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.
06.03.21 (Update)
Anti-Social Media – THE NEW YORK TIMES
While it is hardly a shock to see the urbanite elitists take a dismissive stance toward one of those other states, what is surprising about this Times shock-report on the terrors seen in Texas is that it is not an opinion piece from a lone crank in the op-ed section; a collection of writers delivers this scathing exposé on the front page of the paper. Any pretense of objectivity and balanced coverage is dispatched from the headline – "Contested, Heated Culture Wars Mark Ultraconservative Texas Session" – onward.
- "This was the session that pushed Texas further to the right"
- "One of the most conservative Texas legislative sessions ended this week…"
- "It was a top legislative priority for the Republican Party, and would have been the final achievement in the ultraconservative session that concluded on Monday."
- "the session that included passage of a number of other aggressive measures"
- "Republicans...applauded themselves for a series of conservative victories."
- "This was the session that pushed the state further right, at a time when it seemed least likely to do so."
- "In states they control, Republicans are tightening their grip on the levers of power."
- "This became one of the most conservative recent sessions in Texas, with bills that had died in previous sessions for being too extreme."
All of this, and not even close to the halfway point in the lengthy piece. As NewsBusters noted in their coverage, "The state of Texas allegedly careening dangerously to the right is a familiar scare tactic at The Times." One thing that is not addressed in the report – why so many people are flooding into this hellscape of a state.
Blue-Anon – CNN / Chris Cuomo
Cuomo, CNN's most ethical journalist on their payroll, began his last program intoning the grave threats poised to render this country, and went on to describe a "conspiracy contagion" that poses a bigger threat than Covid-19. If you guessed that the man warning about conspiracies would then devolve into weaving his own conspiracies, you are correct.
Cuomo bemoaned the voting audits taking place in Arizona, leading into the unproven claims that Donald Trump has declared he will be installed as president in August (a story only listened to by other journalists), and then Chris delivered the damning evidence on it all – this has been confirmed by Mike Lindell, the MyPillow CEO. Hard to fathom why Cuomo's primetime ratings have been at a level seen by pearl divers.
What Chris also misses in his denigration of those who follow conspiracies is how many recent media claims of news items being conspiratorial have been later shown to have validity. The Wuhan lab leak, masks being ineffective in halting the virus, defunding the police leading to spikes in violence, the governor of New York hiding Covid deaths data – all have become revealed as being certifiable.
One conspiracy I still hold is that Cuomo is using leverage on his bosses in order to remain on the air.
“The conspiracy contagion is only growing,” warns @ChrisCuomo.
— Cuomo Prime Time (@CuomoPrimeTime) June 3, 2021
“There should be genuine concern.” he says. “…I know we are all weary.... but I know the pandemic is not the disease that is placing us most at risk, and our way of life is at risk.” pic.twitter.com/s6GC0submn
Artisanal-Crafted Narratives – CNN
- What can be said of journalists dismayed at the story only they are following?
On the subject of the Trump "claim" he will be made president in August, Brian Stelter weighed in (whoah, sorry for that insensitivity), and he is staggered at the ridiculous nature of this story. The fact here, Brian, is that everyone is basically looking at it as a ridiculous claim – but it is the members of the press who are the biggest admirers.
Stelter dismissively said of this story, "This wackiness would have been laughed out of the 'Veep' writers' room. But it's real life..." That generated a response from one of the writers of "Veep."
From tonight’s @ReliableSources. And yeah, this is too stupid for even #jonah. @veephbo pic.twitter.com/BNOdlWHq3S
— David Mandel (@DavidHMandel) June 3, 2021
The obvious question that will obviously go unanswered – if this is such an outlandish story, why are the members of the mainstream press so intent on keeping the story in the news?!
Legalized Press-titution – VANITY FAIR
- But the press is not fawning over this administration.
She has barely been on the job for five months, and already Jen Psaki is about to get a glamour shot biography done of her. Try to think back on all of the adoring coverage the Donald Trump press secretaries generated (I said "try" for a reason – I did not imply you would succeed).
SPOTTED at the White House: Annie Leibovitz who is here to photograph Jen Psaki for an upcoming magazine profile.
— Nancy Cook (@nancook) June 3, 2021
News Avoidance Syndrome – VARIOUS MEDIA
- How many check-boxes need to be filled in for Andy Ngo to be recognized?
In a fairly harrowing thread, freelance journalist Andy Ngo details how he was once again targeted by Antifa and possibly was severely threatened. What is stark, beyond his experience, is the abject lack of concern seen in the press landscape.
For months now, journalists have been highlighting the intolerance visited upon Asian Americans, and for years they have lamented the threats being allegedly visited upon their profession. For some reason, this Asian American reporter being attacked has generated nothing but crickets in the media landscape.
Statement on May 28, 2021 Antifa assault:
— Andy Ngô (@MrAndyNgo) June 3, 2021
No journalist in America should ever face violence for doing his or her job.
Yet on Friday, May 28, Antifa tried to kill me again while I was reporting on the ongoing protests and riots in Portland, Ore. for a new chapter of my...
06.03.21 (Original)
Legalized Press-titution – MSNBC
With the mass of emails that have come out surrounding Dr. Anthony Fauci over the course of the pandemic, there has been no shortage of revealing and troubling details to emerge. Someone should have tipped off MSNBC's resident Republican (heh) Nicolle Wallace because as she secured one of the first interviews with the doctor following the release of the trove of documents, she was less than interrogational.
Dr. Fauci is permitted to excuse his vacillating positions on the virus because "science is a dynamic process," meaning as more information is learned, new positions are made. This is a convenience that was never afforded President Trump; he was expected to have all the answers from the start.
Then Wallace gushes over the man, telling him how he has managed to come off looking so good after these emails were exposed.
MSNBC’s @NicolleDWallace scores the first interview w/ Fauci since his emails were made public and uses it to say: “The true mark of someone is if they look good even when their personal emails come out, so you pass the test very few of us would pass." pic.twitter.com/SNMXBrXm5v
— Tom Elliott (@tomselliott) June 2, 2021
Stealth Story Evolution – NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC BOOKS
Just one day after touting the November release of a new book featuring Dr. Fauci, the email revelations have scuttled that enterprise. The pre-sale pages from Amazon and Barnes & Noble, where they had been taking orders for the $18 title, are now suddenly blank. The Disney-owned publisher says the announcement was "premature" as a means of explanation.
Both Kinds Of Standards – CNN
In the constant push to get the filibuster removed as a Senate tool, the press has been especially exposed as the partisan hack machine they have long been in operation. Manu Raju is especially vested in the filibuster removal, asking Senator Joe Manchin almost daily if he has changed his opposition to the proposal. Now, Raju has a glowing profile on Maine Senator Angus King and how he has joined the ranks of those wanting to pull the filibuster option away from the GOP in the perfectly divided 50/50 Senate.
- "'We have to defend democracy,' King said. 'And I'm afraid that our colleagues have put us in that position. I'm very reluctant to modify the filibuster. But I don't feel I can stand by and see our system subverted.'"
Lost on these geniuses is that the removal of the centuries-old filibuster option is the true act of subverting the checks-and-balance system. Also lost on Raju is King's convenient fluid stance on the filibuster. It would have been seen as a valid point to most reporters to include in his piece that King himself invoked the filibuster vote numerous times just last year when the Democrats used the filibuster the most times ever seen in the Senate’s history.
Oh, but techniques like shading, nuance, perspective and balanced reporting are the type of things lowly journalists use as they amusingly cling to their silly ethics.
Artisanal-Crafted Narratives – THE WASHINGTON POST
- Good pandemic news just does not sell, it seems.
Businesses are opening up, people are returning to their offices, and cases are plummeting as the vaccines are working. Even at Axios, they have announced they are halting their Covid map-tracking coverage as the threat is dissipating. There is plenty of good news to be seen, which is apparently bad news for The Washington Post.
One Twitter user noted how in the face of all the positivity taking place, WaPo is still out there pushing the negative, even contradictory information in order to get panic traffic.
I would like to ask, respectfully, what the hell is wrong with the Washington Post social media team pic.twitter.com/cebP7jMjjD
— PoliMath (@politicalmath) June 2, 2021
Reporting On The Mirror – CNN
While yes, we get that Brian Stelter showing concern for the demise of local news outlets is understandable, maybe his proposed solution is a bit daft. In his latest "Reliable Sources" newsletter, he proposes a solution for saving local news – government money! Brian proposes that local news be declared as infrastructure, and that would have money pouring in from Joe Biden's proposed massive spending bill.
What a brilliant idea; what could possibly go awry with an industry tasked with holding the government accountable becoming beholden to that same government?! But Stelter manages to tip his own biased hand when he reveals his Fox News obsession by stating what he just knows their reaction will be. He indicates why he feels this is such a plausible idea.
- "With Democrats controlling the levers of power in Congress, these ideas will at least get a hearing."
You can kind of see Brian's point in all of this; he already is pimping out the Democratic Party talking points. He might as well get paid for doing it!
DNC PR Firm – MSNBC
- Brian Williams, in unbiased fashion, lays out the game plan for Joe Biden to follow in order to pass his agenda.
It gets revealing, if not downright comical, when the avowed balanced and neutral newsagents drop the facade and openly promote the Democratic Party line. On "The 11th Hour," Brian Williams had a varied cast of guests ranging from liberal to leftist in order to discuss Joe Biden's challenges in getting his sweeping plans installed in this country.
Specifically, he was referring to the need to eliminate the filibuster and how two Democratic senators – Kyrsten Sinema and Joe Manchin – are standing in his way to this dream, shared by Williams. Brian begins to draw up the game plan for the president to follow. "Put less classily, a lot of people would like to see [Biden] start throwing punches, kicking ass and taking names." It is not hard to see here that "a lot of people" means Brian Williams, especially as he continues with the extortion plan he feels Biden should employ.
- "A lot of people would like to see [Biden] start to say to voters of West Virginia, 'You want roads and bridges? Start with the basic right to vote?' Ditto. 'Hey, you folks in Arizona, you want roads and bridges, let's talk about your right to vote.'"
