Townhall's daily VIP feature with coverage on the deeply flawed aspects of journalism in the nation. We'll look to bring accountability to the mishaps, malaprops, misdeeds, manipulations, malpractice, and manufactured narratives in mainstream media.
08.16.21
Pounce Of Prevention – NBC NIGHTLY NEWS
On the Sunday edition of "NBC Nightly News," White House correspondent Monica Alba delivered all of the updates about the collapse in Kabul. In the course of her report, she mentioned a variety of problems seen from the Biden administration but then came to an all-too-familiar conclusion when it comes to talk of resembling The Fall of Saigon.
- "Still, helicopters continuously evacuated Americans and our Afghan allies throughout the day – an optical comparison Republicans have seized on as they continue to blast the President’s foreign policy strategy."
Resorting to the tired "Republicans Pounce" routine, while expected, is particularly insipid in this case, as this comparison has been made throughout the media landscape and not from exclusively conservative outlets.
Including... Alba herself. In her same report, she mentioned Biden's own words on this not turning into a Saigon situation and even provided visuals on the matter.
.@albamonica reports on the Biden administration’s reaction as the Taliban gain control of Afghanistan.https://t.co/dLFEXLGKTG
— NBC Nightly News with Lester Holt (@NBCNightlyNews) August 16, 2021
DNC PR Firm – VARIOUS OUTLETS
As the situation continues to dissolve in Afghanistan, it becomes almost unbearable to see coverage in the media taking a critical approach to President Biden's decision on the withdrawal. This is because mere months ago, as it was reported that he was defying the advice from his leading generals on the matter, the press was rather supportive of his moxie.
As The New York Times put it, "Over two decades of war, the Pentagon had fended off the political instincts of elected leaders frustrated with the grind of Afghanistan. But President Biden refused to be persuaded." Politico did some fist-bumping on his "overriding the Brass." At The New Yorker, Susan Glasser raved, "Biden Finally Got To Say NO To The Generals." The Atlantic had the pom-poms out as they declared in a piece entitled General Override, "After years of deferring to the uniformed military on major decisions, presidents are pushing back."
And today, it is all about scrambling to find ways to blame this on Trump.
News Avoidance Syndrome – THE WASHINGTON POST
The confirmation of David Chipman to become the director of the Bureau of Alcohol Tobacco and Firearms has many in the press perturbed. They thought that Biden would be able to install a sympathizer to the gun-control lobby with ease and get Biden's desired gun legislation passed. That it has reached an impasse in the Senate has bothered many journalists, as they choose to overlook the criticisms.
WaPo penned an editorial that lauded Chipman while avoiding the details and echoing his anti-gun language. In the opening paragraphs, they discuss "a crazed gunman," "gun zealots," "toxic obsession with firearms," and "bizarre obsession with weapons of war." Yeah, you are getting a truly sane and unbiased position here. What is notable is this was not the rantings of a guest writer; this screed was delivered by the paper's Editorial Board.
The real amusement comes in their describing gun owners with a denial of reality, all while the paper chooses to deny the fact surrounding Chipman. In calling him qualified with 25 years of ATF experience, they failed to disclose he has been away from the agency for almost a decade.
They also choose to avoid discussion of the reports from inside the ATF, unearthed by Stephen Gutowski at The Reload. Gutowski reported on the numerous cases of Chipman exhibiting outright racist positions toward black employees. Seems curious the press is incurious about racism in these racially charged times, but this is a Democrat sympathizer primed for a powerful post. Racism is secondary to the acquisition of power.
DOJ says nominee David Chipman did initiate an investigation by accusing an agent of cheating in 2007. But DOJ said it can't provide more details from the confidential report and defended Chipman from charges of racial bias. https://t.co/32M7Lriphv
— Stephen Gutowski (@StephenGutowski) August 11, 2021
Legalized Press-titution – OCCUPY DEMOCRATS
The desire to bring down Ron DeSantis in the press continues, and it stretches to his staff. His press secretary has also been the target of media hits, but Christina Pushaw is always up to the task. The latest was an EXCLUSIVE, supposedly broken open by Grant Stern of Occupy Democrats, and it went off about as well as a bottle rocket in a tropical storm.
Exclusive
— Grant Stern is fully vaccinated (@grantstern) August 13, 2021
Christina Pushaw, Press Secretary to Florida Governor Ron DeSantis is set to take a plea deal in the criminal case again her in Maryland for defying whistleblower Rebekah Jones’ interim peace order in Montgomery County, Md.https://t.co/Lg8Mes7Uqb
Small matter – the entire claim had already been tossed out of court back in April. Jones had filed that order, and then before the court even recognized it as valid, she filed the violation of the non-existent order. When it was tossed in April, her violation claim was instantly neutered. So Jones fed her claim to Grant Stern of a legal violation claim while knowing it was going to be removed from the books. She essentially is claiming that Pushaw is harassing her, all while harassing Pushaw with frivolous legal claims.
Yesterday, Maryland District Court dismissed Rebekah Jones's Peace Order petition against me, and all other charges, as lacking any legal or factual basis, Thanks to my family, friends, and superlawyer Sharon Diamant for helping me during this process.
— Christina Pushaw (@ChristinaPushaw) August 14, 2021
Blue-Anon – NBC NIGHTLY NEWS
It was rather big news to come out of the Department of Homeland Security, as the agency announced a new terror threat advisory, one with rather dubious claims, which were not really questioned by the journalists at all. Lester Holt announced the new terror alert and then tossed his segment to Pete Williams to deliver the specifics. As it turned out, there was no terror to alert people about.
- "DHS has said this new terrorism advisory is not based on any actual threats or plots. But it says there is a rise in anti-government rhetoric."
So...they issued a new advisory to draw up a list of things people might be saying that they don't like?! That is precisely the case. The last advisory was issued in May, which led to – nothing happening. But now we hear of an increased level of threat...which seems to be the case because they drew up an entirely new list of arbitrary threats.
Um, guys?
— Brad Slager - Gold Medal Loser in the Keg Toss (@MartiniShark) August 16, 2021
Is anyone in the press at all concerned DHS issued a new terror alert NOT based on any direct threats or discovered plots, but just topics they do not like?!
Disagreeing with Covid protocols or celebrating a religious holiday can get you labeled as a terror threat??? pic.twitter.com/clGyCJv52d
Anti-Social Media – WASHINGTON POST
Last week, Major League Baseball went against its trend and actually pulled off something decent and unique. Thursday evening, it staged a scheduled game between the White Sox and New York Yankees at Iowa's Field Of Dreams baseball stadium. It was a great night, and there were universal raves for the presentation.
Universal, but not unanimous. Chelsea Janes, writing for the Washington Post, decided that she just needed to inject racial strife and other connected elements due to the fact the movie was based on the 1919 White Sox, at a time when there was segregation in baseball, and black players were relegated to the Negro Leagues. Janes' desperation is on display here, as she invokes the names of a number of minority players, none of whom provided a single quote of controversy or any utterance of race whatsoever.
The only person with a thing to say about the alleged racism – the white writer herself.
Thursday saw baseball pull off a great event.
— Brad Slager - Gold Medal Loser in the Keg Toss (@MartiniShark) August 16, 2021
The @WashingtonPost arrived with an agenda to highlight racial problems, so the lack of evidence and players testimonies did not deter the reporter.
My newest at @RedState https://t.co/hNtjQwx8Hh
