"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.
04.22.22
Prose & Contradiction – POLITICO
- “Where did all this divisiveness over the divisive term I’m using come from?!”
In a grand display of resorting to base politicking while posturing as being above the fray, Sam Stein attempts to sound reasonable in asking where the conflict between Disney and the Florida government began.
What was the butterfly flapping its wings moment behind the Don’t Say Gay bill in Florida? Obviously, someone/something sparked this ripple which turned into a wave which turned into a tsunami that now is hitting Disney. But what/who was it?
— Sam Stein (@samstein) April 21, 2022
Seems rather weak to use the very inaccurate term for the Florida law while wondering what caused all the conflict over the Florida law.
Low Octane Gas Lighting – CNN
Give Brian Stelter a little bit of credit; at least he has been willing to discuss the demise of CNN+. That is not to say it has been a good idea, but he does address it. Today on the doomed service he had on Matt Belloni from Puck News, to go over the cancellation of his service after just three weeks.
Belloni put Brian back on his heels when he said it was historical to discuss on a program the demise of that very program. In a failed effort at saving face, Stelter attempted to forestall the judgment of his streaming service.
"It's too early to know if this product, if this service was a success or a failure," Stelter desperately tried to rationalize the implosion of CNN+. And he chided the "haters." pic.twitter.com/vCFR3Q7dT4
— Nicholas Fondacaro (@NickFondacaro) April 22, 2022
The service managed only 150,000 subscribers and was drawing a meager 10,000 viewers daily. It was shut down after only three weeks of operation, following a $300 million investment. If there is a reason to withhold calling this a failure it would only be to come up with a more dramatic term to describe things.
Pre-Written Field Reports – THE DAILY BEAST
- This is what happens when you oppose GOP issues by rote.
The possibility of the state of Florida rescinding some of Disney’s generational tax breaks and set-asides in the state leads to many Democrats and members of the press to oppose long-held beliefs. Look how many of them are upset to see a corporation being forced to pay taxes because it is a proposal from Ron DeSantis.
Another example here is Marlow Stern, of The Daily Beast, declaring the tragedy that will befall Florida if Disney were to leave.
if disney moves out of florida the state’s economy will collapse. very strange game going on rn
— Marlow Stern (@MarlowNYC) April 21, 2022
Bypassing the implication that Disney can pull up stakes and just vacate Florida before the weekend wraps up like the carnival is in town (they possess 40 miles of attractions, hotels, infrastructure, etc…) but entertaining that daft concept, they are not the only game in town - literally. The state of Florida has a sprawling tourist industry beyond Disney; in fact, they are not even the only theme park in the Orlando area.
Low Octane Gas Lighting – NBC NEWS
- So Trump made politics unseemly, is what you are saying…
We are not really sure what it was to even spark NBC News producer Benjy Sarlin to go on a threaded rant about Donald Trump today, but thread away he did.
This is the hardest thing to convey about the Trump era without eyerolling, but it was not nearly as common for politicians to outright lie to one's face pre-2016 and considered a really big deal when they did. "All politicians lie!" is a truism that enables the worst lying.
— Benjy Sarlin (@BenjySarlin) April 22, 2022
The cute part of this is he needs to resort to the tried practice of pretending history began at the point of the point he is trying to make. To sell this of course means he needs to ignore the career of Bill Clinton, who did not inhale while not having sex with Monica Lewinsky. Then there was the small matter of Barack Obama completely altering the national budget by selling his healthcare plan with “You can keep your doctor”. That little creative nugget led to him being the recipient of The Lie Of The Year award.
First Amendment Strike Force – THE WAYBACK MACHINE
- Shielding a reporter from old tweets who relies on stringing up people by their old tweets.
In the wake of the Taylor Lorenz fiasco after she outed the account holder of Libs Of Tik Tok many people had the idea of turning things onto the reporter. After all, if she can dredge up details on people then it is only fair game to do the same to her.
Shields have been put up on her behalf, however. Some have come to discover that the woman who routinely deletes her tweets to avoid the very introspection she employs, has seen to it that her past comments are not fully archived.
Rob Shimshock has found that the site that touts its mission is to preserve internet history seems willing to eliminate history, is certain users call for it.
Taylor Lorenz's Twitter feed has been "excluded" from the Internet Archive Wayback Machine.
— Rob Shimshock (@ShimshockAndAwe) April 20, 2022
Internet Archive's stated mission is to "provide universal access to all knowledge." pic.twitter.com/j9CI9aqymt
Shimshock has found that of nearly 17,000 tweets she has produced Lorenz only shows about 3,500 today.
Anti-Social Media – THE NEW YORK TIMES
- The story sounded too bad to pass up!
With the mask mandate on airline travel being pulled down by the courts many people rejoiced. One account managed to have some fun with the news, posting a nightmarish scenario onboard one flight – that is if you are a knee-jerk anti-Trump reactionary…OR a journalist at the New York Times.
Jared Rabel posted a clearly satirical post about the mask policy, and while everyone saw it as the joke that it was, he was contacted by a reporter interested in his harrowing story.
lmaoooo no way. pic.twitter.com/ZbjMB4IldE
— Becket Adams (@BecketAdams) April 19, 2022
