"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.
09.21.21
Pathological Media Amnesia – CNN
- Is this a memory lapse or a severe case of wishcasting and gaslighting?
Yesterday, we showed how many members of the press were grappling with the dud of a rally in D.C. on Saturday in defiance of their weeks of promising us a new batch of political violence. Brian Stelter was among those straining to keep the threat alive in the face of no threat whatsoever. Well, it appears he has been more desperate than that.
We showed how he was trying to insist that the lack of a turnout only means there are hordes of MAGA mobs online, but he is also trying to insist that he had called that the rally would be poorly attended in an effort to deflect from those in the press who hyped the gathering as a dangerous entity – including himself.
In a brazen dose of lying, Brian tried telling his "Reliable Sources" audience how he knew all along nobody was going to show up. However, NewsBusters Senior Editor Tim Graham, who writes here on occasion, notes that as Stelter tried to say he predicted the dud, he was caught the day before insisting it would be dangerous, and that Fox News actually declaring it would be a non-event was engaged in denial. Just amazing.
Stelter said Sunday he said the rally might be a dud on Friday. Back then he ended: "Networks like Fox are barely covering the security precautions leading into the rally. They're almost acting like the rally is not happening at all...The Big Lie is being joined by the Big Deny." pic.twitter.com/sLjhWyeIKS
— Tim Graham (@TimJGraham) September 20, 2021
Both Kinds Of Standards – VARIOUS MEDIA
- The outrage is welcomed, but there is a curious omission.
The press industry continues to struggle with the border issue as it was a source of contempt for years under Trump, and yet when faced with a crisis of unseen prior size, there cannot be the same outrage when Joe Biden is responsible.
Yesterday, the media lit up with numerous reports of border agents on horseback using whips on Haitian migrants. That they had the story wrong was significant enough, but there was something specific in the reports.
As journos raged about the actions, they delivered bold condemnation on the borders agents – and all the while, Joe Biden's name curiously never came up. Yamiche Alcindor pulled out the dramatic aspects, but she never managed to invoke the name of the man behind it all. It is a curiosity, considering every flaw in the border actions the past for years were dropped squarely on the Resolute desk. Case in point, a former White House photographer wants to completely overlook who is in office today.
This is inhumane. This is not America. Border patrol: your president is no longer Donald Trump. https://t.co/Vkqu5TKiFW
— Pete Souza (@PeteSouza) September 20, 2021
Presentation Paradox – THE HILL
Here we are granted a prime example of the press needing to have a narrative kept alive, even in the face of contradictory evidence. Referencing what became that dud of a rally, The Hill tried accusing Sen. Mitch McConnell of not wanting to discuss the issue, when in fact, he was being dismissive. When asked about the rally, he simply waved it off as something that may or may not occur, a spot-on assessment after only a couple of hundred people were milling about. The Hill saw something sinister, however.
- "McConnell, however, stopped well short of again condemning the people arrested for breaking into the Capitol or criticizing the protesters who will gather over the weekend to support them."
Wait, hold on a sec. Did you say "again"?! You mean he has already condemned those people who stormed the Capitol building? Yes – yes, he has. The Hill even quoted him.
- "We will not be kept out of this chamber by thugs, mobs or threats," McConnell declared on the Senate floor after Capitol police finally secured the building again on Jan. 6, calling the protesters "an unhinged crowd."
Apparently, condemnations are like vaccines and have an expiration date. McConnell needs to give a booster criticism for fear of a complacency variant breaking out.
"Justice for J6" rally puts GOP in awkward spot https://t.co/20r7R2KotK pic.twitter.com/LPQ5RTxpYr
— The Hill (@thehill) September 19, 2021
DNC PR Firm – ASSOCIATED PRESS
As the Democrats are trying to pass their massive $3.5 Trillion budget package, they attempted to insert a provision to give eight million immigrants instant citizenship. This gambit was struck down by the Senate, and this made the AP sad. They had a Democrat-approved spin on the matter, showing how those cruel Republicans were preventing the Democrats from buying votes.
The decision is a blow to what was the party’s clearest pathway in years to attaining its long-sought goal of allowing several categories of immigrants to gain permanent residence and possibly citizenship. https://t.co/IJRbLKGofl
— The Associated Press (@AP) September 20, 2021
Glossary Over Things – MEDIA MATTERS
- When Republicans pounce, liberals turn to the Thesaurus.
Matthew Gertz is a senior fellow at Media Matters (not a sophomore fellow, as some have alleged), and he was covering the press over the weekend. He had been in the process of covering the media reports of the J6 rally on Saturday when a bunch of dastardly conservatives seized on one of his comments.
Matthew had to take action and take down the tweet that caused a kerfuffle, and he alerted us to the problem using our new favorite term – there was "Content collapse."
Deleted this tweet, which if you read my other tweets today was about MSNBC/CNN giving the rally too much attention, because it got picked up on the right, there was context collapse, and I'm not spending my Saturday dealing with this. pic.twitter.com/qVBmxzHuH9
— Matthew Gertz (@MattGertz) September 18, 2021
