"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.
11.17.22
Pathological Media Amnesia – MSNBC
- Apparently, the network library only goes back to 2019?
It's something of a running gag that, for many in the press, they think history only goes back a few years. This gets trotted out any time a journalist makes some type of historical pronouncement that is easily beaten back by simply looking at the official record. The latest to fall prey to this slothful tactic is Mehdi Hasan, who seems incapable of peering back into the ancient history of…the last midterm election.
Hasan was bemoaning the Republican takeover of the House and declaring that the GOP's announced plan to investigate Hunter Biden and his father's ties to his business interests is something the Democrats would never dream of doing. Except the Dems did do exactly that. Just after taking over the House in 2018.
Uh, Mehdi? The Democrats most certainly investigated Trump's family. Just like today, it was the first thing they embarked on after gaining power after the 2018 midterms.
— Brad Slager: Polling For Soup (@MartiniShark) November 17, 2022
Sorry you missed it all... https://t.co/OUl1gOkKNP pic.twitter.com/lP7Pag3zgi
Both Kinds of Standards – CNN
- It's just super when a Democrat might do what we demonized a Republican for doing.
Speaking of history, let us flashback to a few weeks ago when they held the governor's debate in Florida. While he was getting his hinder handed to him by the incumbent, Charlie Crist allegedly scored one hit on Ron DeSantis when he challenged the governor to pledge to serve a full term in office. This was because DeSantis is one of the favorites for the GOP presidential nomination in 2024, and this was supposedly some kind of trap Crist set for DeSantis.
The press was rather excitable over this exchange, making it out to be some kind of weakness on DeSantis' part. There was irony afoot, though, as the press who collectively favor abortions are suddenly displeased with someone not staying for a full term. Also, Crist himself had resigned from his House seat early in order to run this campaign, something every journalist was willing to overlook in this episode.
Now, we come to this morning when the newly christened crew on "CNN This Morning" had Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer on. She was asked by the panel about her chances of running for president, and it was not a topic of criticism, but one the morning gang seemed excited to get her to commit to on the show.
The press was in an uproar when, during the Florida gubernatorial debate, Ron DeSantis would not pledge to fulfilling a full term, since he may run for President.
— Lie-Able Sources (@LieAbleSources) November 17, 2022
Outrage! Controversy!
On CNN's morning show their crew all but begs Gretchen Whitmer to run in 2024. pic.twitter.com/rFRj23ek8f
Body Checking the Fact-Checkers – VARIOUS OUTLETS
- Okay, boys, the vacation is now over!
One of the parlor games during the Jose Biden administration has been which blatant falsehoods would the media fact-checkers be willing to actually grade. Between the policy fantasies and his tendency to fictionalize his past, the president has no shortage of material for these truth-sayers to pore over on a near-daily basis. (Days where a lid is called are the exception, of course.)
It was rather amusing to watch, however, that as Donald Trump makes his speech to declare he will run for president in 2024, the fact-checking corps snaps into action!
Glenn Kessler was not only willing to get back to his duties, he eagerly retweeted his accomplishment throughout the day.
--> New Trump campaign, same old falsehoods https://t.co/ngi6v4Bv67
— Glenn Kessler (@GlennKesslerWP) November 16, 2022
At CNN, their viscount of vérité is Daniel Dale, and he too has been reticent to compile Biden's regular prevarications. Yet after Trump gave his speech, Dale was dutifully detailing Donald's departures from the truth, and he sent out more tweets about his speech in one day than he has provided Biden fact-checks in the past couple of weeks.
Here's a fact check of 20 of the false or misleading claims Trump made last night, many of them not even close to true. (No, it wasn't only 20. We fact-checked 20.) With @CNNPaul: https://t.co/ycxDKLpMFV
— Daniel Dale (@ddale8) November 16, 2022
Legalized Press-titution – VARIOUS OUTLETS
- If you are wondering why there has not been an outrage over the crimes by the 1%...
The complete implosion of the crypto exchange FTX has been in the news enough, but there is a notable lack of venomous outrage seen in the media. Note the lack of the usual screeching about the wealthy taking advantage, how the system is rigged for those at the top, or any emotional think pieces about the failure of capitalism. We mentioned Tuesday how the force of FTX, Sam Bankman-Fried, was a major donor to the Democrats. Well, the lack of a call for accountability in the press is due to the fact that many news outlets had direct backing from Fried-FTX as well.
I wrote earlier today that there's a huge question over whether SBF will be able to continue funding media going forward.
— Teddy Schleifer (@teddyschleifer) November 11, 2022
Grants have gone to:
— ProPublica
— Vox
— The Intercept
— Semafor
— The Law and Justice Journalism Project
— A podcasthttps://t.co/hqeislc8fr https://t.co/cPT1geNoGw
Presentation Paradox – INDIE WIRE
- How invested in a film project is a star who is unaware of the marketing she is complaining about?
Jessica Chastain gave a lengthy interview to C Magazine and, in one portion, discussed her 2012 film "Zero Dark Thirty." The discussion surrounded how the film has been portrayed in the culture today, and she even ruefully addressed the way the film had been promoted.
- "I also seem to remember the film being recognized as a watershed for women in Hollywood: produced by Megan Ellison's Annapurna Pictures, directed by Bigelow, and with Chastain front and center. But, she says, 'it wasn't marketed that way at all. I wasn't even on the poster.'"
This is a curious statement because – while there are numerous versions created for films – she was, in fact, featured on the movie posters. It is especially curious given that the image from that movie chosen to promote the article was the one the studio used for promotions.
Ummm, the still pic used for this article promo was used in the key art for the film... https://t.co/dRkzIq9B9B pic.twitter.com/GZJ2JDwZA2
— Brad Slager: Polling For Soup (@MartiniShark) November 17, 2022
Pulitzer Prize Nomination – AARON RUPAR
- He must be a veteran of the Tivo Offensive.
Aaron Rupar is largely known for two things; taking quotes and video clips well out of context to post lying content and incessantly watching Fox News to deliver cheap hits of a similar nature. With this type of degraded résumé, it was with heavy amusement that Rupar lashed out at Mike Sington of NBC for allegedly lifting content from Rupar. That content was a video clip of Herschel Walker that Rupar had clipped from a broadcast on One America News. That is, Rupar complained about someone taking a video clip he had taken himself from another outlet.
Making matters more asinine was Rupar suggesting his clipping of videos was "work" and going so far as to accuse Sington of "stolen valor." Yes, seriously, he said that. The best aspect is that now Twitter has assigned one of its user-generated fact-checks on Rupar as a result.
RT mine? i actually watched the speech, you lazily saw my video go viral and decided to rip it off for stolen valor. you do this all the time and people notice. give people credit for their work when it is due
— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) November 17, 2022
