"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.
08.29.22
Presentation Paradox – MTV
- The plight of the celebrity set will never fail to generate apathy.
On Sunday evening, MTV, the network that no longer plays music videos, staged its annual music video awards. Just like all other awards shows, it was easily ignored, and also, like other awards shows, it had its share of luminaries delivering woke activist agendas.
My stylist: How much fabric do you wanna wear?
— FOLLOW @YITTY (@lizzo) August 28, 2022
Me: Yes. pic.twitter.com/RIXj2ld6cn
In one particularly tough-to-take presentation, Lizzo was awarded the Video For Good award (we do not know either…), and she gave a rather curious speech where she decried the various laws cropping up across the country, and then invoked how these laws "are oppressing us!" She arrived at the show in a belched outfit of material from high-end fashion designer Jean-Paul Gauthier, accepting an award for her successful music track while on a global broadcast. Her hardship is just a little bit difficult to glean. We apologize.
A woman with a chain hanging from her nose that likely costs more than the weekly paycheck of 85% of Americans is lecturing me about "oppression". https://t.co/pmT9aKSaET
— Brad Slager: CNN+ Lifetime Subscriber (@MartiniShark) August 29, 2022
Pre-Written Field Reports – WASHINGTON POST
Once again, the Washington Post is targeting the Libs of TikTok account holder, and yes – once again – the paper resorts to shoddy journalism to make their point. This time, the issue is over the controversy with the Boston Children's Hospital and its policies regarding adolescent sex change surgeries. In the process of suggesting that recordings made of hospital employees affirming the procedures are available were somehow attacks made by the account's manager, WaPo reached out for an interview. Only the paper was not interested in an actual interview.
LOTT posted how their response was roundly ignored as the article went to press, and the proof of this is seen in the correction that WaPo had to run following this release. Reporter Pete Jamison initially added that an interview was delayed due to parameters requested by the account holder, then WaPo ran a correction that stated the answer by Libs of TikTok had been missed. "The Post was not aware that she had responded through Twitter Message before the story was published."
This is a remarkably inept excuse, given that Libs of TikTok had been contacted through Twitter Message, and the screenshots they provided show they had responded rather quickly, but the paper ran the story before even checking to see if there had been a response. This carries all of the earmarks of a hitjob, with the new wrinkle being that the intended target has the receipts to expose the process.
Unreal. WaPo’s @PeteJamison reached out for comment and I responded 12 minutes later agreeing to an interview. He then published it hours later without responding to me until after publication! Now he’s saying he can update the story with my comments. That’s not how this works! pic.twitter.com/cXWBQgyWMm
— Libs of TikTok (@libsoftiktok) August 27, 2022
Body Checking the Fact-Checkers – CNN
- Exactly how incorrect can a fact-checker get the facts incorrect? THIS much.
Consider briefly, fact-checkers are, by definition, supposed to be the final word when it comes to the specifics of a story. The details are farmed out to them and they embark on a very focused mission of determining the truth before delivering the definitive truth behind a story.
Or…they are completely biased and use the cloak of their mission statement to frame a narrative and pretend their conclusions are unassailable. There was a remarkable display on CNN of not just the second example but a glaring show of getting a story 180 degrees incorrect – by a "fact" checker. Jim Sciutto and Poppy Harlow were covering the new aspects of the Texas abortion law, and they brought on lead network fact-checker Tom Foreman to clarify the specifics of this law. Foreman should be precluded from ever again presenting fact checks based on how incorrect he got this.
CNN’s Tom Foreman is an award winning fact checker, but on Thursday’s CNN Newsroom he spread some fake news about T… https://t.co/OnAc9wIgYm
— Sophie Nouveau (@sophienouveau_) August 25, 2022
Not only does Texas allow abortions in these exact cases, but Foreman's declarations were so bad that he was completely debunked on his claims – on the same program. Sciutto and Harlow had to circle back to the topic and clarify that, in fact, the state does permit abortion when the mother's life is endangered.
First Amendment Strike Force – NBC NEWS
In a recent report, NBC News uncritically looks at a new practice they are experimenting with on YouTube – warning people ahead of time that they might be encountering misinformation and how to look out for it. They are dubbing this "pre-bunking." Yes, this is not at all disturbing, considering we just learned that the FBI had contacted social media platforms ahead of the release of the Hunter Biden laptop news, informing them that it looked to be Russian disinformation (all the while they had had the actual laptop for over half a year at that time).
This explanation of the motivations behind this effort should explain everything; essentially, fact-checking is no longer effective, so proactive fact adjustment needs to take place.
- "'Words like 'fact-checking' themselves are becoming politicized, and that's a problem, so you need to find a way around that,' said Jon Roozenbeek, lead author of the study and a postdoctoral fellow at Cambridge University's Social Decision-Making Lab."
So, you look to actively control the storyline before it gets out, kind of like shutting down the New York Post for distributing unapproved news items about the laptop…even though they were later proven to be completely accurate. Sure, nothing disturbing about this development.
Debunking conspiracy theories doesn’t always work. A new study by YouTube says ‘pre-bunking’ might. https://t.co/WPvIvW1Adx
— NBC News (@NBCNews) August 27, 2022
Anti-Social Media – WASHINGTON POST
Remember back when the press had been hailing Joe Biden as being "The Great Uniter"? I ask the question rhetorically because it appears the press has completely forgotten about that storyline, as well as their viral contempt for Trump's behavior on Twitter and elsewhere.
After Joe Biden gave his venomous speech where he called Republicans "semi-Fascists," few in the press saw the need to call him out for this divisive behavior. (Remember when that was a grave concern in the press as well?) In fact, some, like WaPo White House reporter Yasmeen Abutaleb, appear positively excited by Joe's acerbic attacks. Abutaleb and Matt Viser delivered two pieces detailing Biden's aggressiveness, sounding like they were scripted by the WH Press Office.
Well look at that -- mean tweets are suddenly back in style. https://t.co/Kz1EhzkcAy
— Lie-Able Sources (@LieAbleSources) August 29, 2022
Low Octane Gas Lighting – LOS ANGELES TIMES
In a lurch of logic so desperate it could only derive from California media, this editorial tries to suggest that violent crime in the state is actually higher in conservative counties, where they are following stricter crackdowns on offenders. The flimsy "proof" is in looking at murder rates per 100,000 and determining the higher numbers are from areas where Republicans have a higher degree of voting success.
So the issue is strict authorities leading to more crime, not the tendency to not prosecute crime or make arrests in progressive locations leading to artificially lower figures. All you need to see to move past this farce is the use of "Trump's California" in the headline.
Chabria: Why is violent crime spiking in Trump’s California? https://t.co/thoez14QaC
— Anita Chabria (@anitachabria) August 26, 2022
