Late Night Goes Dark Save for Gutfeld

Jimmy Fallon, Jimmy Kimmel, Stephen Colbert and Seth Meyers’ late-night shows will shut down production on Tuesday as Hollywood writers have agreed to go on strike. pic.twitter.com/qu8SVJ82tG

— Pop Base (@PopBase) May 2, 2023

There is one notable exception. On Fox News, "Gutfeld!" will be live. This is because of the industry's approach to his show. As the host explained to Adam Carolla on his podcast, they cannot hire writers on a normal basis because so many fear being blacklisted in Hollywood if they work with him. So, Gutfeld writes most of his own material with help from an intimate team of writers. None are WGA members, so they are all free to work, and the top-rated show will have diluted competition during the strike.

‘Gutfeld!’ will continue airing as Colbert, Kimmel, Fallon are forced to shut down due to the WGA strike. https://t.co/W6wkmeKCMH

— Joseph A. Wulfsohn (@JosephWulfsohn) May 2, 2023

Anti-Social Media – FOX NEWS / MEDIA MATTERS

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*IF* This Is True, ABC News Is About to Become Engulfed in a Major Scandal Matt Vespa

• This partnership makes even less sense than Trump speaking with Maggie Haberman all the time.

It is becoming clear that there is more than a professional disagreement leading to Fox and Tucker Carlson parting ways – there appears to be some true animosity, at least on the part of the network. While Tucker has been mostly silent about the separation, we have seen indications of Fox being vindictive. Megan Kelly has detailed that Tucker is still technically employed by Fox; he was just taken off the air, in a possible scenario limiting his post-Fox options.

Now, we see that the network might be working to damage Tucker's character. A series of videos have been appearing showing Tucker on set between live segments and allegedly saying things that are…controversial…? In one, he is disparaging the quality of the Fox Nation streaming service. (He is accurate, it is a mess.) In others, he was saying some possibly off-color remarks, the controversy of these being dependent on your levels of sensitivity. What is more striking, though, is the fact we are getting these behind-the-scenes snippets from Media Matters.

This means that, in all likelihood, they have been leaked to the anti-Fox outlet by those inside of Fox News.

If this is shown to be the case, it deepens the oddness behind what has so far been a perplexing decision by the news outlet.

FOXLEAKS: Tucker Carlson slammed Fox Nation in behind-the-scenes video https://t.co/XhQlKQVHJ1 pic.twitter.com/mKqJBuWzCw

— Matthew Gertz (@MattGertz) May 1, 2023

Reporting on the Mirror – ASSOCIATED PRESS

• We'll call this bad timing coming out immediately after the press celebrated themselves.

Just after Saturday's groan-fest of a party for themselves, the White House Correspondents Dinner, the AP released this poll asking Americans about the divisiveness in the country and what they attribute as the cause of this fracturing in our culture. It might be safe to guess that the news syndicate was not prepared for this dose of reality:

When it comes to the news media and the impact it’s having on democracy and political polarization in the United States, Americans are likelier to say it’s doing more harm than good. Nearly three-quarters of U.S. adults say the news media is increasing political polarization in this country, and just under half say they have little to no trust in the media’s ability to report the news fairly and accurately.

It is extremely tough for the syndicate to spin this result in any appreciable way. In just about all sub-categories, the numbers were over 50% blaming the press for the condition of division in the country.

A NATION DIVIDED?: A new poll finds that nearly 3/4 of Americans say the news media is increasing political polarization, and only a slim majority says they have some degree of confidence in the media's ability to report the news fairly. What do you think? https://t.co/oaJDZ9rzZs

— Local 3 News (@Local3News) May 1, 2023

Race to the Bottom – MSNBC

• Another day, another report from Mehdi Hasan blasted by facts.

He is the gift that continues to provide! Recently, Mehdi Hasan attempted to "prove" that whites kill other whites with guns just as much as blacks shoot other blacks. He was corrected by Twitter's Community Notes, which used FBI stats – and basic math – to show how Hasan failed to account that there are five times as many whites, meaning that the rate of blacks shooting blacks is appreciably higher.

In childish fashion, Hasan claimed he was fact-checked inaccurately by MAGA Twitter users – somehow. The best? This whiny display was ALSO subsequently corrected by the Community Notes on the platform.

If you had any doubt that @CommunityNotes has become another weapon of the right on Musk’s Twitter, see the BS community note added to my Bill Maher clip, after MAGA folks demanded it. It makes a point that is irrelevant to the one I am making (re intraracial ‘rates* of killing.) pic.twitter.com/GXZrli4Lx9

— Mehdi Hasan (@mehdirhasan) April 29, 2023

Artisanally-Crafted Narratives – ASSOCIATED PRESS

• Can you actually pass a law so a person ceases to exist?

It has been consistently disturbing to see the collective media taking the stance that laws written to preserve the innocence of young children and prevent them from mutilating surgeries are automatically negative and wrong. There is a noted lack of investigation into these laws and what they are intended to do on behalf of the welfare of minors.

The AP exemplifies this stance with a report on the legislation seen in numerous states and resorting to the use of all of the activist language to describe what is taking place:

- Florida has passed a flurry of of anti-LGBTQ+ legislation

- anti-gay and anti-transgender legislation is flourishing

- they need to continually defend their community’s right to exist

- The ACLU is tracking nearly 470 anti-LGBTQ+ bills in 16 states

To go along with this established narrative, the outlet quotes a number of Florida legislators who spew hyper-dramatic interpretations of things. You would think the legislature gathers each day in hoods with pitchforks.

'I actually have a policy of no longer crying in Tallahassee,' said Florida Rep. Michele Rayner-Goolsby. 'I will cry when I go home. I’m literally trying to exist,' she said.

Of course, AP provides no such law attempting to have her no longer exist. Then we have this curious hyperbolic explanation from gay Florida congressman Shevrin Jones.

I have enough tears in my car to fill a lake.

With nearly 470 anti-gay and anti-trans bills in 16 states, LGBTQ+ lawmakers find themselves fighting just "to exist." https://t.co/l6KVSiwx9a

— ABC News (@ABC) May 1, 2023

Low Octane Gas Lighting – MSNBC

• We have to believe that their reactions are completely fabricated, you understand, Stephanie.

With an attempt at looking bipartisan, Stephanie Ruhle had on her show "The 11th Hour" GOP strategist Mike Murphy, but she sweeps the leg out from under him as she begins her discussion. She raises the issue of the way the GOP has been invested in the culture wars, but just before tossing it to Murphy, she makes the sweeping allegation: They are just making all of this up!

President Biden’s team is reportedly making the move - we haven’t seen yet - he's gonna go hard on to culture war issues that Republicans like to lead with like book bans. What are your thoughts on this? Because a lot of them are invented issues.

First, how is Biden exactly going to go hard on an issue that does not exist? But secondly, not only have these been legitimate issues that the GOP is responding to, but they are issues brought up by Biden and the Democrats. CRT, transgender surgery on minors, and even calls for bans on gas stoves – all began with Democrats. As for book bans? Those are not taking place; Stephanie Ruhle is offering up her own invented issue while making her accusation.

Stephanie Ruhle's latest desperate spin: The culture war issues she's been complaining about for months are actually just made up!

This is why no one can trust the media. https://t.co/wbEqElBOcK

— NewsBusters (@newsbusters) May 2, 2023

Body Checking the Fact-Checkers – Media Wise

• Does it occur to them that maybe they are trying to debunk a joke…? Nah?

You might have missed that last night was the Met Gala, and no – you did not miss anything. But as has become a tradition, social media had a number of accounts putting out the annual gag that a photo was of Jason Derulo tumbling down the carpeted stairs at the event. 

This has been the case for some time, as the picture is over a decade old. It is to the point now of being a tradition.

But the fact-checkers at Poynter's other fact-check outlet Media Wise seem rather bothered that they have to "correct" this claim every year. It also has not dawned on them that if they need to continually address this, then possibly they have not actually debunked this feature.

No. For ninth year in a row, @jasonderulo did NOT fall down the stairs at the #MetGala. The image — which is actually some other guy in 2011 — is what we call a "Zombie claim." No matter how many times we debunk it — it rises again. pic.twitter.com/21dJKqp2zC

— MediaWise (@mediawise) May 2, 2023