I'm a journalist and I wrote an expose about how my newspaper was told not to report on Hunter Biden's laptop

I Told My Editor I Wanted to Write a Story About Hunter Biden’s Laptop<br><br>My Editor Told Me to Drop It and Mocked Me for Wanting to Write It<br><br>**by Miranda Devine (New York Post)**<br><br>Just a few short months ago, I came to work to find my editor’s head on a swivel. He had a stricken look on his face and was giggling nervously as he motioned me over to his office.<br><br>When I got there, he shut the door and asked brusquely through clenched teeth, “Did you tweet anything today?”<br><br>“Yeah,” I replied, “I tweeted about Hunter Biden’s laptop.”<br><br>He was appalled and told me to delete the tweet.<br><br>I was perplexed. Telling the story of how Hunter Biden’s laptop had fallen into the hands of Rudy Giuliani — who was Donald Trump’s lawyer at the time — was one of the biggest scoops of the year. And I was the only journalist apart from Rob Crilly who was reporting on it.<br><br>My editor was frantic. “It’s not worth it, Miranda,” he said gravely, as he used to do every time I asked to write a story that might upset the powers that be. (He used to call me Lois Lane, which I found flattering until I realized it wasn’t admiration.)<br><br>I thought this was a joke, so I asked why it wasn’t worth it?<br><br>He leaned in, voice barely above a whisper, and said, “The paper doesn’t want to go anywhere near it.”<br><br>I was flabbergasted. What kind of newspaper doesn’t want to follow up on a story as big as this? A story that could have major implications for the coming election?<br><br>“It’s a complete load of rubbish,” he scoffed, exasperated, clearly fed up with my naivety. “It’s just dirty tricks,” he explained.<br><br>But even if that were the case, wouldn’t a newspaper want to get to the bottom of it?<br><br>I had been told some pretty out-there, off-the-record things about Joe Biden and some of the people around him, and I thought they were interesting enough to share with a wider audience.<br><br>My editor was apoplectic. “You’re an idiot, Miranda,” he said. “I’m trying to protect your career.”<br><br>I wasn’t trying to commit career suicide. As a journalist, your sole aim is to report the story you think is most interesting to your readers. How did we go from that to journalism being about protecting politicians?<br><br>When I was a cub reporter, it was drilled into me that it was our duty to tell readers what the powerful didn’t want them to know. If we wanted to be cheerleaders for politicians, we should go work for them, not the newspaper.<br><br>But now, my editor was telling me to shut up because this newspaper didn’t want me to tell the people a story that might have affected the outcome of the election, one way or the other.<br><br>I never wrote the story of Hunter Biden’s laptop for the paper, but I never forgot about it, either.<br><br>It’s the reason why I’m here today, writing for a publication that encourages its journalists to follow the facts no matter where they lead and to question everything.<br><br>Thomas Jefferson was right when he said the only thing a newspaper needs to lose its way is a good owner.<br><br>Today, the only thing a newspaper needs to lose its way is some spine and a commitment to telling its readers the truth.<br><br>It’s the easiest job in the world.