"Riffed from the Headlines" is 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.
(Updated)
Both Kinds of Standards – CNN
The press is at it again, mining to get vital pandemic medical advice from – actors. Last year, we were treated to the wisdom of script reader Robert DeNiro on the subject, and now the network turns to viral expert Sean Penn. After describing his draconian vaccine standards on the film set, he declared he would prefer if people who are not inoculated not attend his films. This could be a no-risk challenge for him, as based on the box office returns on many of his latest films, he would see the same no-show results.
He then explained his science-based stance on vaccines thusly:
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- "With something like this, you can't go around pointing a gun in somebody's face, which is what it is when people are unvaccinated."
CNN – your authority in epidemiology.
Actor and activist Sean Penn says he believes Covid-19 vaccinations should be mandatory.
— CNN (@CNN) August 21, 2021
“You can't go around pointing a gun in somebody's face, which is what it is when people are unvaccinated,” he tells @smerconish. https://t.co/oKYltfCANn pic.twitter.com/4tfNWdobnh
Legalized Press-titution – USA TODAY
You sometimes have to wonder, do members of the press understand how polls and approval ratings work? You have to ask this because sometimes journalists genuinely appear to be upset and confounded that Biden's approval numbers have crashed the past two weeks.
Yes, President Biden is now underwater in his job approval, but the sharp as a scalpel minds at USA Today have figured out the problem. His job approval is tanking as a result of the opinion of the voters!
Americans' harsh judgment on Afghanistan pushes Biden's job approval down to 41%, USA TODAY/Suffolk University Poll finds https://t.co/P1QkauItsf
— USA TODAY (@USATODAY) August 24, 2021
Seriously, if the people could simply stop being disappointed, then his favorability should go back up. Let's stop noticing stuff, people!
News Avoidance Syndrome – NBC NEWS
- Maybe there is a contest in the White House to win the race to the bottom.
While we are on the subject of horrid polling numbers, why don't we look in and see how Vice President Kamala Harris is doing. As it turns out, it is up to us to look into it because, for some reason, there is not a lot of enthusiasm in the press to detail how she is trending – even when the media are the ones conducting the survey.
It turns out for a few decades now, there has been this measure referred to as the Vice President Feeling Monitor. (Promise, we did NOT make that up. It is a real thing.) As it turns out, ever since the era of Al Gore, this Feeling Monitor has not seen results this low as is being reported for Kamala Harris. Wait, check that – "as is being recorded" for Vice President Harris. We really are not seeing this being reported at all...even though it is conducted by NBC News.
VP Harris has lowest feeling thermometer of any first year VP going back to Gore in 1993 … with an unprecedented “very negative” rating on @NBCNews survey tracking. pic.twitter.com/Ii3AlR5EZ2
— Bill McInturff (@pollsterguy) August 25, 2021
08.25.21 (Original)
Low Octane Gas Lighting – WASHINGTON POST
- They really are the most mannered terrorist outfit going.
Jennifer Rubin is understandably in a tough position. After pushing for Biden's election and then praising him wildly for seven months, he has created a roiling dumpster fire in Afghanistan, so she is left trying to recalibrate what it is we are seeing.
One way of doing this – hey, those Taliban guys sure are a rather polite bunch!
Taliban is asking, not telling: “We are asking the Americans, please change your policy and don’t encourage Afghans to leave,” hhttps://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2021/08/24/afghanistan-kabul-taliban-live-updates/?tid=ss_tw
— Jennifer 'pro-voting' Rubin (@JRubinBlogger) August 24, 2021
They even said, "please." You people on the Right really need to calm down and realize what a peaceful and understanding group of murderous tyrants this bunch really is!
Reporting on the Mirror – VARIOUS OUTLETS
Usually, when there is breaking and developing news, it serves as a boon for the cable news networks. We have seen some curious returns as a result of the Afghan crisis; it appears the left-leaning audience is not so interested in seeing the Biden administration unraveling on a global stage.
On Sunday, the daily numbers showed some of this audience flight, with Fox News logging the Top 14 highest-rated shows and MSNBC not even able to crack the Top 30.
Is this some sort of odd avoidance of Biden's fiasco?
— Brad Slager - Focused On Lasers (@MartiniShark) August 24, 2021
Fox takes the top 14 positions in the Sunday ratings, Brian Stelter can barely reach 20th, and MSNBC does not appear in the top-30 at all. pic.twitter.com/xX9YA4yuoq
This anomaly has been followed up with a report that over the past week, Fox News was the top-rated network. Not in cable news, not on cable – Fox was number one across all of broadcast television. CNN normally enjoys a surge during developing news, but it has enjoyed only an uptick. And as we covered here on Friday, MSNBC is mostly avoiding the Afghanistan story as much as possible.
Afghanistan Coverage Powers Fox News to No. 1 in Weekly Primetime Ratings — Network Tops All Broadcast and Cable Rivals in Rare Feat
— johnny dollar (@johnnydollar01) August 25, 2021
Fox News was No. 1 across the entire dial — topping even the major broadcast networks.https://t.co/5Buq7rOads pic.twitter.com/YTLbNNUhrD
First Amendment Strike Force – WASHINGTON POST
WaPo has a scathing report – according to the paper – that illustrates the danger of misinformation on social media. Already this has been a problematic notion, with what is determined to be false information becoming a very fluid and subjective measurement, usually made by biased fact-check outlets.
Now, they are looking to broaden this already ill-defined standard and target more sites based on an undefined metric. Not just content to go after false news items, there is a new danger that is cited; there are these nefarious sites that kinda-sorta-not-really-but-basically-maybe traffic in somewhat inaccurate information. The headline explains these sites, "mislead, not flat-out lie."
- "Sites that share news misleadingly are attracting a record-level share of the platform's audience, according to a study. More than 1 in 5 interactions — such as shares, likes or comments — with U.S. sites from April to June happened on 'outlets that gather and present information irresponsibly,' according to a report."
Not surprisingly, these sites sure seem to have a lot in common. Some listed examples are Breitbart, The Daily Wire, and Epoch Times. And the methodology does not sound biased and completely subjective in the least – he says, delivering misleading sarcasm.
- "Researchers say these outlets distort or misrepresent information to make an argument or report on a subject, a metric determined by NewsGuard, a website cited in the study that rates the credibility of news sources. Researchers say these sources, which they argue spread subtler but still harmful forms of misinformation, are decidedly different from sites that publish overtly false news."
Analysis: Study finds sites that mislead, not flat-out lie, attract record share of Facebook engagements https://t.co/GgYB60t3KO
— The Washington Post (@washingtonpost) August 24, 2021
Presentation Paradox – NBC NEWS
The map is glaringly alarming, and the number is extremely scary. In South Dakota, in the month of June, the case rate of Covid-19 nearly quadrupled in a two-week period. This is disastrous!
Until you bore into the numbers and see that the daily case rate ranks the state near the bottom, and the per capita daily rate is 27 people per 100,000, ranking them 37th. But those numbers just are not as impressive as NEARLY FIVE HUNDRED PERCENT!
Reported Covid cases in South Dakota have quadrupled in the last two weeks. https://t.co/s03mkL70Oj pic.twitter.com/zxsdDzY78L
— NBC News Graphics (@NBCNewsGraphics) August 24, 2021
Blue-Anon – NBC NEWS
The press, who loves to lecture us on the need to follow the science, is once again ignoring the science. NBC News is broadcasting the demographics of those who have been vaccinated, and their entirely important and completely sound polling shows whites are lagging the most in vaccinations.
FIRST READ: NBC News poll shows demographic breakdown of the vaccinated in the U.S.https://t.co/wPe8NwpFSz pic.twitter.com/tczUCiYPeG
— Meet the Press (@MeetThePress) August 24, 2021
Of course, there are others who would deny this is the case, instead focusing on unreliable evidence gathered by trained professionals and government medical staff.
Those darned anti-vaxx whites who...uh...well, are doing better than minority groups.
— Brad Slager - Focused On Lasers (@MartiniShark) August 25, 2021
But only if you choose to follow compiled medical data gathered by scientists from the state governments.
Our POLL says something else entirely! https://t.co/9oOmSKf8IS pic.twitter.com/CyVdCHltJJ