Stelter Still in Denial in Exile

• "'I think newsrooms just looked around and said, 'We don't have the laptop. We don't have evidence. We don't have evidence it's real. And we know that there are reasons to wonder if it's disinformation,' Stelter said."

The reason this is garbage is that Stelter was perfectly fine, at the time, promoting the letter from the 50+ intelligence officials who signed onto it suggesting the laptop was manufactured, Russian opposition propaganda. Newsrooms had nothing in the form of evidence that this was the case, yet Stelter and others were just fine pushing that narrative.

“Brian Stelter defends 2020 media coverage of Hunter Biden laptop story: We never labeled it 'disinformation'”

(Fox picks up my discussion with Stelter on #Uncovered - buy here: https://t.co/JD2S9IhPTz) https://t.co/AzZRagFpeL

— Steve Krakauer (@SteveKrak) February 25, 2023

Artisanally-Crafted Narratives – THE GRIO

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• At some point, the line will be crossed regarding outright lies in the press…correct?

Remember when prominent members of the journalism elite were loudly bothered by the specter of misinformation? Well, here we have The Grio (a site sporting a perfect 100% label from NewsGuard) putting out a piece that declares rather directly that Governor Ron DeSantis is not only banning books (provably a falsehood) but doing so based on nothing more than there are mentions of black people in the pages.

• "What is stunning is the sheer number of books that are prohibited for simply mentioning race, racism or Black people. What is taking place in Florida is certainly reminiscent of authoritarian and fascist regimes such as Nazi Germany, which banned and burned books written by left-wing, liberal and Jewish authors viewed as dangerous, anti-fascist and against German values."

OPINION: Empty the libraries, and you hide evidence of historical crimes. DeSantis and his minions want to erase Black people from the historical record and deprive people of that knowledge so the crimes can continue.

✍🏿 @davidalovehttps://t.co/yIS4lZK1FY

— theGrio.com (@theGrio) February 22, 2023

Legalized Press-titution – WASHINGTON POST

• It is truly magnificent how a wife skips out on her ailing husband.

As John Fetterman sits in a hospital for the second time in weeks, it was a rather puzzling revelation that his wife Giselle was spotted on a vacation jaunt with their children, riding zip lines around Niagra Falls. While it would seem an idea to maybe distract the kids for a spell, the timing had many questioning the priority, considering John Fetterman was just admitted for severe depression.

In light of this, one Washington Post reporter looked over the story and declared that Gisselle was actually someone to admire, not question.

• “May we all handle the inevitable hard times with this much grace and clarity.”

It could at least be debatable that either of those terms applies.

Washington Post reporter deleted this tweet for some reason. 🤔 https://t.co/IifrcRYANx pic.twitter.com/Z41SfYYedN

— Sister Toldjah 🌻 (@sistertoldjah) February 27, 2023

Pounce of Prevention – THE HILL

• Once again, the tragedy is when Republicans notice there is a problem.

With the breaking news that the Energy Department has announced that the Covid-19 virus likely derived from a laboratory leak, there has been all manner of spinning in the press. The people who were shutting down, silencing, and suspending people for merely asking about that possibility are now struggling to explain things. Then we have The Hill, which faces a monumental story like this and sees the real problem – those darned Republicans are talking about it! Get a load of all the GOP verbs employed in this deflection attempt.

• "Republicans are seizing on a new Energy Department conclusion pointing to a 'lab leak' as causing the COVID-19 outbreak to call for swift action against the Chinese government, which has refused to cooperate with global probes into the pandemic’s origin. The lack of confidence or details on the assessment didn’t stop Republicans from claiming validation and calling for urgent action against China."

Republicans jump on "lab leak" report, call for action against China https://t.co/r85FRW8LzY pic.twitter.com/aSK5DpBNmv

— The Hill (@thehill) February 27, 2023

First Amendment Strike Force – WASHINGTON POST

• The best way to be transparent is to keep any information from getting out to the public.

The news of Tucker Carlson being given the collection of surveillance videos from the January 6 Committee has many in the press dismayed. One group of news outlets, which were not too interested in seeing these clips after the committee issued a final report, has now risen up to demand the tapes be released to all in the press.

Appearing on MSNBC, Washington Post deep thinker Dana Milbank explains his position that the last thing we would want to have is the truth getting out. 

• "The truth is this doesn't belong in the public domain – for anybody. In Kevin McCarthy’s sort of cravenness…he is risking the security of himself, of his colleagues, and of the Capitol itself."

Journalist Dana @Milbank: Americans shouldn’t be able to see 1/6 footage at all

"This doesn't belong in the public domain" pic.twitter.com/BfuwOwjVNQ

— Tom Elliott (@tomselliott) February 26, 2023

Milbank is echoing a position of fellow Post scribe Philip Bump, who once lobbied against the release of the police body cam footage of the Paul Pelosi attack. Apparently, withholding information is the common position of those at the paper with the boastful tagline “Democracy Dies In Darkness.”

Reporting on the Mirror – FOX NEWS

• Muzzling the voice of your in-house media reporter.

As the court case between Fox News and the ownership of Dominion Voting Systems continues, there was an interesting development this weekend when host Howie Kurtz revealed that he is actually prevented from commenting on the case in any capacity on his news and journalism coverage program "Media Buzz."

• "The company has decided that as part of the organization being sued, I can’t talk about it or write about it, at least for now. I strongly disagree with that decision. But as an employee, I have to abide by it. Some of you have been asking why I’m not covering the Dominion voting machines case against Fox involving the unproven claims of election fraud in 2020. It’s absolutely a fair question. I believe I should be covering it, it’s a major media story, given my role here at Fox."

“The company has decided that as part of the organization being sued, I can’t talk about it or write about it, at least for now,” Kurtz said. I strongly disagree with that decision. But as an employee, I have to abide by it.” https://t.co/xceDx93osp

— Mediaite (@Mediaite) February 27, 2023

Body Checking the Fact-Checkers – WASHINGTON POST

• We’ll clear the man who has not been running the country for years…for now…

Trailing most everyone else in the press, Glenn Kessler finally got around to verifying whether Donald Trump's transportation policies contributed to the East Palestine train derailment. Even after members of the administration confirmed the policies cited were not a factor, Kessler dragged his feet, and we get a peek at why.

His assessment of this conclusion is unsubtly started with, “So far…”

New #FactChecker --> So far, Trump’s rollback of regulations can’t be blamed for Ohio train wreck https://t.co/J2PVZ4hrp4

— Glenn Kessler (@GlennKesslerWP) February 27, 2023