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.
08.19.21 (Update)
DNC PR Firm – VARIOUS OUTLETS
- We are witnessing a neutered administration propped up by the media.
Joe Biden addressed the nation this afternoon, once again. He spoke briefly and then trundled off without taking questions – again. He said, "There are people who are dying, and will die, who don't have to." This was not about Afghanistan. He spoke about the vaccines and the mask mandates, and the mean GOP governors who are not rolling over to his whims on the matter. He took today's speech to do nothing but score cheap political hits.
He said nothing on the plight of thousands of Americans stuck in a hostile, terrorist-controlled country. His secretary of defense mousily said they are negotiating with the Taliban. His Chairman of the JCS said they had no clue the country would fall to the Taliban so swiftly.
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This is an administration that has become exposed as wildly out of its league. No one in a leadership position has exhibited anything resembling leadership this week. As a nation dissolves and thousands of Americans are trapped, the president is on vacation. They called a lid on his day at the time he was most sought out and needed.
We are bearing witness to a man who has completely lost the reins, and this is due to having been shielded from analysis during a presidential campaign. When we were supposed to learn his agenda, he was bunkered in his home, away from media scrutiny – and the media was content with that reality. Now, a global crisis is at hand, and he is bunkered anew. We were shown this during the campaign. This is Joe Biden's Basement Doctrine.
.@MajorCBS: "Coronavirus is clearly the news of the day at the Biden WH but there's, of course, another topic pressing on the WH. That is the crisis situation in Afghanistan, the evacuation of Americans there and Afghan allies...The President did not take any questions." pic.twitter.com/g13mhtCOq4
— Curtis Houck (@CurtisHouck) August 18, 2021
Artisanal-Crafted Narratives – WASHINGTON POST
It has been one of the astounding realities that the Taliban – the murderous terrorist outfit overtaking Afghanistan – has a presence on Twitter. We talked earlier about how Brian Stelter is stumbling to rationalize this idiocy, but what is all the more astounding is that while a terrorist group is on Twitter, former President Trump is banned. He might do something dangerous.
The Taliban just today killed a woman who was not wearing a burqa in public, but the real fear is Trump might send a mean tweet.
At the Washington Post, they strained mightily to have this make sense. They also failed mightily. In the attempt to justify the Taliban being on social media, writers Craig Timberg and Cristiano Lima come off sounding like fanboy admirers of the murderous group.
- "A movement rooted in traditional moral codes has become expert at wielding the West’s advanced communication technologies. For a group that espouses ancient moral codes, the Afghan Taliban has used strikingly sophisticated social media tactics to build political momentum. The tactics overall show such a high degree of skill that analysts believe at least one public relations firm is advising the Taliban on how to push key themes, amplify messages across platforms and create potentially viral images and video snippets."
Geeze, calm down guys – I don't think they are hiring.
As for how they can exist on social media while President Trump is banished?
- "The answer, analysts said, may simply be that Trump's posts for years challenged platform rules against hate speech and inciting violence. Today's Taliban, by and large, does not."
We are literally through the looking glass. Logic and pragmatism have been completely dispatched for partisan think pieces and biased analysis. This is downright surreal.
Why Trump’s banned and the Taliban aren’t: they play by the rules. https://t.co/5y5no9ZnmN
— mark seibel (@markseibel) August 18, 2021
Prose & Contradiction – CURRENT AFFAIRS
- Can...can editors violate their own outlet's mission statement?!
It is the kind of thing you cannot make up because if you did, no one would believe it. Across the media spectrum, a number of news outlets are seeing their staff organizing and unionizing. Joining this trend were some of the staff at Current Affairs. As they did this, the group joining in were given some harsh news – they were promptly fired.
I am grieved to tell you that @nathanjrobinson has effectively fired me & most of the @curaffairs staff because we were trying to organize into a worker’s co-op. This isn’t a bit. I wish it was. https://t.co/0lmnJlzAEX pic.twitter.com/5P6U88d4VR
— lyta gold, fired for doing socialism (@lyta_gold) August 18, 2021
Just in case you are unfamiliar, Current Affairs is a publication catering to the socialist audience. To repeat – it is a SOCIALIST magazine. That socialist magazine just fired their staff who attempted to organize
"Yes, we were fired by the editor-in-chief of a socialist magazine for trying to start a worker co-op." https://t.co/BwnpYXK8YI
— Hunter Walker (@hunterw) August 18, 2021
Maybe the real problem here is that True unionization at the magazine has not been tried yet...
08.18.21 (Original)
Anti-Social Media – CNN
"I think even these companies are confused by these policies."
It is very confusing, and it is a very delicate dance that these companies are engaging in. One Taliban spokesman has a Twitter account. Former President Trump, as a reminder, is NOT permitted to have an account. This distinction – that legitimate terrorists can have active accounts while a US politician is regarded as too dangerous – is apparently lost in all of the confusion.
Blue-Anon – BLOOMBERG
- The latest fact-free slam on Ron DeSantis.
Columnist Tim O'Brien at Bloomberg is the latest to attempt developing a scandal around Florida Governor Ron DeSantis even while knowing or ignoring the details. O'Brien's claim is that DeSantis is pushing for people to be treated with Regeneron in lieu of getting vaccinated. The reason, goes the insipid claim, is that DeSantis receives huge donations from an investor in the company.
This can't be said enough: The regeneron treatment DeSantis is pushing cost at least $1,250 per dose.
— Tim O'Brien (@TimOBrien) August 16, 2021
Covid-19 vaccines cost $0. https://t.co/HSdUGjTROc
How this misinformation is allowed to remain posted is a mystery. The treatment does not cost a Covid patient any money, yet here is O'Brien potentially scaring off people from getting this remedy, one that is in fact endorsed by the White House.
This amounts to the second time the press has tried slamming DeSantis for making a free treatment for Covid widely available to Floridians.
Hi @TimOBrien - please know that the U.S. government has made our investigational antibody cocktail for #COVID19 available for free to patients who qualify under Emergency Use Authorization parameters (just like the vaccines are). More info here: https://t.co/AV44xQ83s7
— Regeneron (@Regeneron) August 16, 2021
Low Octane Gas Lighting – WASHINGTON POST
- Maybe Jenn should update her subscription...to her own newspaper.
It is well known that Jennifer Rubin has a reflexive defense of Joe Biden, but when she resorts to automatic comments without the least amount of investigation, it becomes heavily comical. Jenn wanted to beat back the claims that Biden's bungling in Afghanistan has led to the citizens being abandoned.
We abandoned the Afghans. We failed to get people out. False. The airport in Kabul is up and running flights to evacuate U.S. citizens, third-party nationals, interpreters and other Afghan partners. https://t.co/4CQbxFjhkf
— Jennifer 'pro-voting' Rubin (@JRubinBlogger) August 18, 2021
Of course, this empty claim has been disputed by reports across the media landscape – including her own place of employment. Not only are Afghans being deserted, but so are a number of American citizens, it seems Jennifer.
According to the aides, the Biden administration officials told Senate staffers that there is no plan to evacuate Americans who are still outside of Kabul, as they do not have a way of getting through the Taliban checkpoints outside the capital city.https://t.co/UmjRhsCz7k
— Dan Lamothe (@DanLamothe) August 17, 2021
Anti-Social Media – MSNBC
- Not to say Joy Reid is celebrating when a GOP politician tests positive – we can show it.
News that Texas Governor Greg Abbott has tested positive for Covid has spread virally across the media because it somehow shows hypocrisy, according to them. Joy Reid had on as a guest new MSNBC expert commentator Julian Castro to discuss the matter. Reid prompts Castro into invective by saying, "spreading more sickness and death doesn't strike me as smart politics."
This is typical of Reid's palaver, suggesting a politician is actively spreading death. Castro meanwhile talked of Abbott bringing this on himself.
- "You're going to get it if you act irresponsibly like the governor and others have. But once they do, they end up taking one of those hospital beds that are in very short supply right now. When he gets COVID, does everything that he possibly can to make sure that he's OK, gets access to Regeneron, and perhaps a third booster shot, things that ordinary Texans, everyday Texans would not have access to."
We need to inform Castro, as he bemoans people not following the facts, that Governor Abbott is not exhibiting any symptoms at all and thus is not occupying a bed. Also, Regeneron is available to Texans, and as we have said above, it is a free treatment.
But just as an example of how Reid is an absolute ghoul on this matter, just behold her celebrating the news that Abbott was found to be positive.
Don't think that the left celebrates when conservatives and Republicans become sick (or worse)? Well, look no further than Joy Reid as she triumphantly shouts "TADA!" after saying that Texas Republican Governor Greg Abbott has tested positive for Covid. pic.twitter.com/WkXYSFgmyF
— Curtis Houck (@CurtisHouck) August 18, 2021
Pulitzer Prize Nomination – NEWSWEEK
In Afghanistan, we have seen a nation become overrun by terrorists, women and children becoming subjugated as humans, and we even saw people plunging off of an Air Force transport plane. But now – NOW – we can finally understand how devastating this tragedy really is; Prince Harry and Meghan Markle are upset about it!
Thanks to Newsweek, we learn that the formerly royal couple delivered a press release to let the world know they do not like what they see. It is important to understand that amidst all the human tragedy, they are still a couple to be paid attention to in this crisis.
In the PR form, they referenced "we/ourselves/us/" 18 times, and then in a separate release from their Invictus organization, continued in this manner. It was a remarkable amount of words in a very lengthy statement by these two who claimed that, due to the events, "we are left speechless."
Harry and Meghan say "we are left speechless" by Afghanistan's "pain" https://t.co/IQmRdfv16m
— Newsweek (@Newsweek) August 18, 2021
Body Checking The Fact Checkers – USA TODAY
Sure, there's a lot of trauma going on right now across the planet, what with Afghanistan, tropical storms, Haiti earthquakes, a pandemic, and former British Royals being sad – but take heart. USA Today is here to help us make sense of things.
The intrepid fact-checkers have dug into the details and discovered that all of this global calamity is not, in fact, caused by the unearthing of an ancient mask with a golden eye in 2019!
Great news – it turns out that discovery was made 15 years ago, so we are not under an archaic pestilence released by reckless antiquities hunters!
I hadn't heard of this story at the time, how interesting! https://t.co/91WMHSxqfH
— Sam Perrin (@misssamperrin) August 18, 2021
