"Riffed from the Headlines" is Townhall's daily VIP feature with coverage of 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.
04.05.22
Low Octane Gas Lighting – THE BULWARK
With the current news cycle filled with the wrestling match between Florida politicians and the Disney Company over the recently passed Parental Rights law, you knew ahead of time which side the Never Trump sailors over at The Bulwark would take. Ensign William Kristol shared a recent entry in their ship's log concerning this fracas, and in his usual style, he avoided the pertinent facts while claiming to cite facts.
“But minor details, like actual facts, are unlikely to change the momentum of the right’s assault on Disney.”https://t.co/Zh09XrHs6N
— Bill Kristol (@BillKristol) April 1, 2022
The piece he linked to was penned by Capt, Chaz Sykes, and in the effort to scorch the Right for its wonton attack on the sanctified company, the only way for him to express proper outrage is to ignore that Disney has been the provocateur in this new culture siege.
Yes, Charlie has to ignore the "actual facts" that Disney elected to engage in the fight and that the company has more than expressed an opinion but is both working to repeal the law and has rescinded political donations inside the state over the matter. The uptick, however, is that Charlie has at least adapted to covering those people "on the right," a healthy admission that he and his shipmates are not conservatives.
Both Kinds of Standards – CNN
- It's only wrong when they do it.
The fun parlor game over at CNN is for Brian Stelter and his ward, Boy Wonder Oliver Darcy, to catalog how often Fox News brings up the topic of Disney, and how it is apparently wrong to imply they are pushing an agenda of sex on young children. It seems that it is somehow wrong for them to target the company, for some reason.
It was not wrong for CNN to do so when the same company was targeted over a sex ring involving young children, however.
''It's only wrong when they do it!'' pic.twitter.com/btVlVo5E51
— Brad Slager ???????? - Most Certainly A Biologist! (@MartiniShark) April 5, 2022
Blue-Anon – MIAMI HERALD
This past Friday there was the news that Miami Herald journalists were walking out in protest of stalled labor negotiations. (This is a very neutered "walkout," considering the staff has been working remotely for nearly two years over the inability to afford the rent in their offices.) Given the quality of work these journalists put out, the publishers might prefer they remain away from their jobs.
With the South Florida Sun-Sentinel displaying some regular distemper lately over the governor, it was time for the Miami Herald to step up and reclaim their title as the most unhinged news outlet – and it does so in fine fashion. What better way to display your unthinking pattern of behavior than to push out a fake story in order to lodge some kind of complaint about fake news?
This latest hit job suggests that DeSantis is contradicting himself in his battle over Fake News because his campaign committee, and a related PAC, have done business with the Babylon Bee. According to the wizards at The Herald, the problem is that the satire site is to be considered fake news, and therefore…well, therefore…honestly, they do not even get around to making a point.
DeSantis calls out ‘fake news,’ but his campaign used fake news site to raise cash https://t.co/Fzxjqr65rn
— Miami Herald (@MiamiHerald) April 5, 2022
Pre-Written Field Reports – MSNBC
- Since their methods met our disapproval, they are discounted and, therefore, never happened.
In a column that very likely was penned before the confirmation hearing, Steve Vladeck weighs in on the Republican interviews of Ketanji Brown Jackson last week. Steve apparently missed the entire hearing, as he declares that the GOP senators have no real reason to oppose KBJ, and her record on sex criminal convictions, avoidance of natural rights, and inability to define a woman were details never revealed in the hearing.
My latest for @MSNBCDaily: Opposing a #SCOTUS nominee for no real reason other than that a President of a different party nominated her is a depressing sign of the times — and an alarming precedent for the future of the Court and the nation going forward:https://t.co/fU3qubwrgD
— Steve Vladeck (@steve_vladeck) April 4, 2022
Reporting on the Mirror – THE NEW YORK TIMES
- Maybe the typesetters were on strike.
It seems there was a bit of a content shortage at The Grey Lady.
Editors asleep? Or did they like the story that much? NYT runs the same story twice — with different headlines — in today’s paper. Page 16 and then again on page 18. pic.twitter.com/RQkBwr3VSv
— Karen Tumulty (@ktumulty) April 5, 2022
Yep the third is the COVID aid story in the last column of both pages https://t.co/HaQCnMNaYF
— George Conway???? (@gtconway3d) April 5, 2022
Anti-Social Media – WASHINGTON POST
- Cartoonist insists he has been correct by deleting the proof.
Yesterday, we mentioned how Washington Post political cartoonist Mike deAdder portrayed Ron DeSantis poisoning children in his effort to demonize the Parental Rights law. He attempted to deflect from his stunted imagery by saying that his cartoon was not about killing kids, because Snow White's apple only cast her into a coma.
Except it was pointed out to the artist that he clearly had used the infamous photograph of the Syrian child who died in a conflict. His protests were very quickly eradicated from his timeline.
Classy touch tracing the photograph of Alan Kurdi - a dead Syrian child who was photographed on a beach in Turkey in 2015. https://t.co/5mZaDMUcwz https://t.co/GKgljkNZSF pic.twitter.com/X9QSKB1OK3
— Noam Blum (@neontaster) April 4, 2022
