, told the local Fox affiliate Benedict could have consumed 50 to 100 pills based on the toxicology report.

According to local police, notes left behind by Benedict "do not make any reference to the earlier fight or difficulties at school," though "the parents indicated that Benedict reported being picked upon for various reasons while at school."

Court records obtained by Red State reveal the girl grew up with a troubled home life, having been repeatedly sexually abused by her father from the time she was nine to eleven years old. She told investigators her father anally raped her when she was nine years old and that he had molested her for years.

The Downfall of Taylor Lorenz

We wrote earlier this month about what appears to be the end of Lorenz's run as a legacy news darling — but her fall began earlier this year with her comments calling President Biden a "war criminal" in a private Instagram post.

The then-Washington Post columnist initially denied the veracity of the post, saying in a reply to New York Post reporter Jon Levine on X that "you people will fall for any dumb*** edit someone makes."

After NPR found "four people with direct knowledge" of the post who "confirmed its authenticity," Lorenz changed her story, writing on X that, "I literally never 'denied it was real.'" She claimed in a second post that it was an "obvious meme," an apparent reference to a musician Lucy Dacus, who last year referred to former president Barack Obama as a "war criminal :(."

Even at the time, Lorenz was no stranger to social-media controversy. She had called the U.S. a "trash country" and had come under fire for her questionable reporting tactics as well.

But still Lorenz was, until very recently, taken seriously by the editors who run the nation's most prestigious publications: the New York Times, the Washington Post, and The Atlantic.

Now that she's left legacy media, Lorenz has shed the thin veneer of professionalism that separated her from the average enraged leftist social-media poster.

Lorenz, who previously cried on television about receiving death threats just for doing her job, joined the ugly parade of online progressives justifying — and in some cases, outright celebrating — the horrific murder of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson.

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