On Cue, NJ.com’s Liz Rosenberg Helps Mendacious Michael “Hundreds of Millions” Gottesman Bully the Colts Neck School Board

Earlier this week, Sunlight asked which New Jersey reporter would be the next to dutifully comply with Mendacious Michael “Hundreds of Millions” Gottesman’s call for New Jersey reporters to help him bully the Colts Neck school district and board. This time, Gottesman — the proven, serial bully and founder of the NJEA-funded New Jersey Public Education Coalition (NJPEC) — is harassing Colts Neck for hosting the US Secretary of Education as part of a tour to celebrate the 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence. As if on cue, Liz Rosenberg of NJ.com promptly wrote a thoroughly biased piece with the headline “Parents furious as ‘patriotic’ event tied to Charlie Kirk comes to N.J. school. ‘I’m absolutely speechless,’” which reads like a NJPEC press release.  Why the bias, Ms. Rosenberg?

Rosenberg’s headline uses the word “furious” to describe parents’ reactions, but that is her word, not theirs. In the headline for her article, Rosenberg uses he word “furious” to describe Colts Neck parents reaction to the event, but the word was entirely Rosenberg’s own creation. She interviews two anonymous Colts Neck parents who are quoted as opposing the event, but neither uses the word “furious.” Where did that come from, Ms. Rosenberg? What justifies the use of “furious” in the headline?

Rosenberg highlights TPUSA and Charlie Kirk, just like Gottesman did. Then there’s Rosenberg’s focus on Turning Point USA (TPUSA) and its founder, Charlie Kirk, who was murdered earlier this year.  Note that Kirk is mentioned in the headline and a large picture of Kirk is the first thing you see when you view the article.  Why would Rosenberg focus on Kirk when he is no longer alive and on TPUSA when it is only one of several partners for the USDOE?  Because that is precisely what Gottesman did in his email to the press, using his characteristically incendiary rhetoric against them. Voila! Thanks to Gottesman and Rosenberg, a visit by the US Secretary of Education becomes a Charlie Kirk/TPUSA revival.

Interviews with (anonymous) parents on one side and ZERO on the other. Rosenberg then goes on to interview an anonymous parent who says he will keep his child home from school and voices concerns that the Secretary’s comments might “convey racist or homophobic messages.”  In his email, Gottesman uses those exact words in claiming that TPUSA has “clearly taken racist, homophobic … stances in the past.” Quite a coincidence.

She also interviews an anonymous mom who worries about the introduction of a “one-sided, selective view of history.” Just like Gottesman claimed in his email: “We can fully expect that this curriculum will be biased and will push specific religious and political ideologies.” Hmmm. Another coincidence?

Rosenberg then goes on to interview Gottesman, himself, despite his being a proven, serial liar, who got his moniker “Hundreds of Millions” for blatantly lying to Rosenberg’s own news organization.

So that’s three live interviews with opponents of the event and ZERO from the other side. Sure, Rosenberg quotes from official press releases about the tour, but somehow she is unable to find a live Colts Neck parent who supports the event — despite the fact that the Colts Neck school board was elected by local parents and citizens and the board’s actions can be presumed to reflect their views.

Rosenberg omits the Colts Neck superintendent’s evident pride in being chosen to host the event. Rosenberg quotes extensively from a letter sent by the Colts Neck superintendent to the parents of Cedar Drive Middle School, which was selected by USDOE to represent all New Jersey schools as part of the nationwide “History Rocks!” tour. But she doesn’t quote the part where the superintendent declares:

I am deeply proud of this moment for our district. This visit provides an extraordinary opportunity to highlight the work of our students, educators, support staff, and Board of Education.

We believe it’s safe to assume that the superintendent’s justifiable pride reflects that of the Colts Neck citizens and parents who elected this school board, but that would inconveniently undercut Rosenberg’s narrative of parental “fury,” so she left it out.

Once again, Gottesman emails New Jersey “reporters” to help him bully a school board and once again a “reporter” dutifully complies.  As with several instances in the past (here, here, and here), Gottesman once again calls upon New Jersey “reporters” to help him bully the Colts Neck school district and board. And once again, as if on cue, a New Jersey “reporter” has dutifully complied.  So Rosenberg now joins NorthJersey.com’s Mary Ann Koruth, InsiderNJ‘s Fred Snowflack, and the Asbury Park Press‘s Amanda Oglesby as “reporters” who have published biased “news” articles that read like NJPEC press releases.

It’s another sad reflection of the degraded state of the New Jersey press corps.