04.25.23
Reporting on the Mirror – WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENTS ASSOCIATION
This Saturday is the 2023 version of the White House Correspondents Dinner, a time when journalists can pat themselves on the back while bending the elbow with celebrities and administration officials. This is actually a week-long affair with parties staged most nights by news outlets and other industry types, and the energy around town is furious to get into these galas and then promptly pretend what a tedious bore all the desperate pageantry is for those involved.
Perhaps no news outlet is more excited than Politico, which was built on the framework of spotting who's who and where they were seen around the Beltway. These affairs feed that very hunger, and the outlet is doing their part to generate hype; Politico is staging no fewer than three of their own gatherings.
Then to go with the daily updates and advice for those needing to be seen, the Playbook has gathered a list of experts to provide insights on what to expect and where to do it. Under a series of questions, one answer seems to leap out above the others, courtesy of Susanna Quinn:
What’s your best piece of WHCD week advice?
Susanna: My husband (who has been around a lot longer than me) said, “Leave town.”
First Amendment Strike Force – MSNBC
- The most precious part is the so-called journalist being unbothered by this infringement.
Newly christened news personality Jen Psaki had on Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez for an interview, and unsurprisingly, the professional statist was calling for more governmental infringement upon rights.
AOC blatantly lied about Tucker Carlson, stating his commentary "is very, very clearly incitement of violence." Of course, she provided no examples of this but went on to use that as the pretext to have the government step in and directly silence Carlson and Fox News.
For her part, Psaki listened to this very direct call for fascist action, and she smiled and nodded at the suggestion.
.@AOC: "When you look at what Tucker Carlson and some of these other folks on Fox do, it is very, very clearly incitement of violence." pic.twitter.com/qjnnDQrtqj
— Inside with Jen Psaki (@InsideWithPsaki) April 23, 2023
Low Octane Gas Lighting – REUTERS
- So that's the best expert you could turn to for advice?
This past weekend, the Reuters Institute held a journalism festival, and one panel was held called "Declining Trust In Media: A Journalist Safety Issue." And, of course, one of the "experts" they had sitting in on this think tank was Brian Stelter. He had a number of verbal gems delivered.
"The cratering of the trust in the media is related to the fact that we're all members of the media now," says @brianstelter #ijf23
— Reuters Institute (@risj_oxford) April 22, 2023
Just perfectly elitist of him, of course. All these newbies crashing their party are the reason for all the trouble in the industry.
"We need to publicise the harassment we receive, pre-bunk misinformation and prosecute the people who harass us," says @brianstelter #ijf23
— Reuters Institute (@risj_oxford) April 22, 2023
This pre-bunk concept has been something attempted in news circles to take root in journalism for a while now. It leads to actions like news organizations avoiding the Hunter Biden laptop story and insisting that the Wuhan lab leak was a discredited story.
"It's important to draw a difference between criticism of the media and dehumanisation," says @brianstelter #ijf23
— Reuters Institute (@risj_oxford) April 22, 2023
This is the inevitable conclusion from those who deem any criticism of their work is an "attack," and daring to correct inaccuracies is classified as a threat to journalism and undermining our democracy.
Anti-Social Media – NBC UNIVERSAL
Perhaps one person with a bit of a sigh of relief resulting from yesterday's bombshells was Jeff Shell, the #1 man at NBC-Universal. The dismissal of Tucker Carlson from Fox News (and, to a lesser extent, Don Lemon's ouster from CNN) meant that the dire news of Shell's career coming to an end was completely overlooked.
This weekend, Shell was dismissed entirely from his post as the head of the media company due to an inappropriate relationship he had with a member of the NBC News organization:
Comcast launched an investigation soon after the woman lodged a complaint with the company, people familiar with the situation said. She is a veteran journalist at the company, they said. Many NBCUniversal executives were caught off guard by Mr. Shell’s sudden ouster on Sunday, as only a handful of senior Comcast and NBCUniversal executives were aware of the complaint and investigation, company insiders said.
Breaking: NBCUniversal Chief Executive Jeff Shell is leaving his post effective immediately after an investigation into a complaint of inappropriate conduct https://t.co/gxxxGGvbve
— The Wall Street Journal (@WSJ) April 23, 2023
Body Checking the Fact-Checkers – VARIOUS OUTLETS
- Add another chapter to The Biden Chronicles.
Someday (very soon, at this rate), we will compile a fable on the life of our president – one of his own telling. Today, Jose Biden uncorked yet another familial fairy tale, this one concerning his birth. Of note is how no fact-checkers are storming to the lead with a debunking of his claims. Daniel Dale is MIA. Glenn Kessler is MUTE on the subject. All the other fact-checkers checked out on these issues.
Joe Biden lies about being born in the same hospital that his grandfather died in just two weeks prior.
— Townhall.com (@townhallcom) April 25, 2023
Biden was born in Pennsylvania. His grandfather died in Maryland almost an entire year earlier. pic.twitter.com/6uU3Yp8Abc
