"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.
06.29.22
Pre-Written Field Reports – NEW YORK POST
A report was circulating that Johnny Depp was set to reprise his role as Jack Sparrow. Disney was reputedly going to pay him $301 million for his swashbuckling return. That this dollar figure was slightly higher than his professed refusal to return for $300 million should have been one indicator of problems. Then that this was from an obscure Australian outlet, citing a lone anonymous source should have required more digging. Meanwhile, Depp has himself said he is not appearing in any further films.
Johnny Depp could reprise Captain Jack ‘Pirates’ role with $301M deal: report https://t.co/faK2HPy07y pic.twitter.com/iw01VuSnwW
— New York Post (@nypost) June 27, 2022
News Avoidance Syndrome – VARIOUS OUTLETS
In the wake of the SCOTUS reversal of Roe v. Wade, many news outlets declared that polling information was showing that the Democratic voting base was now motivated to surge to the polls. One problem has reared up to interrupt this claim – so naturally, it is being overlooked.
Last night, five states held primary elections, and that promised passion from the Democrat base did not materialize. Even in New York, the turnout was less than paltry.
- "Turnout in the Democratic and Republican primaries was anemic across New York City during the first full-fledged gubernatorial primary since the rollout of early voting, according to stats from the Board of Elections. An abysmal turnout rate of just 2.4 percent, the figures from the city BOE show."
Hochul Cruises in New York, and a Far-Right Nominee for Governor Rises in Illinois https://t.co/yVYoO9zfmd
— Watchdog Progressive (@Watchdogsniffer) June 29, 2022
Reporting on the Mirror – NIEMAN LABS
Nieman Labs issued a recent study about the print circulation of news outlets, and it looks positively dire. In a list of 20 major news outlets over just a two-year period, they all showed severe drops in circulation. The best performance was from the Wall Street Journal, which only dropped -60%, with the majority falling more than -80% in that brief window.
Good piece here (as usual) from @jbenton. I added a couple of columns to his chart that project print circ. out 5 & 10 years at the current rate of decline. Spoiler: It isn’t pretty. Better get serious about digital, and soon.https://t.co/h5dC63RmCG pic.twitter.com/DQejsvboFM
— Aron Pilhofer (@pilhofer) June 28, 2022
Anti-Social Media – MSNBC
- The best thing you can do for the voters is to stop them from voting in their own interests.
On "Morning Joe," they are still grappling with the fallout of the Roe repeal, and Scar-Jo was discussing the reality with Mallory McMorrow that they have watched so many state and local legislatures across the country turning to the GOP.
Her solution – the voters need to be saved from this red wave – that they created by voting in these politicians that she and Scarborough do not like.
Democrats lost 1000(!) state legislature seats between 2007-2017, and the impact couldn’t be more clear.
— Mallory McMorrow (@MalloryMcMorrow) June 29, 2022
The Courts won’t save us.
The Congress won’t save us.
States are the frontlines and the last line of defense and where we must focus our energy to take our freedoms back. pic.twitter.com/Yt0yzXjTfy
News Avoidance Syndrome – VARIOUS OUTLETS
While many in the press were doing cartwheels over the Cassidy Hutchinson testimony, one very disturbing factual problem emerged. At one stage in her testimony, Liz Cheney asked Cassidy about a letter written to President Trump on January 6. Cheney held up the letter, and Hutchinson stated that she had written it, and the handwriting was, in fact, hers.
Massive problem: The letter had, in fact, been written by White House lawyer Eric Herschmann. This is a fact that has even been confirmed by the committee. But, in a sign of how desperate they have been to get her testimony on the record and keep her held in esteem, the committee has declared it is unbothered by this outright lie being told under oath.
- "In response to Herschmann's claim, a spokesperson for the Jan. 6 committee said, "The committee has done its diligence on this and found Ms. Hutchinson's account of this matter credible."
What makes this such a problem is that Herschmann has previously testified to the committee that he wrote the note, so now there is the entanglement over which witness has been compromised.
