"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. (For a VIP discount, drop SLAGER in the signup form.)
12.01.21
Legalized Press-titution – MSNBC
In the wake of Chris Cuomo being suspended indefinitely from CNN for his direct participation in his brother's sex scandal, journalists from other outlets are being swept up in the mess. The documents from the NY attorney general show a string of text messages between members of Cuomo's team, including Lis Smith, a former operative for Pete Buttigieg who was brought in to work on the crisis team.
In one exchange, Smith noted that she was in contact with Katy Tur of MSNBC. On March 3, Smith noted that she was not only in contact with the afternoon news hostess, but Tur was reading Smith's prepared statements regarding Andrew Cuomo on the air (viewable in the AG report, Page 214).
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- "I'm texting w/ Katy Tur … Katy is saying my spin live … Like verbatim on CNN."
Smith meant to say MSNBC, but there is the video of Katy Tur on the air that day covering Andrew Cuomo's recent speech. In it, she acknowledged speaking with those close to Cuomo and presented the sympathetic angle on the story.
- "I've just been talking with somebody who is close to the family and I asked them, given the moment we have been living in for the past two years, given how everyone has had a reckoning with this MeToo moment, why would someone like Governor Andrew Cuomo, who is a savvy politician, not have buttoned things up, not have gotten the message to be careful about what he says around his staffers around others. And the person said, it's not that he didn't think the rules didn't apply to him, it's just that in the Cuomo DNA, they are extraordinarily friendly, I guess, by nature."
This is not a good look for Tur at all, and unlike Chris, she does not have the cover of saying she did this on behalf of a family member.
Legalized Press-titution – THE ATLANTIC
- Can we get a ruling, does a "mind meld" with a politician constitute as bias?!
Also coming out looking like a complete partisan hack is Edward-Isaac Dovere of The Atlantic. Lis Smith had a long political relationship with Dovere from her time with Buttigieg's presidential campaign. Smith informed the crisis team in texts that she was walking Dovere through an article that would be very pro-Cuomo (viewable in the AG report, Page 86).
- "Just talked to [Edward-]Isaac Dovere at the Atlantic – he is very hard on our side on this. Total mind meld... I'm on the phone with him...OK...He says he could be convinced to write something on Andrew Bc he thinks this whole thing is bullshit."
And just to put a tidy bow on this section, Dovere is now employed over at CNN. Here is his supportive piece on the matter.
#politics Of Course Andrew Cuomo Isn’t Going to Resign https://t.co/HqFB6WxzSz
— Bruce Judson (@BruceJudson) March 6, 2021
Presentation Paradox – NBC NEWS
- The press may be rethinking their push for body cams on police now.
One of the side dramas of the Kyle Rittenhouse trial we covered was the episode with NBC News having a stringer caught by police chasing down the transport that had the jurors inside. The individual was from an affiliate in Chicago, but the news division tried to pass this off as simply a traffic stop involving a freelance worker.
Well, the Kenosha PD released the footage of the traffic stop, and we get the name of the individual – James Morrison – who says he is an NBC producer, and he not only states New York told him to follow the jurors, but he names Irene Byon as the one who sent him out. And then it gets better.
Morrison gets Byon on the phone, and as she is speaking to police, we hear her declare that she did, in fact, intend to have Morrison follow the jurors' vehicle. This dismantles the explanation made by NBC over the matter when the official word was that the local police were mistaken about the intent of Morrison.
Body Checking the Fact Checkers – WASHINGTON POST
- Being incapable of following current news stories seems a disqualification for the fact-check position.
Currently, many journalists in DC are consumed with the soap-opera-level drama going on between Representatives Marjory Taylor Greene and Nancy Mace. Glenn Kessler of the Washington Post has not been so consumed, but that has not prevented him from weighing in on the story.
In continuing their lower case Capitol spat, Mace mocked Greene in a trolling tweet, mimicking her exact words from a few days earlier. Upon noticing their digital squabble, Kessler piped up with what he thought was a pithy rejoinder but, instead, the man who points out the facts managed to display he completely missed the point.
Gee, can't people even be a little more original when regurgitating pre-cooked taking points? pic.twitter.com/rLOufWTrc2
— Glenn Kessler (@GlennKesslerWP) November 30, 2021
Pulitzer Prize Nomination – EURONEWS
- An environmental story that begins with a happy ending.
I would have loved to be there on the day this was brainstormed in a meeting. In an effort to find an alternative plastic that is both biodegradable and does not rely on fossil fuels, scientists may have hit a stroke of luck. They are developing a new polymer that is certainly renewable – it is made from fish sperm.
Somehow, they have hit upon a technique that uses the sperm, binds it with elements from vegetable oil, and then the resulting gel is freeze-dried, so it...um...hardens.
This is already a tough sell for the public, but then as a sample of what they could make with this new product, they created a coffee mug, one that has a limited appeal for most to bring to their lips.
The researchers have already created a cup, puzzle pieces and a DNA molecule from the eco-friendly plastic ??
— Euronews Green (@euronewsgreen) November 30, 2021
?? https://t.co/zT1tcCXvVt pic.twitter.com/G9hPZP8Kgm
Glossary Over Things – VICE NEWS
- It seems reading the dictionary should be required in the Word Police Academy.
The never-at-all tiresome practice of the press dictating what words should be banned continues apace, this time from the always erudite and loquacious group at Vice News. (On the topic, I say we ban the use of the phrase, "It's time that we stop…" by these activist scolds.)
They have come up with a new word that needs to be banned, and they seem oblivious to a central truth in the selection. They want to command stopping the usage of a word because it is not inclusive, despite the fact that the word itself denotes exclusionary action.
It’s time we stop using offensive and harmful words like "blacklist," which have clearer, more inclusive alternatives. https://t.co/W4o8leEIhB
— VICE (@VICE) November 30, 2021
Reporting on the Mirror – WIRECUTTER
The employees at the product review site Wirecutter held a five-day strike last week during Black Friday due to a union grievance with parent company The New York Times. As a response, the union staged a crowd-sourced fundraiser to gather money for the lost wages and surpassed their expected goal. The result meant that the union was able to pay out overtime wages to writers who walked out – overtime paid for not going into their jobs.
I am definitely in the wrong line of not-work...
SCOOP: The Wirecutter union says it can pay every member for the overtime hours they missed during the union's Black Friday holiday strike, thanks to an outpouring of donations to support the walkout.
— Axios (@axios) November 30, 2021
https://t.co/gSngTKtLu0
