"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.
12.07.22
First Amendment Strike Force – FACEBOOK
For a significant platform declaring it would cut off all news, the news networks sure appear apathetic about losing more revenue. It appears that Congress has stepped back from a proposed bill that would have required social media companies to submit to negotiations with news outlets for compensation to have news items appearing in the feeds on their platforms. The Journalism Competition and Preservation Act has, for now, been shelved.
In response to this threat, Meta – parent company of Facebook – pledged that it was more than willing to see fit that all news was removed from its social networks. The silence in the news sphere over this was rather significant, given that for the past few months, we have been lectured about how vital social media was for voters and in the preservation of our democracy. Somehow, the complete eradication of news content was not viewed as a threat – by news outlets.
Facebook parent Meta Platforms Inc. said Tuesday it will be "forced to consider" removing news content from its platform if Congress passes legislation requiring tech companies to pay news outlets for their material. https://t.co/PIvaUd5kpi
— The Associated Press (@AP) December 6, 2022
Anti-Social Media – FORBES
As we have covered, the press is seemingly working harder to justify not covering the release of Elon Musk's "Twitter Files" than actively looking at said files. At Forbes, they are diligently reporting on the company; not the document release, mind you, but the things taking place inside the building. In true hall monitor fashion, the tech writers at the magazine are less focused on the tech side of things and more concerned with interpersonal activities.
They report that Elon has set things up with sleeping quarters inside the various floors, an alarming development, we are led to believe.
- "Elon Musk's 'extremely hardcore' vision for Twitter seems to have manifested itself in sad little conference-room sleeping quarters at the company's recently depopulated headquarters. On Monday, employees returning to work at the company’s San Francisco location were greeted by modest bedrooms featuring unmade mattresses, drab curtains and giant conference-room telepresence monitors."
This exposé has motivated the local government to spring into action. Building inspectors have been dispatched to the headquarters to investigate these newly revealed arrangements. Yes, the city that is overrun with homeless and has active drug users sleeping on the pavement is concerned that employees are being granted sleeping provisions with an appropriate thread count.
BREAKING: San Francisco building inspectors are launching an investigation into reports Twitter has converted several office rooms at its headquarters into sleeping quarters for employees. 'We need to make sure the building is being used as intended' @sfdbi rep tells @KQEDnews
— Ted Goldberg (@TedrickG) December 6, 2022
Gilded Reframe – REUTERS
- This deeply irrelevant story became less so in less than half an hour.
At Reuters, they felt that it was newsworthy to announce that as of today, Elon Musk had fallen from the top perch as the richest man in the world. The significance of this could not be measured – largely because it was not at all significant. While citing his recent purchase of Twitter as the primary reason, we are left to ponder how miserable he must be now that he is considered the second-wealthiest man.
Then, not even 30 minutes later, this content-free news report was amended. It turned out market forces moved Musk back into the top position globally.
When the press spikes a football in their own endzone and it bounces up into their crotches.
— Brad Slager: Polling For Soup (@MartiniShark) December 7, 2022
This lasted all of 25 minutes. pic.twitter.com/Wy12nVCQQ0
Stealth Story Evolution – VARIETY
- Changing the tweet does not alter the idiocy in the supplied video.
The running gag is that millennials believe that history began when they were born. So often we see them proclaim something occurring in their lifetime was a first or that some product or service they have latched onto was invented in recent years. Jennifer Lawrence sat for an interview with Variety and proved this theorem true. In it, she looked at her time filming “The Hunger Games,” and she delivered a rather – shall we say, curious conclusion about Hollywood history.
- “'I remember when I was doing ‘Hunger Games,’ nobody had ever put a woman in the lead of an action movie,' Jennifer Lawrence says. 'We were told girls and boys can both identify with a male lead, but boys cannot identify with a female lead.'”
The outlet received so much blowback on her comment that it deleted the original tweet with her quote, rephrasing her comment for a more genteel reception. They still give us the video with her fractured interpretation of things.
"We were told girls and boys could both identify with a male lead, but boys cannot identify with a female lead," Jennifer Lawrence says of taking on the role of Katniss in #TheHungerGames. https://t.co/TqYPwDLCC4 pic.twitter.com/1qyqqkh8aX
— Variety (@Variety) December 7, 2022
Presentation Paradox – NEWSWEEK
In other demented celebrity thinking, Newsweek does a profile on the imbalance comedienne, Kathy Griffin. They attempt to position her as a bold warrior against Elon Musk or something, but the headline defies common sense. She was boldly going to quit Twitter, but when Musk had briefly kicked her off the platform she was leaving, she defiantly decided to stay.
Okay…then…
Teenager dares to run away, parent flips the deadbolt, and the teen immediately begins banging on the doors to be let in. https://t.co/1fDSuWrKMD
— Brad Slager: Polling For Soup (@MartiniShark) December 7, 2022
