Conservative commentator Mary Katharine Ham, who happens to be my dear friend and co-author, has coined a term that deserves to be put into wider circulation. She refers to “icky facts” that many journalists do not know because said facts are problematic. 

They’re problematic because they’re unhelpful to the Journo Class’ ideological and partisan agenda, and they’re often especially problematic because they’re touted by bad sorts of people who aren’t favored within their cloistered newsrooms and blinkered social circles. If the “right wing” media ecosystem is saying it, and Republicans are repeating it, it must be “debunked” — or, even better, ignored. These are icky facts, of which journalists almost seem proud to be unaware. Examples abound, ranging from any number of disputes about COVID-19 policy to virtually anything regarding faith or people of faith, to the bare basics of how guns work, to former President Joe Biden’s decline and family enrichment scheme.