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"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.
11.12.21
Both Kinds Of Standards – CNN
It has been one of the oddest controversies this week as there has been a social media tempest over Big Bird suggesting he got vaccinated. Chris Cillizza takes to the airwaves to lash out at Senator Ted Cruz for creating a controversy – with a tweet of brevity. When the Twitter account for Big Bird claimed the character had received the vaccine, Sen. Cruz responded with, "Government propaganda...for your 5-year-old."
Many in the press – and the pedophile cabal at The Lincoln Project – piled on Cruz for supposedly anti-vaxx views, and went into full protection mode for the Big Bird messaging. Cillizza goes into condescension mode in his four-minute video – in response to Cruz typing 7 words. What Chris, and the media, completely miss is they have been pounding us for over a year to follow the science and listen to medical experts. Now, they are insisting we heed the words of a fictional character and respect the message that a puppet has been vaccinated.
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Prose & Contradiction – CNN (A Chris Cillizza Twofer)
Because this is Chris Cillizza, of course, he layers the foibles in his offering. Earlier in the week, he addressed the other vaccine controversy, which was Green Bay Packers quarterback Aaron Rodgers testing positive and offering up his positions on the vaccines. It has caused consternation in the press, and Cillizza had opinions, mocking the stance that Rodgers looked into the matter himself.
"Look, I'm not some sort of anti-vax, flat-Earther. I am somebody who's a critical thinker." -- Every anti-vaxxer, flat-Earther everhttps://t.co/SjLpERR0f8
— Chris Cillizza (@ChrisCillizza) November 6, 2021
Now, back to Cillizza's Cruz video. After some preamble about the senator's comment, at the 1:10 mark, he makes a sidebar portion where he provides some medical information, telling his viewers...wait for it..."Do the research."
Yes, after ridiculing the concept of looking into the vaccines ourselves, he said those very words and directed us to look into the efficacy of the vaccines ourselves. Cillizza regularly delivers the booster shot to inoculate us from taking him seriously.
Artisanal-Crafted Narratives – NBC NEWS
It has been amazing to watch the journalism industry bastardize the testimonies coming out of the Kyle Rittenhouse trial, with all manner of false claims and reinterpretations taking place. NBC News just achieved a new nadir with their interpretation of witness Gaige Grosskreutz.
Kyle Rittenhouse "was an active shooter," according to wounded paramedic. https://t.co/BaN28jHsM3
— NBC News (@NBCNews) November 12, 2021
He has not been a paramedic for years, was on the scene as part of the riots not lending medical advice, and his characterization of Rittenhouse had been contradicted by his own testimony when he said on the stand that he initially pointed his own hand gun at Rittenhouse prior to being shot.
“Paramedic” pic.twitter.com/7CjDGZDFb4
— Max (@MaxNordau) November 12, 2021
Body Checking The Fact Checkers – VARIOUS OUTLETS
- Why rush to correct the record when the president misspeaks?!
Consider the dichotomy of coverage we are seeing from the press, right now. There are battalions of pundits jumping on top of tables to declare anybody is racist. The Virginia voters, the Rittenhouse trial members, any parents opposing school boards – all have been painted with the supremacist paint roller. Yet yesterday, we get served Joe Biden referring to Satchel Paige as a "Negro," and the fact-checkers are nowhere to be found.
No, these truth sayers cannot be bothered with keeping the president of the United States in check over the past month, they are too busy covering vastly more important factual errors.
- PolitiFact - No, inflation has not driven up the price of turkeys to the cost of a home.
- Associated Press - Reports of a church being granted a liquor license are not accurate.
- Snopes - Photo of a massive snake with a large item in its belly is faked.
- USA Today - Headline of man arrested for replicating secret US military bases in the video game Minecraft is not true.
Pulitzer Prize Nomination – CNN
Our modern day Dorian Grey – actor Paul Rudd – was recently annointed as this year's People Magazine's Sexiest Man Alive. CNN reached out to an editor to have him describe the process of selecting the ageless thespian. It is said a lengthy committee process is used with staffers, and it can get rather dramatic.
- "People staff meetings [for SMA] really should be a reality show. It's like an intense debate with legal style arguments. There are suddenly raised voices and a lot of passion. We at People, we take our journalism very, very seriously and we take who we're choosing very seriously, because it does lead the national conversation for that day."
Very revelatory, and I am certain the fact that Rudd has a major motion picture – "Ghostbusters: Afterlife" – opening next weekend had absolutely no bearing on the matter and no studio influence was behind his selection.
Paul Rudd is PEOPLE's 2021 #SexiestManAlive! ?? https://t.co/aweOKYwclx pic.twitter.com/PPxEaZo6Ty
— People (@people) November 10, 2021
Reporting on the Mirror – MSNBC
On Tuesday, a tremor was felt across the news environment when Brian Williams announced he would be stepping down from his nightly 11 PM show at the end of the year. I am not sure why there was such a reaction, because given this is Brian Williams, I have a tendency to not believe him. He stated the reason was to spend time with his family. The real cause seems to be that his two primary backers – News President Andy Lack and MSNBC President Phil Griffin – departed the network by the end of last year. As a result, Williams has been marginalized. Williams had only been a part of the panels during recent election night coverage, not the featured host.
The bigger question, though, is why the drama surrounding his replacement, considering that time slot is not exactly fertile? At Fox News, the new talk show "Gutfeld!" has not only led cable news in that hour, but the show has been beating the late night talk shows on the broadcast networks as well.
????? pic.twitter.com/k6jw1gr9Ut
— GregGutfeld (@greggutfeld) November 9, 2021
News Avoidance Syndrome – VARIOUS OUTLETS
- Few seem concerned with Joe Biden becoming incontinent on another continent.
It really is the kind of news item that is not worthy of coverage – today. Word has been trickling out of Europe that President Biden had some issues with bodily discharges of varying degrees during visits with the Pope, and British dignataries. This kind of scatalogical content is not important in the broader scope, but it does say something that the media seems incurious about this.
Only because when Trump was in office this was a topic that was not so readily avoided in the media. In fact, so prevalent was the commentary over the years that Snopes was compelled to look into the matter.
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