"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.
07.21.22
Gilded Reframe – POLITICO
The press has been challenged for over a year on how they should sell the January 6 Commission hearings. Two main realities are facing them in their desire to sway the nation on what a tragic event played out on that fateful date – the lack of truly explosive revelations and the public's growing disinterest as the affair drags on.
Politico now arrives with a new spin they are hoping will find some gravity. Rather than sweeping, dramatic hits being made on Trump, the commission is gradually pecking away at his credibility, leading to an erosion of support.
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-" 'It is definitely kind of this wet drip of, do you really want to debate the 2020 election again? Do you really want to debate what happened on Jan. 6?' said Bob Vander Plaats, the evangelical leader in Iowa who is influential in primary politics in the first-in-the-nation caucus state. 'Frankly, I think what I sense a little bit, even among some deep, deep Trump supporters … there's a certain exhaustion to it.'"
There could be another to describe what they just laid out.
I wonder how aware Politico is that they just basically described the January 6 hearings as water torture…https://t.co/VsgUrZedJd
— Lie-Able Sources (@LieAbleSources) July 21, 2022
Presentation Paradox – WASHINGTON POST
- What better way to underscore the grave seriousness of this commission than to offer up a jaunty little trivia game?!
Recently, the Washington Post showed us just how serious we needed to look at the J-6 Commission hearing when the paper designed a graphic novel section based on the testimony of Cassidy Hutchinson. Now, the same paper comes back with more unserious coverage as they give readers a fun trivia game on how much they know about the hearing's particulars.
Who said what during the Jan. 6 hearings?
— The Washington Post (@washingtonpost) July 21, 2022
Take the quiz to see if you remember who was behind the most striking quotes so far. https://t.co/vPLtZCoL5C
Pathological Media Amnesia – MSNBC
- In this dire time of President Biden contracting Covid, let us not forget how horrible Donald Trump had been.
Leave it to Yamiche Alcindor to both play cleanup and to deflect away from the prior methods of hostility directed at Donald Trump when he contracted Covid. After a protracted introduction implying how dangerous Biden's diagnosis could be considering all of the notable figures he recently interacted with, Yamiche does the only proper thing and turns it back on Donald Trump.
NBC's @Yamiche Alcindor on Biden testing positive: "Let’s remember his predecessor took off his mask, even though he was sort of in the period where he could have possibly infected other people." pic.twitter.com/IzR89TVV7E
— Tom Elliott (@tomselliott) July 21, 2022
Glossary Over Things – SKY NEWS
Author of the Harry Potter books J. K. Rowling has become a lightning rod of outrage in recent years with her bold statements about what constitutes being a woman. There was a time when people following the well-established mores of physiology were not regarded as being controversial, but we live in the era now of those screeching to us to "FOLLOW THE SCIENCE" while at the same time denying basic biological facts about genders.
Rowling has become so toxic, according to some, that the organizers of Major League Quidditch are looking to change the name of the game because they find the woman who created the fake sport out of her imagination is not a good representative of the game.
Major League Quadball said changing the name "opens unprecedented opportunities for growth, exposure and partnerships" https://t.co/qWsAGioZQ2
— Sky News (@SkyNews) July 20, 2022
Body Checking the Fact Checkers – USA TODAY
With an eye on all of the various overreactions to the repeal of Roe v. Wade, one enterprising prankster put out a posting that claimed one couple had an abortion procedure performed out of protest, and they encapsulated their aborted fetus as a pro-abortion statement. The image used in the post was revealed by USA Today to be something else entirely. A video game called Death Stranding had a plotline involving a newborn, and the creators had fashioned a life-sized replica of the baby. Thankfully, the paper was on the case to spare the public the exposure to a joke.
— Dave Agar (@dave1agar) July 19, 2022
Anti-Social Media – ESPN
- Maybe this will pave the way for "Mulan 2" to be filmed.
The network fewer and fewer people are watching, ESPN, just staged its awards show fewer and fewer people care about, The ESPYS. The rather random and pointless sports award rarely makes news... unless they stage some desperate acts of virtue signaling, such as when Caitlyn Jenner was awarded the Woman Of The Year.
This time it was not so much a social posture that nabs the attention, as it was genuflecting to the Chinese overlords the sports world seems to favor.
After winning three medals at the Olympics, Eileen Gu takes home the prize at the @ESPYS ?? pic.twitter.com/vFG1l0dJd4
— ESPN (@espn) July 21, 2022
