"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.
01.19.23
Matching Media Memorandum – MSNBC
- Hayes is not insulting from a position of strength.
There might have been a directive sent out regarding the press covering Ron DeSantis. The intent, it appears, is to describe Florida’s governor as something of a bland and boring figure. You see, he has no real charisma, and this will impact the political fortunes of the man who…uh…just won reelection by 30 percentage points.
Yesterday, Stephen Colbert tried to say of DeSantis, “He’s got the smooth style of a nonplayable character in a PlayStation 2 game.” (About the only truly funny part of the HuffPo piece was suggesting that Colbert in any capacity “could end DeSantis’ presidential aspirations.”) Next, we have Chris Hayes weighing in, as he goes on to describe a rather dour figure of the man, describing DeSantis as being “pinched and humorless.” Hayes here forgot one of the cardinal rules of public speaking – when you insult someone, the first reaction will be that people will compare you to your target immediately.
Yeah, about those folks who are "pinched and humorless"... https://t.co/wK2vuAUqmy pic.twitter.com/p3JEWVOiEe
— Brad Slager: CNN+ Lifetime Subscriber (@MartiniShark) January 19, 2023
Both Kinds of Standards – POLITICO
Ahead of the recent midterm elections, Politico came out with a deeply offensive piece of journalism when writer Adam Wren offered a “profile” of Republican candidate Jennifer-Ruth Green. In that piece, Wren went on to detail that when she was serving in the military, Green had been a victim of sexual abuse at the hands of some enemy combatants. This was not a publicly detailed incident, and Green implored the outlet not to run the deeply personal details. Politico spurned her request and ran the item, which Green stated had been based on documents that had not been released legally.
It was rather apparent that Politico was either directly involved in obtaining that report, or at the least, had been fed those documents from a Democratic Party oppo-research firm on behalf of her opponent, Democrat Frank Mrvan.
The Air Force has now issued an official statement to Green stating that the documents had been improperly released. As she says:
- "It happened exactly how I said it happened. My documents were obtained not through a FOIA request like Politico falsely claimed. Politico's lawyers knew better, they knew these documents couldn't be obtained through FOIA, and they worked to be part of the Democrat smear machine… they lied to cover their tracks."
We await further word from the noble Mr. Dayspring.
— Brad Slager: CNN+ Lifetime Subscriber (@MartiniShark) January 19, 2023
Will Adam Wren be at punished for being a participant in this despicable report?https://t.co/SE4gEmvclk https://t.co/zalZJPm3rx
Reporting on the Mirror – CNN
As we covered yesterday, things are rather brutal inside CNN offices, with layoffs, office closings, schedule changes, and absolutely embarrassing ratings being earned. With all this happening, we came to wonder – what has become of Chris Wallace?
We know he has his own show now, a celebrity-infused gab-fest called "Who’s Talking To Chris Wallace?" But wouldn’t the man with decent ratings from his days at Fox News, and given a copious contract to come over initially for CNN+, be better served to go on in prime time? Or, how about sliding him into Brian Stelter’s vacated slot on Sunday mornings, when Chris had been popular for years?
Instead, CNN has him doing more frosting duty. It seems a departure to see him talking with the likes of Hugh Jackman, as the actor explains he never knew originally that a wolverine was a real animal, and then asking him probing questions, such as how he got cast in the role of a comic book character who is supposed to only be 5’5” tall.
Wolverine’s return! Chris Wallace asks @RealHughJackman about his iconic Marvel character’s upcoming movie. The new season of Who’s Talking to #ChrisWallace premieres this Sunday at 7 p.m. ET on CNN pic.twitter.com/sCmqaQHl1h
— CNN (@CNN) January 7, 2023
Legalized Press-titution – WASHINGTON POST
Look, we get that there is a certain level of favorability toward the administration. We do not condone this from a “major” newspaper, but we have accepted this to be the case. Still, we would maybe appreciate at least the pretense of objectivity being on display at times. Instead, Tim Carman gives us this absolutely fawning entry of how Jose Biden placed an order with a DC hamburger joint.
Brittany Spaddy recognized the voice before the president could even identify himself. She took his order.
— The Washington Post (@washingtonpost) January 18, 2023
“I got a little star-struck when I answered the phone, and I’m normally not like this,” she said. “I heard the voice, and I’m like, ‘No way!’” https://t.co/d9rNRiIJOk
Reporting on the Mirror – DAILY WIRE
In a rather odd display, there has been a public and curious contract dispute taking place between The Daily Wire and Steven Crowder. The discussions are to have the popular pod-vidcaster join the ranks of the network following his departure from The Blaze last month. What is a sticking point has been the dollar figures, which both sides have been willing to make public on their social media channels.
Go whip up a vat of popcorn!
So I have some thoughts about the "conversation" between @scrowder of @LWCnewswire and @JeremyDBoreing of @realDailyWire and I share them here in the interest of all humanity and also telling fact checkers to stick in in their *** My latest @RedState https://t.co/VbQEyLhJhF
— The Real Duke: Get Used to Different (@irishduke2) January 19, 2023
Anti-Social Media – CNN
- Could not place this one in "Reporting on the Mirror," as Don clearly does not own one.
This morning, Don Lemon appeared with this sartorial nightmare on the air during "CNN This Morning." There is no excuse.
Don Lemon on CNN This Morning, in a hoodie AND a sport coat.
— Lie-Able Sources (@LieAbleSources) January 19, 2023
I suppose we can blame this on John Fetterman, but that does not make this in any way excusable. pic.twitter.com/ji8SQWimOD
