The FBI subpoenaed records of phone calls made by Kash Patel and Susie Wiles, now the FBI director and White House Chief of Staff, when they were both private citizens in 2022 and 2023 during the federal probe of Donald Trump, Patel told Reuters on Wednesday.
Reuters is the first to report on the FBI’s actions that took place during the Biden administration, largely when Special Counsel Jack Smith was investigating whether Trump had interfered with the 2020 election and had hidden classified documents at Mar-a-Lago, according to Patel. Smith was appointed to take over that probe in November 2022.
Sure, but that’s not the way the story is framed. The framing makes it seem like the FBI having the records is the story rather than the FBI firing agents for doing their jobs. The headline is just terrible and is blatantly biased to try to make the agents actions seem nefarious. To be clear I wasn’t criticizing the posting of this story or trying to suggest that the poster shouldn’t have submitted it, it’s more a criticism of reuters and the way they’ve chosen to approach this story. It would have been nice to see an article posted about this that focused more on the blatantly corrupt firing of the agents rather than dedicating most of the story to discussing the seizing of the records and getting sound bites from politicians.
What you’re referring to is passive voice. It often reframes things to benefit those in power.
https://professorscottsenglish.com/english-grammar/common-grammar-mistakes/overuse-of-passive-voice-2/overuse-of-passive-voice-in-journalism-and-media-writing/
https://reviewofjournalism.ca/the-not-so-subtle-price-of-writing-in-the-passive-voice/