Covering the media on a daily basis in Riffed From The Headlines provides one with a wide panoply of press peculiarities. In between these polemic paradoxes on the calendar was all manner of unhinged reporting and laughably inept examples of journalism. So here is the second half a fun chronology of some of the more mirthful media mendacities from the past year. (Part 1 is here.)
Politico may have explained so much that is wrong in the DC media complex by detailing that many working in journalism are taking mushrooms recreationally.
Liz Cheney was the focus of the media for much of the year and serving as the face of the January 6 Committee. It all led to her getting trounced by 40 points in the Wyoming primary.
The FBI raid on Mar-A-Lago to retrieve documents was blown up as the worst malfeasance by a former president. Nuclear documents, international intel, and the identities of spies were alleged to be in his possession. The latest reports on the actual contents however a far less dramatic.
Biden delivered his odd and oppressive Red Sermon speech, and CNN attempted to soften the optics. The network was seen altering the colors of the lighting on its live feed, in order to make him appear less foreboding to viewers.
While most of the country thought Biden looked like a totalitarian with the deep red lighting, @CNN tried to suggest that Joe is the President of T-Mobile. pic.twitter.com/GlCpvvPqIp
— Brad Slager: Free Agent for New Social Platform (@MartiniShark) September 2, 2022
When the water crisis in Jackson, Mississippi was making the news the attempt was made that the GOP-run legislature was ignoring the problem due to racism. This is the state capital, so it would be tough to say they were ignoring a problem that was affecting them. Tougher is blaming Republicans for a city run by Democrats for over thirty years failing to take action…for decades.
Las Vegas reporter Jeff German was murdered on his front lawn. As the press was lecturing about the dangers of right-wing commentary leading to violence few wanted to note German was killed by a Democrat politician.
The Ron DeSantis immigrant flight to Martha’s Vineyard had the press spinning in an imbalanced fashion. When a rumor online was another flight would land near Biden’s home in Delaware, the media that ignores the strife at the border showed up at the airport in a mob.
I’ve never seen this much media at the border, just here in Delaware pic.twitter.com/NBrNjAD39Z
— Jennie Taer (@JennieSTaer) September 20, 2022
Stacey Abrams delivered some medical misinformation about the way ultrasounds work in detecting fetal heartbeats. Fact-Checker extraordinaire Glenn Kessler rushed to defend her inaccuracies.
Jose Biden declared that “right-wingers” wanting to take on the government would need to use an F-15 to do so. This undermined more than a year of media narratives that mostly unarmed right-wingers staged a coup attempt.
The collective press complex fell into a hilarious round of hysterics when Donald Trump arrived in D.C. wearing golf shoes. First was the rampant speculations. Next came the surveillance photos being taken, followed by the accusations of clandestine meetings being held. All of this, over a gathering of executives to go over the design of his new golf course on the Potomac.
Taylorenz doxxed the Libs Of TikTok, requiring corrections by her paper. Lorenz reported on YouTube accounts profiting from the Depp/Heard trial, requiring corrections by her paper. Lorenz blamed Libs of Tik Tok for a Boston hospital being evacuated which never occurred, requiring corrections by her paper. Lorenz was assigned a specific editor to double-check her work.
The Atlantic determined how Trump directed people to storm the Capitol on January 6: He used memes.
During Hurricane Ian coverage Florida reporter Kyla Galer used a condom to protect her microphone.
** WE PRACTICE SAFE HURRICANE REPORTING **
— Jeff Butera (@ABC7Jeff) September 28, 2022
Yes, it's a condom.
Nothing better to waterproof a microphone.
My Waterman Broadcasting colleague @kylagaler has been fielding lots of questions, haha.
Moment of levity in this nasty storm... #HurricaneIan pic.twitter.com/hdyiXdhZIL
In his book review of Jared Kushner’s White House memoir, Dwight Garner might have revealed a little something about his personal life: “Reading this book reminded me of watching a cat lick a dog’s eye goo.”
Reporters went after NBC reporter Dash Burns for reporting what she experienced with John Fetterman.
As the press pretends to care about lying in politics the New York Times declared that Jose Biden constantly lying about himself makes him ‘The Storyteller In Chief’.
Yahoo Finance determined the cause of the diaper shortage experienced across the country. It was those pro-lifers causing babies who are to blame.
Numerous outlets were pranked by a pair of hoaxsters posing as recently fired employees of Twitter, all because the savvy tech reporters did not pick up on their claim to be named Ligma and Johnson. Worse yet, weeks later on The Hill’s webcast Rising hostess was mocking Elon Musk as not being smart because he “rehired” the duo, in a trolling tweet.
Do you think they miss him? The day after Donald Trump announced he is running in 2024 the New York Times belched out over a dozen features on the man in a matter of hours.
Not to imply that the @NYTImes is obsessed with Trump running once again and desperate to have him back on their pages -- Instead I'll just display it.
— Brad Slager: Free Agent for New Social Platform (@MartiniShark) November 16, 2022
All of these are from THE PAST DAY
1/ pic.twitter.com/y8QG7vne2m
After a passionate push, the media narrative blaming right-wing commentary for the Q Nightclub shooting was blasted into confetti when it was revealed the shooter is non-binary. Alyson Camerota could not deal with the reality as the news broke on her show. Many tried to say it was a convenient dodge, but the person had made this announcement years earlier.
CBS News announced it was pulling away from Twitter due to Elon Musk. They did not even last two full days.
Ayman Mohyeldin at MSNBC attempted to suggest that the U.S. has a worse human rights record than Qatar.
Some highlights from our Year of Oppression: Requiring a ballot signature in ink is racist; Daylight Savings impacts minorities negatively; Shark Week is sexist; asking for voter ID is transphobic.
The New York Times journalists staged an impotent strike lasting one day. They asked readers to support the cause by not engaging in the paper’s content for a day. The biggest hurdle was not involving their journalism but begging people to not play Wordle.
Kanye West made Nazi comments, and the press was enthralled. While most sane people ignored this clown show, we got to learn how many journalists were excited to watch Kanye on InfoWars.
After backing the hiring in the Biden administration Sam Brinton’s arrest for multiple cases of luggage theft meant deflections needed to take place. Many outlets focused on the Republican intolerance of trans individuals.
Slate conducts a deep exploration into the story of Kyrsten Sinema selling her shoes and other personal items online.
