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.
06.09.21 (Update)
Stealth Story Evolution – CNN
- Any network commenting Kamala Harris was selected based on her skin color or gender is offensive...er, today.
During a panel discussion yesterday on "The Five," our Katie Pavlich mentioned how disastrous Kamala Harris has been on her Central American trip, commenting "This is what happens when you choose your vice president based on gender and skin color, rather than talent and expertise." Many on the Left have taken exception with her statement, among those being Kate Bennett, White House reporter for CNN.
This comment at 1:00 is so utterly disgusting. https://t.co/CyfnggMd3Y
— Kate Bennett (@KateBennett_DC) June 8, 2021
Kate does some grand posturing about a news network saying these things, while also ignoring two crucial details. The first – Biden's own comment on the matter from last March, according to one report: "Biden has said in the past that he would prefer to pick someone 'of color and/or a different gender' as his running mate."
The second – the hateful news network delivering that insensitive message was Bennett's own CNN.
Gilded Reframe – THE NEW YORK TIMES
For all of 2020, the prevailing lecture from the press was that we all needed to "follow the guidance of the CDC, in the name of science." This agency was held up as the paragon of pandemic intelligence and its directives were used as a cudgel to go after recalcitrant politicians – that is, Republicans. Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis chose to give elderly residents one of the earliest phases of the vaccine distribution, in defiance of CDC guidelines. Texas Gov. Greg Abbott pulled down his mask mandate without the approval of the CDC.
Today everything has changed. Now, we see this from The NY Times Opinion page, and it is the kind of headline that one year ago would have led to a media meltdown and possible ex-communication from the country – "You Can’t Rely On The CDC To Make Your Pandemic Decisions."
This sure is a significant turnaround by the science deniers at The New York Times. (Or, are we not doing that anymore...?)
Body Checking The Fact Checkers – CNN / Daniel Dale
As Spencer Brown detailed earlier, the Interior Department has reported that the initial narrative that the clearing of Lafayette Park last year was done to secure the area from rioters, and was not a police action undertaken for the sake of a photo-op of the president in front of the St. John’s Episcopal Church, following its firebomb attack.
At CNN this past February, Daniel Dale said emphatically that the official word of the reason being it was done to clear the rioters in order to cordon off areas – which the IG report has now confirmed – was a false claim. Once again, the fact-checkers have declared things to be factually established while they were absent of said facts.
Van der Veen falsely claims the clearing of Lafayette Square last June happened to "establish an appropriate security perimeter" from a "riotous mob." No. They cleared peaceful protesters out of the way for a Trump photo-op. The "narrative" van der Veen is mocking is correct.
— Daniel Dale (@ddale8) February 13, 2021
Reporting on the Mirror – THE VERGE
Yesterday, panic was felt across newsrooms when early in the morning a web outage struck many platforms. As journalists scrambled for solutions to be read and heard, at one Vox Media outlet, they came up with a stop-gap solution on the fly. They began offering their new content to readers on Google Docs, but then they noticed the articles becoming altered before their eyes.
Whoever loaded in the content did not disable the unrestricted access, so readers had their way with the written works.
Body Checking the Fact-Checkers – POLITIFACT
There are the Biden administration operations, the vice president overseas giving numerous questionable speeches, or Congress dispensing all manner of commentary to justify an attempted takeover of the country. The folks at PolitiFact have deeper issues to delve into.
Who has time for these political shenanigans when there are people out there suggesting Listerine can keep mosquitos away!
While Listerine is able to fight against plaque and gingivitis, it’s not great against mosquitos. https://t.co/8D2WP2j8jY
— PolitiFact (@PolitiFact) June 9, 2021
06.09.21 (Original)
Anti-Social Media – THE NEW YORK TIMES
Over the course of the last day, we have seen an odd reflexive resistance to people flying the American flag. Mara Gay, a member of The New York Times Editorial Board, was on "Morning Joe" and complained about driving around and seeing the flag displayed vigorously. Her opinion was then echoed by Michael Harriot of The Root, who barked about "a different breed of white people" flying the flag from their pickup trucks.
The amazement in all of this rests in the fact that this is the same press corps that is routinely moaning about the threats to our democracy on a daily basis. Now people who are showing visual support for democracy are...the ones most threatening the...democracy...?
Well, it is apparent that Mara Gay's comments are receiving a significant backlash, as her paper came out with a statement in her defense. According to The Times, we should not believe our lying eyes and ears. When it comes to Ms. Gay's live, unedited appearance, her uninterrupted words were taken out of context.
New York Times editorial board member Mara Gay's comments on MSNBC have been irresponsibly taken out of context. Her argument was that Trump and many of his supporters have politicized the American flag. The attacks on her today are ill-informed and grounded in bad-faith.
— NYTimes Communications (@NYTimesPR) June 8, 2021
Stealth Story Evolution – UNIVISION
- Reporter swooning over Kamala Harris is leading to more questions and problems.
Yesterday, we detailed how one Univision host was glossing over the vice president delivering her share of gaffes by raving over the concept that she has a relative with Hispanic roots. Well, following that, Kamala was at a press conference and was asked a question by an overzealous Univision reporter.
???????? BREAKING: @UniNoticias Fangirling of @VP At Mexico Presser, Or MAJOR Security Breach? https://t.co/MU39jcQFBr
— Jorge Bonilla (@BonillaJL) June 9, 2021
But then it got more bizarre. The president of Univision Noticias, Daniel Coronell, came forward to completely disavow that the woman at the presser was their reporter.
In Mexico an individual which has no association with @Univision claimed to be a reporter for @UniNoticias in order to ask the @VP a question and to compliment @KamalaHarris. Let it be clear to everyone that Ms. Maria Fernanda Reyes is not part of this media organization https://t.co/edxyzRVlt8
— Daniel Coronell (@DCoronell) June 9, 2021
This now becomes a major security breach issue for the Secret Service and the presidential press office.
Blue-anon – MSNBC / "Meet The Press"
On the "MTP Daily" broadcast, Chuck Todd had a regular guest, so-called national security expert and former FBI fixture Frank Figliuzzi. Frank launched into a rant that was as unhinged as anything you would hear from the QAnon side, but he was not challenged or even questioned by Todd. Figliuzzi has a proposal where arrests should be taking place in the upper reaches of Congress. Yes, this is all stemming from the Capitol riots, that flashpoint event the press adores as their primary tool of GOP condemnation.
For Frank's proposal to become valid, you have this string of longshot realities which all need to prove out. First, the riot is declared an act of domestic terrorism, then pretend this crowd is organized exactly like foreign terrorist groups, then locate the command and control element, then prove that said element exists in the GOP leadership, "and that may mean people sitting in Congress right now." Not at all unhinged thinking, according to Chuck Todd.
WATCH: “Arresting low-level operatives is merely a speed bump not a road block," @FrankFigliuzzi1 says.
— Meet the Press (@MeetThePress) June 8, 2021
"In order to really tackle terrorism ... you've got to attack and dismantle the command and control element.”
“That may mean people sitting in Congress right now." pic.twitter.com/Cn6HlTS9Zq
Body Checking The Fact Checkers – THE WASHINGTON POST
A couple of weeks ago, the press did wonderful work avoiding the latest issue involving Joe Biden being directly connected to his son Hunter's numerous sketchy business dealings. To show how on top of his game Kessler is with his work, he was not previously aware of this story. He says he only became alerted to the new development when "a reader directed our attention" to The NY Post report. But, once rousted into doing his assigned task, Kessler appears less than diligent.
- "When we looked into it, there was less to the story than one might imagine."
This effort garnered a response from NY Post reporter Miranda Devine, and she did not hold back in her evisceration of Kessler's wan efforts.
- "You should be ashamed of yourself @GlennKesslerWP. Carrying water for Biden. Again trying and failing to discredit our @nypost story."
Devine goes on to lay out many of the facts Kessler elected to overlook in his excuse-making verification and then lays him out in her closing.
1. You should be ashamed of yourself @GlennKesslerWP. Carrying water for Biden. Again trying and failing to discredit our @nypost story that VP Joe Biden, in 2015, met Vadym Pozharskyi, executive of Burisma, which was paying Hunter $83,333 per month https://t.co/YqwUqsAd4y
— Miranda Devine (@mirandadevine) June 8, 2021
Both Kinds Of Standards – THE BALTIMORE SUN
Considering the blatant addiction the press has regarding Donald Trump, it becomes the most impotent of complaints to suggest other sources citing the man are somehow out of line. This media critic is taking exception with the fact that C-SPAN has opted to run Trump's recent speech to the North Carolina Republicans, demanding that they have a disclaimer on screen regarding his lies.
Apart from the fact that it is precious to pretend Trump was the only politician to ever tell falsehoods, trying to restrict C-SPAN while every other network covers the man obsessively, invokes his name in as many stories as possible, and went so far as to fact-check the pants he wore this weekend, is the height of obliviousness.
Presentation Paradox – THE NEW YORK TIMES
Apparently, in the course of testing out its website, The New York Times errantly ran a story that watermelons were discovered on Mars – allegedly. The more amusing part is that the story remained on the site for an hour before the problem was discovered.
If the paper had played things out correctly, they could have realized a distinct benefit. They should have claimed it was the result of a DarkSide computer hack and then had the White House go collect Bitcoin payment.
Breaking: NYT retracts big "Watermelon on Mars" scoop. https://t.co/6jyfrDXv67
— foster kamer. (@weareyourfek) June 8, 2021
