"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.
08.18.22
Reporting on the Mirror – CNN
Since this January, with the departure of Jeff Zucker as CEO of CNN, it had always been a question of not "if" but "when." The announcement broke today that Brian Stelter will be departing the network and his show "Reliable Sources" is set to be canceled. This becomes yet another major shakeup at the network that has endured numerous dramatic exits this past year, as a corporate takeover has continued to send waves through the network.
New CEO Chris Licht has mandated a new balanced approach and that a number of on-air talent was going to be under watch to alter the partisan broadcasts – this put Stelter directly on notice, but he also faced another glaring reality. Ratings. While CNN has had a miserable year, Brian was experiencing notable issues, hitting some new ratings lows.
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This cannot be pointed at as a lack of viewer interest. On Fox News, at the exact same hour, Howie Kurtz hosts his news industry analysis program "Media Buzz," and not only is he consistently over 1 million viewers but routinely doubles the audience of "Reliable Sources." In the second quarter, Stelter's show averaged less than 700,000 viewers, and in the advertising demo, he reached numbers so low that the program had not experienced since 2001.
This is why the program – once hosted by Kurtz himself – has been on the network for 30 years and is now killed off. Brian has run that enduring broadcast into a mountain. The mystery is not that Stelter was canned, it was how he managed to last this long.
Presentation Paradox – MSNBC
- Maybe we can do without the nightly handoff segment, Chris.
This week, Alex Wagner made her much-ballyhooed debut as the permanent replacement for Rachel Maddow four days a week. It was her first night, so casting any kind of judgment on a long-term show is not accurate, and some on-air mistakes were to be expected.
Wagner did have a foul-up right at the start when it appeared the teleprompter was not working correctly, leading to her gesturing to the booth and stumbling for moments leading into the first story. What makes this more glaring, however, is that at the very start, she began with some banter with her lead-in and longtime friend, Chris Hayes. Hayes enthusiastically welcomed her and then said that he could not think of someone more prepared for this new position – before she looked unprepared for the technical glitch.
A tough start out of the gate for @AlexWagner, but the blame could be on @ChrisLHayes for jinxing her by declaring no one else is more ready than Alex. pic.twitter.com/U4Lyr3i2KN
— Lie-Able Sources (@LieAbleSources) August 18, 2022
Anti-Social Media – SAM HARRIS
- "But Trump would be worse" is the driving force of media thought.
Writer and philosopher Sam Harris has been focused upon when video clips from an appearance on a podcast have circulated where he stated how it was justified to stifle the story of the Hunter Biden laptop because of what impact it might have had on keeping Trump in office.
Making this all the more revealing is that Harris dares mention ethics while proclaiming it was proper to smother a national news story.
On the podcast, I was speaking narrowly about the wisdom and propriety of ignoring the Hunter Biden laptop story until after the election. I’ve always thought that this was a very hard call, ethically and journalistically. 4/6
— Sam Harris (@SamHarrisOrg) August 18, 2022
Pathological Media Amnesia – ASSOCIATED PRESS
Nick Riccardi is deeply concerned about the possibility of threats of violence against the judge who signed the FBI warrant for the raid on Mar-a-Lago. It is called a threat to our democracy, no less.
As for those direct threats against SCOTUS members since this Spring, including the arrest of one individual with weapons targeting Brett Kavanaugh, those barely ranked a paragraph mentioned in this screed against Donald Trump. See, he is not doing enough to tamp down these threats; the last two White House press secretaries giving vocal support to protests against justices receive no such condemnation, understand.
Threats against the Magistrate Judge who signed off on the FBI Mar-a-Lago search are the latest risk for judges, and sign of danger for both the rule of law and democracy https://t.co/WPEUCBnRpc w the great @GaryEFields2
— Nick Riccardi (@NickRiccardi) August 17, 2022
Body Checking the Fact-Checkers – REUTERS
In a recent piece, Reuters was looking to correct some misinformation about Florida's recent proposal to have veterans and their spouses qualify to become teachers. For accuracy, the syndicate does something novel – reporters actually read the contents of the law in order to glean the accurate details.
This is actually proper. It is also something new, since all of this year, they have been incapable of reading another piece of legislation because the outlet resorted to using a label using language that was nowhere to be found in the bill.
To understand, for the latest Florida law @Reuters was able to read the bill and get the facts correct.
— Brad Slager: Raid Veteran/CNN+ Lifetime Subscriber (@MartiniShark) August 18, 2022
All year though they were incapable of reading the Parental Rights In Education Law, always mislabeling it the 'Don't Say Gy Bill'
Conveniently curious.https://t.co/gcJEZN7rOI pic.twitter.com/1aTPFTVdSU
