"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.
09.16.22
Reporting on the Mirror – CNN
As has been expected, the new bosses at CNN have next targeted the flagging morning show "New Day." Since the heralded revamp of the early show was rolled out in Spring 2021, with Brianna Keilar and John Berman at the controls, the show languished, dipping lower in the ratings than previous versions. Now, the word is that Don Lemon will be pulled from his primetime schedule to be joined by Kaitlan Collins and Poppy Harlow.
The expectation is this will be a new show, set to debut sometime in October. This now means most of CNN's primetime schedule is wide open, as there has still not been a firm replacement for Chris Cuomo's vacated time period. Now, three hours of nighttime broadcasts will need to be filled.
Major Shake-up at CNN as Don Lemon Leaves Prime Time, Moves to New Morning Show https://t.co/aCBgB80TaI
— RedState (@RedState) September 15, 2022
Body Checking the Fact-Checkers – POLITIFACT
- Even though the description is completely accurate, they rate it false to protect the administration.
The press is having a really hard time these days keeping their narratives straight regarding the flights of immigrants across the country. It seems to boil down to a simple formula; if Republicans move immigrants, it is vile and inhumane, and if Democrats do it, there is no reason to be upset and nothing to report. Just look at how two days of media screeching about how Governor Ron DeSantis is evil for transporting 48 immigrants to Martha's Vineyard, but today, there is not any such bleating when the city has now shipped out those same 48 out to Cape Cod. "Human Trafficking" is reinterpreted in a matter of 24 hours – regarding the exact same humans.
Meanwhile, in order to cast Governors DeSantis and Greg Abbot as evil, the press has had to completely ignore that Joe Biden has been flying and busing immigrants to other states for a year now. Part of the reason they ignore this is because PolitiFact tried to give them cover.
When reports emerged that Biden had been flying immigrants into Florida under cover of night with no announcement, PolitiFact sprang into action, declaring the charge to be Mostly False, despite basically agreeing with the accusation.
"The charter flights are not publicized and sometimes are done in the middle of the night to protect the confidentiality of those being transported and to guard against anyone who would interfere with the flights."
The dodge they make is the administration claiming they are merely transporting underage immigrants to area sponsors as part of the legitimate processing regulations. However, if these are, in truth, organizational flights with legitimacy, why are the localities where they arrive not notified of the arrivals?
- "The Trump-appointed U.S. attorney for the Northern District of Florida until early 2021, said the Department of Justice, Department of Homeland Security, and Department of Health and Human Services will not tell the state of Florida who is overseeing the flights, the names of those on the flights, or where the migrants are being taken."
Hilarious how @Politifact addressed the claim of Biden's secret migrant flights, confirmed he was conducting secret migrant flights, then declared the claim that these flights existed were Mostly False.https://t.co/zhXvZAsZxn
— Lie-Able Sources (@LieAbleSources) September 16, 2022
DNC PR Firm – NBC NEWS
The very evident ongoing problems witnessed with John Fetterman's health in Pennsylvania has been getting more news coverage – and this is a problem according to a major news agency. As more examples and videos showing Fetterman's speech issues and possible mental impairments surface, NBC News is taking action…to squelch these reports from being distributed.
The network made the claim that videos posted by Greg Price had been doctored to show Fetterman in a bad light, and they even went to the extent of petitioning Twitter and TikTok to have the videos removed. The accuracy of their claim is specious, and it is revealed further how they simply look to censor these examples because NBC News did not produce supposedly full videos that show the alleged doctoring they claim took place.
So NBC News decided to accuse me of doctoring videos of John Fetterman that I posted. (I didn't doctor anything)
— Greg Price (@greg_price11) September 14, 2022
They also reached out to Twitter to try and get them censored.
And the bastards didn't even include my full comment! pic.twitter.com/Sq1LtxNa1R
Gilded Reframe – CNN
- "They did what we demanded, and this is the problem!"
For some in the press, the fading storyline of The Big Lie and using it as a political cudgel is too good, and they stay latched onto it like a dog with a frisbee. Cue Chris Cillizza. He has long been one of the incessant journos to catalog and accuse Republicans of clinging to election denialism and declaring that they need to turn away from that claim to retain any legitimacy.
Now, Chris comes out with a new report that many GOP candidates have done exactly that. So, does this make the journalist happy? Oh, hell no. He sees this as a reason to go on the attack on those he had once attacked. These Republicans who followed his orders are a problem because they have changed their minds!
CILLIZZA: "Republicans need to turn away from election denialism and admit Biden is duly elected."
— Brad Slager: Semi-Fascist Practicing to Turn Pro (@MartiniShark) September 16, 2022
- GOP candidates turn away from election denialism.
CILLIZZA: "Look at all these Republicans who are flip-flopping!!!" https://t.co/L9gF0FlVmJ
News Avoidance Syndrome – VARIOUS OUTLETS
- Nobody is bothered by a Mussolini reference…no one?
Joe Biden supposedly strode into negotiations regarding the rail workers' unions and avoided a strike in the 11th hour. This, despite the fact that resolutions were essentially in place and that the whole affair was staged for political theater. It was like a waitress about to take a customer's order and Biden walked up and declared that she should bring the person their food, then claiming he just helped to keep them from starving.
The funny thing is, as he was spiking the football on the issue, he dropped a phrase that has some unfortunate historical relevance, yet not a single journalist could be found taking issue. This, despite the fact that had anyone in the GOP made a "trains run on time" reference, we would be hearing the echoes of "fascism" for at least a week.
Thanks for your concern, @wsj. To answer your question: yes, the trains are running on time. pic.twitter.com/ZpJIyFZJvL
— President Biden (@POTUS) September 15, 2022
