"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.
05.18.22
First Amendment Strike Force – DISINFORMATION GOVERNANCE BOARD
The news has come out that the recently formed DHS division to combat false narratives – the Disinformation Governance Board – has been disbanded. Or, it has only been suspended. Or it is being "paused." Those with a working knowledge do not really seem to know.
- "Just three weeks after its announcement, the Disinformation Governance Board is being 'paused,' according to multiple employees at DHS. On Monday, DHS decided to shut down the board, according to multiple people with knowledge of the situation. But Tuesday night, Nina Jankowicz was pulled into an urgent call with DHS officials who gave her the choice to stay on, even as the department's work was put on hold because of the backlash it faced. The board could still be shut down pending a review from the Homeland Security Advisory Council. On Wednesday morning, Jankowicz officially resigned from her role within the department."
Recommended
This kind of indeterminate behavior has been on display for weeks. WaPo recently described why they were receiving bad PR at the department in charge of policing messaging – Alejandro Mayorkas blamed it on poor messaging.
Another sign of the ineptitude on display was the inability to even settle on what they were combating. According to Taylor Lorenz, "Working groups within DHS focused on mis-, dis- and mal-information…"
Homeland Security ‘paused’ newly created Disinformation Governance Board after its leader came under online attack https://t.co/qb46JPEY5U
— The Washington Post (@washingtonpost) May 18, 2022
First Amendment Strike Force – MSNBC
Joining the chorus of journalists who were in full-throated support of Biden's Thought Police was future deputy Chuck Todd. Before realizing his dream of silencing the rabble was being disbanded, Todd complained that those dastardly people on the right were leaning on the Constitution to do something as unseemly as protecting their liberties.
- "Well, Garrett, look at the way the right tried to weaponize the idea that the DHS was going to essentially try and attempt to – to monitor hateful rhetoric, right? They want to make it seem as if it's some sort of Big Brother. And it's like, this is always what the right does to appease the white supremacist movement by saying, 'Hey, free speech. Don't touch speech.'"
It is rather amazing we are in an era where journalists regularly take a position against free speech, which used to be seen as the bedrock of their profession.
MSNBC's Chuck Todd: "Look at the way the right try to weaponize the idea that DHS was going to ... attempt to monitor hateful rhetoric ... this is always what the right does to appease the white supremacist movement — by saying, 'hey, free speech.'" pic.twitter.com/FAAYnSloRn
— Washington Free Beacon (@FreeBeacon) May 17, 2022
Pathological Media Amnesia – FOX NEWS
- So, it's only wrong when they do it…?
Last night on his show, Tucker Carlsson was having a discussion with Tulsi Gabbard about the recent $40 billion forked over to the war effort in Ukraine, with a particular focus on Representative Dan Crenshaw. Tucker tried making a clear distinction between this money and the other current crisis of a baby formula shortage and was implying that Crenshaw was calling out mothers desperate to feed their kids as being Russian sympathizers. In the course of the discussion, Tucker referred to the congressman as "Eye Patch McCain."
Tucker Carlson derisively refers to @DanCrenshawTX, who lost his eye while serving our country as a Navy SEAL in Afghanistan, as “eye-patch McCain.” pic.twitter.com/ItsrNyPGQd
— Jonathan Karl (@jonkarl) May 17, 2022
Now, I am not too squeamish over this type of name-calling, and Dan Crenshaw is certainly able to defend himself. What needs to be mentioned, though, is that Carlson himself had been particularly outraged over this very type of commentary with this very congressman. Recall when "Saturday Night Live's" Pete Davidson mocked the war hero in this way, Tucker was filled with on-air condemnation. But last night, it was suddenly acceptable as Crenshaw opposed him on an issue.
It was an issue in which Tucker was also incorrect. Crenshaw has, in fact, been at the forefront of calling for remedies to the baby formula problem.
Solve the damn baby formula shortage now:
— Dan Crenshaw (@DanCrenshawTX) May 14, 2022
1. Expedite investigation and reopening of the closed plant in Michigan.
2. FDA needs to approve safe, quality European baby formula for import.
3. DHS needs to tell us what supply they have, immediately.
Low Octane Gas Lighting – MEDIA MATTERS
Bill Melugin has been covering the activities at the southern border and is one of the most consistently steady and reliable reporters found in the field. Oh wait, sorry – it turns out he is an anti-immigrant propagandist and possibly a white supremacist. This is according to Media Matters For America, which just filed an exhausting story on the reporter.
His problem? Well, he frequently posts videos that he filmed of the things taking place at the border. I'm not kidding, he does this all the time! Also, while reporting on police and Border Patrol actions, he quotes police officers and Border Patrol Agents! Can you believe it?
Thankfully, we have the MMFA basement drones here to report what a reporter is reporting on in their reports.
Fox News' Bill Melugin is a far-right propagandist masquerading as a neutral, disinterested voice https://t.co/yVnDFtGwZz
— Media Matters (@mmfa) May 17, 2022
Pulitzer Prize Nomination – ASSOCIATED PRESS
The AP has looked at some statistics and come to a startling revelation: That thing that prevented people from doing stuff led to fewer people doing the things. It seems amazing but true.
In 2020, back when the pandemic was all the rage and just about everything was shut down except for grocery stores and lottery ticket sellers, people were incapable of having social gatherings, as you recall. Well, the crack team of fact-finders at the AP has discovered something – the inability to conduct wedding ceremonies that year had led to a drop in marriages that same year.
Far fewer Americans said "I do" during the first year of the pandemic, when many marriage plans were upended, the CDC says. There were 1.7 million weddings in 2020, a drop of 17% from the year before and the lowest recorded since 1963. https://t.co/ch7GsqQwN6
— The Associated Press (@AP) May 18, 2022
A Pounce of Prevention – THE NEW YORK TIMES
Those Republicans sure have been busy of late. Recently, the AP had them going into overtime to make Biden look bad.
Take a gander at what the GOP has been consumed with doing here-
— Brad Slager ???????? Lifetime Subscriber to CNN+ (@MartiniShark) May 18, 2022
We see the GOP "aiming; sharpened; blaming; landed; tying; sense; argue; hammer at; linking; spun; claiming" and, most dastardly of all, a "full-court press by Republicans."
At least they weren't pouncing again... https://t.co/GDn1FKI4Ng
Now, at The Times, they peg conservatives as "weaponizing" once again. This time, they are desperately using the country…in order to help the country, we have to guess.
The United States, writes Bret Stephens, has “from its earliest days, repeatedly ‘replaced’ its working class with migrants, not as an act of substitution, much less as a sinister conspiracy, but as the natural result of upward mobility.” https://t.co/LoQoChlNWs
— New York Times Opinion (@nytopinion) May 18, 2022
