"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.
10.06.21
Anti-Social Media – CNN
- Don Lemon demands we be doxxed if we have something to say.
It is becoming increasingly clear that one of the more insipid segments in cable news is CNN's nightly "The Handoff," where Chris Cuomo closes his show with time spent with his follow-up, Don Lemon. Somehow the combining of these two minds leads to a drop in cerebral output. Last night, they really happened upon some deep wisdom in referencing the Facebook whistleblower controversy.
Lemon managed to go to the length of saying that what people post needs to be true, and a glimmer of common sense entered the conversation when Cuomo mentioned opinions are not necessarily true. This is an especially amusing concept coming from the network – and the anchor, Cuomo – who was pushing the fraudulent story of immigrants being whipped at the border.
After Lemon equivocate, they both then strayed into the bizarre, agreeing that anyone who utters an opinion on social media should be identifiable and able to be located.
- "You should know who is responding to you and who's putting it out there as well. So, if someone says something about me, I should know it's Joe Smith who lives in Wisconsin, and it shouldn't just be a bot."
Great idea, lads. Nothing nefarious would spring up out of this proposal were it to become enforced.
Reporting on the Mirror – REUTERS
It has to be the most unintentionally hilarious story of the day. One of the regular targets of CNN media honcho Brian Stelter and his Boy Wonder Oliver Darcy is the poisonous conservative news channel One America News Network.
Now, we learn some serious drama. As Bri & Ollie strive to have OANN taken off the air, Reuters has an explosive report detailing how AT&T – the parent corporation of CNN – is behind the formation and growth of the conservative news network.
This has all the makings of a Dwight Schrute subplot where he is angry over a Michael Scott business decision.
New from @reuters: One America News, the right-wing cable network that peddled 2020 election conspiracies, gets nearly all of its revenue from AT&T. https://t.co/4R7m4Qnkef pic.twitter.com/NyI4xQAkrN
— Brad Heath (@bradheath) October 6, 2021
Artisanally-Crafted Narratives – ESPN
At the Entertainment and Sports Programming Network, the executives decided to suspend on-air talent and independent thinker Sage Steele. This was due to Sage appearing on a podcast with former NFL player Jay Cutler. In the discussion, Steele mentioned a time when she was a guest host on "The View" and Barabara Walters challenged her about identifying as bi-racial. Walters brought up the fact that President Barack Obama is bi-racial, but he chose to be considered black, so Steele responded in this fashion.
- "Well, congratulations to the president. That's his thing. That's fascinating, considering his black dad was nowhere to be found, and his white mom and grandmother raised him."
This is hardly an offensive criticism, yet ESPN has declared this to be a punishable offense. The channel issued a statement, where they essentially say they embrace different viewpoints – but not Sage's, so she is suspended.
— Michael McCarthy (@MMcCarthyREV) October 5, 2021
Blue-Anon – CNN
- The competition is not properly obsessed!
You may have missed it, but Mike Pence had some comments about the riot at the Capitol on January 6, and he was not sufficiently outraged about it, which has Brian Stelter sufficiently outraged.
Mike Pence dared say in an interview a dismissive phrase about the riot, according to our betters in the press, when he referred to the event as, "I know the media wants to distract from the Biden administration's failed agenda by focusing on one day in January." Of course, the journalists who insist on elevating the events that day to all levels of hysteria are upset about this lack of hysteria from the former vice president.
While Stelter levels the charge of minimizing the riot, he is just as guilty as so many others in the press of minimizing something else – the FBI report that stated the riot was not a planned plot. They have to ignore that detail while insisting this was a planned government takeover attempt.
Also, as he is railing about Fox News denying Pence's comments, it flies in the face of one reality – his interview where he made the comments was in primetime with Sean Hannity.
This fits a pathetic pattern. After all, scrutinizing Pence's revisionist history about 1/6 would require talking honestly about the riot, and that rarely ever happens on Fox. Riot denialism is practically required in GOP media.
— Brian Stelter (@brianstelter) October 6, 2021
Prose & Contradiction – WASHINGTON POST
- Sometimes history interrupts the narrative – so just ignore it.
On the topic of over-inflating the Capitol riot, there is the WaPo correspondent Seung Min Kim misrepresenting things in fine fashion. She has to rely on the tired explainer that January 6 was the worst breach of the Capitol in two centuries.
Of course, for this to hold, she needs to overlook the bombing in 1983, or the Weather Underground bombing in 1971, or the five congressmen shot on the House floor by Puerto Rican nationalists in 1954, or...
That “one day in January” was the worst breach of our U.S. Capitol since the War of friggin’ 1812. https://t.co/I4vvkamLUQ
— Seung Min Kim (@seungminkim) October 5, 2021
Pulitzer Prize Nomination – CNN
This could become an uncomfortable week for Chris Cillizza. There have to be scores of journos upset right now, given how Chris gleefully rushed to report how Donald J. Trump has fallen off of the Forbes 400 List of the richest people in the world.
You can understand his elan to report this, except that it completely interrupts the longstanding narrative over the years that Trump had been using his presidency to enrich himself. That Emolument Clause storyline has been shot full of holes now. Thanks for nothing, Chris!
Donald Trump is no longer one of Forbes' 400 richest people in Americahttps://t.co/GnSUQfKGvU
— Chris Cillizza (@ChrisCillizza) October 5, 2021
