Conservative journalist Tomi Lahren was fired from her job hosting a show on TheBlaze after she revealed that she was pro-choice. TheBlaze has set a terrible precedent for the journalism industry.
Lahren is famous for being an ultra-conservative political commentator. She often goes viral for bashing liberals and making controversial statements. Part of her gimmick is being a young, pretty blonde. Her age and gender set her apart from the mostly older male Republican demographic.
Republicans love Lahren and democrats hate her. Well, at least this was true before she went on “The View” a few weeks ago. While on the show, of course Lahren and the rest of the cast talked politics. Lahren’s views consistently lined up with those of most Republicans until Sunny Hostin mentioned that Lahren was a Constitutional Republican and pro-choice.
To defend her opinion, Lahren said, “No, I’m pro-choice and here’s why: I am a Constitutional- you know, someone that loves the Constitution. I am someone that’s for limited government, and so I can’t sit here and be a hypocrite and say I’m for limited government, but I think that the government should decide what women do with their bodies. I can sit here and say that as a Republican and say you know what, I’m for limited government, so stay out of my guns, and you can stay out of my body as well.”
After Lahren’s defensive speech, she mentioned that she gets hate from conservative women for her opinion and gets hate from everyone in general. It was clear from the interview that Lahren has not hidden the fact that she is pro-choice, but her appearance on “The View” must have brought too much attention to this.
Before leaving TheBlaze for good, Lahren was suspended for a short period. It was pretty clear that she would not be returning and the timing makes it obvious that the whole situation was sparked by Lahren’s vocalization of her pro-choice views.
Regardless of whether or not you like Tomi Lahren, what happened to her is awful. Likewise, even if you don’t think she is a real journalist or you don’t consider TheBlaze to be a legitimate news outlet, many people do. Millions of people follow TheBlaze and Lahren to get their news. Those people will see that a young journalist was fired for having an opinion and might even think that it’s okay and start demanding that more journalists lose their jobs.
Lahren’s firing could spark other outlets to start firing their journalists for having certain views as well. While objectivity is a key part of journalism, not all outlets are strictly neutral and everyone has some bias and opinions, including journalists. Private opinions should not cause journalists to be fired (to an extent). If that does start happening more frequently, things will not be looking good for the industry.
Lahren will probably land on her feet due to her large following, but that does not make what happened to her okay. If a personality known for being edgy and opinionated isn’t allowed to have a mind of her own, then who can?