"Riffed from the Headlines" is a daily VIP feature where we will focus coverage on the practice of journalism in the nation. While not a shock to many that the press operates as an industry with a pre-determined narrative in mind, what is revealing is how many different ways they perform this goal and how widespread the practice. "Riffed from the Headlines" brings accountability to the mishaps, misdeeds, manipulations, malpractice, and manufactured narratives in the mainstream media. This will be a daily post with updates added throughout each day, so check back frequently to see the latest efforts as we delve into the realm of ethical contortions found in the press.
05.19.21 (Update)
Gilded Reframe – CNN / JAKE TAPPER
- Sure, the minority leader spent the day with police, but not the approved police.
Jake Tapper felt he had the perfect dig of GOP Leader Kevin McCarthy. In response to McCarthy posting a video of doing a bike ride with dozens of Capitol Police officers, Jake tweeted to him the challenge that he is not sincere because he has not spoken to a select officer, Mike Fanone.
Speaking of backing the blue, @GOPLeader has yet to call DC Police Officer Mike Fanone, who reached out to his office last week to talk with him about the Jan. 6 insurrection. https://t.co/17SPaIf6XT
— Jake Tapper (@jaketapper) May 18, 2021
Joining in with Jake was Mark Follman of Mother Jones, who thought he had a dunk on McCarthy, suggesting the House Minority leader was not in support of punishing those who broke the law on January 6. It would take a journalist all of 30 seconds of research to find McCarthy's position on the matter.
Recommended
I'm happy to help.
— Brad Slager - Social Toper and Media Antagonist (@MartiniShark) May 18, 2021
Was not all that hard to find.@GOPLeader @KevinoMcCarthy https://t.co/LlQTstLS1K pic.twitter.com/xAs4vBu7NA
First Amendment Strike Force – CNN / Oliver Darcy
- Silencing Fox News is not enough; we also need to punish those who let them advertise?
Ollie has been on a self-defeating mission of lobbying to have Fox News entirely de-platformed, dedicating himself to getting cable and satellite providers to take the news channel off their carriage offerings. Not only is the silencing of a news outlet a strange position for a newsman to take, but his excuse to justify this – the claim Fox News distributes misinformation – is a rationalization that would ensnare his own network.
Now, Brian Stelter’s Boy Wonder is targeting The New York Times because the paper accepted advertising from Fox News. As he writes in the Reliable Sources newsletter – Taking Fox's advertising dollars — and lending one's platform to the company so that it can present a sanitized version of what it does to readers — is tantamount to accepting money from a company that earned the cash by peddling lies to millions.
This cuts to what really upset Darcy, ward of Stelter; CNN fails to turn a profit off of its lies.
Low Octane Gas Lighting – LOS ANGELES TIMES
This is seriously the stance they are trying to sell.
- Never mind that due in part to its residents having taken stay-at-home rules, social distancing and masking seriously, California now boasts among the lowest case, hospitalization and death rates in the nation, as well as a recovering economy.
That is some top-flight wishcasting. One question: If the lockdowns are such a glorious success, then why on earth are we opening back up at all?!
Evolving Narratives – CNN / Jim Sciutto
As one border agent detailed that they are not enforcing any new laws, but the same laws they always have, that would indicate a massive surge is in play and not some new alteration in enforcement. But then Sciutto stumbles over another detail. He displays a point where the construction of the border wall was halted, displaying how it has become an access point, where the smugglers have even created a road in order to access the location.
This is the evidence that leads to CNN calling this a "challenge," not a crisis.
Artisanal-Crafted Narratives – GLOBAL ALLIANCE FOR A SUSTAINABLE PLANET
- Things are amazing, so long as you redefine what they are.
Maybe it is because they operate at the extreme ends of the poles. Environmentalists appear to be either mired in doom, where everything is assured to be killing us, or they turn loudly rhapsodic about the miraculous delivery of promise from the most mundane things. A case of the latter seems at play with Erik Solheim of GASP, as he sent out a video from a Chinese "innovation." Innovation according to Erik, that is.
This is incredible!
— Erik Solheim (@ErikSolheim) May 19, 2021
China ???? is testing it’s new autonomous electric train that does not need traditional tracks. It runs on a virtual track. Can go everywhere.
pic.twitter.com/56505GeK1U
While most of the world sees what we would call a "bus," he declares we are looking at a train, running on a virtual track. Color me dubious that the country that has little to no regard for greenhouse emission protocols is delivering a planetary panacea for transportation.
Just wait until he sees what is going on at the Beijing International transportation hub.
This is incredible!
— Brad Slager - Social Toper and Media Antagonist (@MartiniShark) May 19, 2021
China has created a train that does not need tracks, and appears to defy gravity! https://t.co/56dFTBDNSc pic.twitter.com/XllYUHwhut
05.19.21 (Original)
Media Avoidance Syndrome – AXIOS
It became a tiresome narrative during the Trump years that he was in the back pocket of Vlad Putin and had basically ceded the White House to the Kremlin. Sure, there were all of the actions Trump took against the country, but that does nothing to prove he wasn't a tool of the Russians. Sure, that country floundered financially for years as the US gained energy independence, and Trump took sanctions against their oil industry, but still – Russian pawn!
This is why the move by President Biden to rescind sanctions against a Russian corporation so it can continue with the Nord Stream 2 pipeline, to the benefit of Putin, is so baffling. Just try to imagine the interpretation in the press had it been Trump who gave the Russians more oil benefits after shutting down our own Keystone pipeline and immediately following another oil conduit that was shut down by foreign hackers backed by Russia. If Biden was a plant by Russia, try to ask what more he would be doing at this stage?
Both Kinds of Standards – THE WASHINGTON POST
Recall being told Joe Biden was ushering in a new era of professionalism and instilling profound respect for the press? Remember all of the hysteria about President Trump’s disregard for the media and putting reporters in danger for four years? Hold on to those concepts for this report.
Matt Viser, White House beat reporter for The Washington Post, detailed a photo-op event where the president was charged with test driving a new Ford pickup truck. Before laying rubber on the tarmac, a reporter inquired if he could ask Biden a question. “No, you cannot,” said the press-snuggling president, who then followed it up with, “Not unless you get in front of the car as I step on it. I’m only teasing.”
Joe Biden, your source of media benevolence.
????? ???? ?? ??? ????????? ?? ???? ????? ???? ?? ?????: ??? ??, ??? ?? ?? ????? ??? ???? ???? ???? ???? ?? ????? ???. pic.twitter.com/Q7Nhvrpwqm
— Amichai Stein (@AmichaiStein1) May 18, 2021
Blue-Anon – MULTIPLE OUTLETS
- If the press hates conspiracies so much, why is there not more of a notice of these obsessive minds?
It might be one of the enduring idiocies in the press; on a regular cycle, it seems we see the press come out with some insipid report that a person flashing the "Okay" finger gesture is delivering a coded white supremacist signal. Last month, this involved a contestant on "Jeopardy!" And for idiotic reasons, this story continues. After being refuted by the contestant, the show's producers, and even debunked by fact-checkers, a group of former winners from the show persist in claiming this was a hate-filled event.
They went so far as to send a notice to the Anti-Defamation League, but then the ADL came back and declared that, no, there was not an intentional white power symbol being sent out. Now, in a fashion accused of QAnon hysterics, these smart players still insist on their conspiracy.
Both Kinds Of Standards – THE WASHINGTON POST / MAX BOOT
A constant source of amusement is watching the avowed Never Trump contingent attempting to out-signal each other in a bid to gain notice. Who they are appealing to is a mysterious and dwindling contingent, but they persist. Max Boot makes his latest strained attempt, lashing out at the polarizing Marjorie Taylor Greene.
It would be fair to say she has some comments worthy of criticism but to see the avowed "True Conservative" Boot claim that the Democrats do not feature anyone of her caliber is beyond laughable. Looking past "The Squad" members, Boot disqualifies himself in his opening paragraph.
"Republicans like to deflect attention from their alarming turn toward the hard right by accusing Democrats of being the real extremists — the party of the Green New Deal, court packing and defund[ing] the police. This is a grossly deceptive framing insofar as none of these policy items has actually been endorsed by Democratic leaders."
Hmmm. Considering Biden campaigned on defunding the police, hired AOC to helm his energy commission, and just saw the emergence of his Supreme Court Commission to look into SCOTUS reforms, I take this to mean Max declares President Biden is not a Democratic leader.
Gilded Reframe – CNN / JAKE TAPPER
- In noting the criticism of ridiculed Covid whistleblower Rebekah Jones, Tapper hopes you forgot past endorsements at his network.
Yesterday, Jake retweeted a post from South Florida journalist Jay O'Brien regarding the recent damning report on Rebekah Jones by Charles Cooke. We reported on Jones in similar fashion back in February, and her claims of Florida falsifying Covid data have never been supported by anything approaching evidence. Nonetheless, she was a media darling during much of 2020 – including on CNN.
Christina Shaw, press secretary to Governor Ron DeSantis, makes some deeply serious points in regards to Tapper's mild recognition of the story while glossing over his own outlet fawning over Jones while she delivered nothing of substance to her accusations.
People wonder why so many Americans distrust the media. Look no further than stuff like this. But trust can be redeemed; everyone makes mistakes—why doesn’t Tapper just admit he made a mistake & explain to CNN viewers that Florida’s COVID stats are real?https://t.co/0l9j3pm99u
— Christina Pushaw (@ChristinaPushaw) May 19, 2021
Anti-Social Media – MEDIA MATTERS
A big announcement came out that more than 40 organizations have signed on to a letter warning companies away from advertising on Fox News or they will incur a severe penalty. Of sorts. This is, once again, a neutered effort at getting Fox to pay a price via ad revenue despite the fact these boycott threats carry so little seriousness. For one, this entire enterprise is orchestrated by Media Matters, which has spent years formulating boycotts on the network – as it has seen ratings and revenues increase constantly.
The first problem is all of these groups are avowed leftist organizations, like BLM and NARAL. They are not Fox viewers. Next, it is doubtful the people who already hurl scorn on MyPillow, for example, are listened to anyway. Will they be taking their refusal to buy the product elsewhere? Fox, meanwhile, has been seeing companies pledging to increase ad buys at a time when other networks are seeing a drop in revenue. This time, however, it is bound to work!
