This is Townhall's daily VIP feature, where we will focus coverage on the deeply flawed aspects of journalism in the nation. We'll look to bring accountability to the mishaps, misdeeds, manipulations, malpractice, and manufactured narratives in the mainstream media.
06.02.21 (Update)
News Avoidance Syndrome – VOX
Not to tell others how to run their website, but there seems to be a bit of a disconnect when a site that was built on the foundation that it will explain things to its readers by practice puts up an article that declares right from the start they have no idea what is going on. The site that cloaks itself on being definitive takes on the wave of anti-semitic violence across the country and in so doing offers up this sub-header: "Violent anti-Semitism spiked in America during the Israel-Hamas war. And we don't know why."
Of course, this does not mean they still did not try, and one possible influence is, unsurprisingly, Donald Trump. They try to say the "upswing" began during the Trump years, and Vox cites three violent incidents against Jews over the past few years. Two of those – The Tree of Life Synagogue and Chabad Synagogue shootings – were perpetrated by anti-Trump killers, and the third involving a machete attack was by an extremist Black Hebrew Israelite.
Of course, blaming Trump looks more foolish when they provide a chart that shows in the span of the past month, incidents have doubled. They, of course, ignore the fact that Trump has immediate family members who are Jewish, and they do not explore the effects of Democratic Party members of "The Squad" uttering anti-semitic comments on the floor of the House.
Body Checking The Fact Checkers – CNN
- Daniel Dale resorts to something closer to spell-checking.
There was a small tremor of concern throughout D.C. when Joe Biden called out two members of the Senate Democrats – Joe Manchin and Kyrsten Sinema – for being obstinate when it comes to the matter of killing the filibuster. As Biden sounded rather clear when he called out their voting preferences, Dale is here to let us know, as a fact-checker, that he will do his darndest to make things LESS clear.
First, Dale's CNN colleague Manu Raju actually delivered a basic and clear fact-check of his own. But Daniel had to step in, in Biden's defense, and allow for an escape hatch for the president to avoid controversy.
If Biden meant they “vote more with my Republican friends” *than they do with Democrats,* he was wrong. If he meant they “vote more with my Republican friends” *than other Democrats do,* he was right. (One Trump-era measure here: https://t.co/R0FAIxNCgS) He didn’t specify. https://t.co/AM1EPYc20j
— Daniel Dale (@ddale8) June 1, 2021
Nothing cleans things up for your audience than resorting to semantics in order to make things more opaque.
News Avoidance Syndrome – WHITE HOUSE PRESS CORPS
- Jen Psaki does not even have to circle-forward today.
The big news all across the media landscape was the release of the Dr. Anthony Fauci email trove. Of course, as usual, the reporters in the White House are missing the big news.
We just went through an entire White House briefing (an hour long) without a single question about the Fauci emails.
— Caleb Hull (@CalebJHull) June 2, 2021
Journalism is dead.
There was not even one reporter today in the press pool who had the courage to ask the White House about Fauci's emails.
— Emerald Robinson ?? (@EmeraldRobinson) June 2, 2021
Legalized Presstitution – FORBES
Throughout the email trove that was recently uncovered concerning Dr. Anthony Fauci, he repeatedly is alerted to the level of public attention being heaped on him. He continually talked about how he was put off by the hype, which comes across as rather a large disconnect with the man's actions.
Dr. Fauci's email- As a colleague mentions the public hype around him Fauci responded that “it is not pleasant at all, that is for sure.”
— Brad Slager - Social Toper and Media Antagonist (@MartiniShark) June 2, 2021
When emailed an article about fans making Fauci tributes he deemed it “surrealistic” and said he hopes “this all stops soon.”
Yet- pic.twitter.com/QpBxsuU3Qz
Pulitzer Prize Nomination – THE COLLEGE FIX
At Central Connecticut University, the student body was in an uproar over a display on campus for Memorial Day. On the site where a parking garage was under construction before the crews knocked off for the weekend, they fastened a large American flag to their crane cable and hoisted it up for display to honor the fallen. The student body saw something far more nefarious.
- "'Early this evening, we received a complaint about a possible noose found hanging from a construction site on the CCSU campus. Campus Police … investigated and found that it was not a noose but a standard steel cable loop hanging from a crane,' wrote President Zulma Toro in an email to the campus community on Saturday night."
Yet despite the fact that this was decidedly not a noose but a basic device used forever in crane operations, the president still buckled to the demands of the easily offended.
- "'Quite frankly, I think it is reckless and tone deaf behavior,' Toro said in her email to the campus. 'We have been in contact with the construction company and demanded that the cable be lowered tonight. We have a team on site tonight monitoring the situation.'"
06.02.21 (Original)
Stealth Story Evolution – THE WASHINGTON POST
The press continues to wrestle with this massive alteration to the Wuhan lab-leak narrative, and possibly the most revealing comes from the Washington Post. Note that until last week, its article from February 2020 still sported the claim that Tom Cotton's comments about the possibility of a lab leak had been "debunked."
That is no small claim, and it was blaring from its headline for well over a year. Invoking the term carries with it the heft of provability that the story has been shown as being incorrect via the arrival of facts. As we now are aware, there were no such disproving facts, but this is of little concern to the resident fact-checker at WaPo, Glenn Kessler, as he was more focused on another outlet.
At The Federalist, they reported on the Post altering its story, describing what took place had been done "quietly," and Kessler took exception to this description. He noted that his paper had issued a statement in the opening that reflects the changes, and then The Federalist noted this in its article – meaning they corrected things the same day, not 16 months later. But what Glenn glosses over is the language in his paper's correction.
- "Earlier versions of this story and its headline inaccurately characterized comments by Sen. Tom Cotton (R-Ark.) regarding the origins of the coronavirus. The term 'debunked' and The Post's use of 'conspiracy theory' have been removed because, then as now, there was no determination about the origins of the virus."
That use of "then" is the most revealing. That is the admission that last February, they had no way to determine the origins, and yet the paper still declared the story was "debunked" – meaning they ran with that entire narrative without any facts to back it up. That should be something to be focused on by Glenn Kessler more than anything else.
The Presentation Paradox – NEW YORK MAGAZINE / THE CUT
For a few days now, the actress Ellie Kemper has been the target of the cancel brigades because of her involvement years ago with an arcane local ceremony. When she was 19, Kemper had been declared the queen of a ball held by a group known as The Veiled Prophets, and the supposed ties of this group with the KKK have been overhyped and cited as cause for her to be canceled. At New York Magazine, they decided to look into the matter, and they have declared this to be a deeply problematic reality – despite providing the evidence that the group's connections to the Klan are in truth not so evident.
It turns out this group had been in existence since the 1800s, and the supposed outfits they wear to show a linkage to the Klan had in truth been worn well before the KKK adorned themselves in the matching togs. Of course, we also have to overlook how The Veiled Prophets have also had POC queens at their balls in the years prior to the actress being coronated, but these are details to be overlooked when accusing others of deep-seated racism.
Here is how you know this Ellie Kemper/Klan connection is garbage--
— Brad Slager - Social Toper and Media Antagonist (@MartiniShark) June 2, 2021
As my gracious co-hostess @aggierican pointed on on our show tonight, the Veiled Prophets predated the KKK, and they have had POC queens before Kemper herself was one.
This is all a desperate cancel effort. pic.twitter.com/aHsHUUiUwy
Blue-Anon – THE WASHINGTON POST
The lack of self-awareness in the media will forever be a source of merriment. When the arbiters of truth and decency themselves descend into the very depths they claim to abhor is one thing, but when they are unaware of what they are doing, the mirth levels rise even higher.
Max Boot becomes the latest, as he unspools a plot whereby the GOP wrests control of Congress, and then in 2024, when Joe Biden wins, the Republicans will use their power to override his election and implant Donald Trump back in office. Bear in mind, this fever-dream-level of hysterics is being delivered by the same man who despises Qanon and all conspiracy theories.
MAX BOOT- The GOP is run by Qanon nutters and filled with people espousing wild conspiracy theories with no foundation in facts.
— Brad Slager - Social Toper and Media Antagonist (@MartiniShark) June 2, 2021
ALSO MAX BOOT- Here is my crackpot nightmare scenario on what will happen 4 years from now. https://t.co/GAsb43QkDA pic.twitter.com/sBaJlVEADT
Matching Media Memos – VARIOUS OUTLETS
It began with Margaret Sullivan making the boast that behind closed doors, Donald Trump is telling people he expects to be reinstalled as president in about two months. It did not take long for this to be repeated as BREAKING NEWS among the blue-check elitists in the press. Josh Marshall says, "So today we learned that ex President Trump is telling associates and supporters that he will be installed as President in a coup sometime this summer." Except, nothing at all was learned – you all heard an unattributed rumor. But that did not stop this wild claim from being reported on across the media landscape.
And even as some might have wanted to dismiss this as Maggie making light speculation on Twitter, that gets wiped away by the fact that she then appears on CNN to push this quaint little story of hers.
JUST NOW: "“There is a dangerous component about this conversation that's going on.”@maggieNYT on her reporting that Trump is telling people he will be reinstated as President by August...notes it could incite more violence.
— John Berman (@JohnBerman) June 2, 2021
"pic.twitter.com/CT1crRDISi
Artisanal-Crafted Narratives – VARIOUS OUTLETS
Last week, there was the viral spread of the video of a Matt Gaetz speech where it had been cut to sound as if he was suggesting people were obligated to use their Second Amendment rights to go after Silicon Valley companies. This was quickly proven to be misinformation, yet as we have now seen, many of the big mainstream outlets – who claim to despise this type of misinformation – were perfectly content to spread this misinformation.
The Washington Post, Brian Williams, Mediaite, Yahoo News, Huffington Post, Vanity Fair, Jonah Goldberg, and many others were on board accusing Gaetz of calling to attack companies. This was not the case, as his speech was about the various rights we all have, and the Silicon Valley comments were in reference to the First Amendment, but actually listening to his speech was beyond the skill set of these journalists.
