08.31.23
Body-Checking the Fact Checkers – THE WASHINGTON POST
When Donald Trump was in office, any detail that veered even a little from the absolute truth was instantly branded as a lie. Look, we are not pretending in any capacity that the man was a paragon of truth-telling, but the press took it to the reactionary extreme. If he got a detail wrong, if he fumbled on a percentage, or even misplaced a decimal point, it was a LIE!
Then America’s verified fable spinner and noted plagiarist Joe Biden took office and instantly “lying” evaporated from the lexicon of the press. The New York Times, even when addressing the constant fact-fracturing from the president, hedged on the malarky and described Jose Biden as our nation’s “Storyteller in Chief.”
Now, after more than a two-year vacation, The Washington Post fact-checker emeritus, Glenn Kessler, has been awakened, and he has taken on the task of addressing Biden’s tendency to abuse the truth on a near quotidian basis. Let’s peruse Glenn’s analysis and tabulate the error-prone instances he comes up with.
Recommended
Aren’t credible / likes to tell stories / propensity to exaggerate / embellish tales / doubts about his truthfulness / his version / personal tales / cannot be verified / refuted by contemporary accounts / implausible story / claims / story has evolved / did not add up / amended his statement / not plausible
All of these euphemisms are used to describe what are patently lies being told by the president. Kessler even details in one paragraph how Biden says when he became VP, he awarded his uncle the Purple Heart, while his uncle is verified to have died a decade before Joe took that office.
Yet in all of this, Kessler does not apply his Pinocchios Scale of measurement to the falsehoods. In the entirety of the piece, Glenn used the correct term only once, but it is through third-person testimony, stepping back to say “fanning criticism that he had lied to a vulnerable audience.”
See, don’t erase him from the White House Christmas invitation list! Glenn doesn’t say he lied, Biden's critics say that!
Fact Checker: Here’s a guide to some of the stories told by President Biden that cannot be verified or are not plausible. https://t.co/d1GNg9WRGg
— The Washington Post (@washingtonpost) August 31, 2023
Low Octane Gas Lighting – CNN
- Yeah, um, Oliver? You do know they keep statistics on those ratings, correct?
Is it denial? Delusion?? A desire to rewrite the realities at his network??? Whatever is in play, Oliver Darcy was covering the announcement of the new CEO for CNN, and he looked back at the brief Chris Licht era and made a rather daft pronouncement. Okay, at the risk of sounding like Glenn Kessler, I’ll just say it – Ollie lied about the numbers.
He tries to say that under Licht’s stewardship, CNN managed to fall behind the competition when, in truth, the network has lagged in third place for years under Jeff Zucker’s leadership, and they were eroding further when he was bounced from his role.
Some delusions of mediocrity from Oliver Darcy in his newsletter about a new CNN CEO, and his views of Chris Licht. Ollie claims CNN "slid" behind MSNBC under Licht.
— Brad Slager: CNN+ Lifetime Subscriber (@MartiniShark) August 31, 2023
In the Jeff Zucker era CNN was third, as the top-rated show (Chris Cuomo) barely hit #30 in cable news ratings. pic.twitter.com/KV0OyIJM6V
Artisanally-Crafted Narratives – MSNBC
- Is this revealing yourself to a source...?
There has been longtime speculation that MSNBC hostess Stephanie Ruhle was/is in some type of relationship with the CEO of the sportswear company Under Armor, Kevin Plank. While their personal details are still speculative, there have been some new revelations that their professional relationship was questionable in nature.
Unsealed documents from a lawsuit against the company brought up by investors show the level of favoritism Ruhle granted to Under Armor when she was on the air with Bloomberg. The docs show she had been given a private phone and secretive email access with Plank. It has been shown, at a time when the company was faced with being downgraded, Ruhle was on the air touting Under Armor, as well as receiving an exclusive interview with NBA star Steph Curry, who has a line of clothing with the company. Ruhle also took frequent trips on Plank’s private plane. Neither Bloomberg nor MSNBC has made a statement about these developments.
Under Armour founder used TV anchor's advice when facing negative coverage, records show https://t.co/2b1plM9DYy
— CNBC (@CNBC) August 30, 2023
Anti-Social Media – ATLANTA MAGAZINE
It appears that a mass walkout has taken place at the urban glossy Atlanta Magazine. At issue is a new directive handed down by the publisher, and, as a result, a staff exodus has taken place.
Staffers saw the interference as an egregious crackdown on coverage that management deems as too “progressive”— at a time when they are resolved to reflect the evolving reality of Atlanta. Now, three of six full-time editorial staffers have resigned, citing untenable corporate interference, and the editor in chief has announced plans to retire at the end of the year.
So just what is it that has this battle erupting between the staff and management that has now threatened the very existence of the publication?
Pronouns.
The publisher has deemed it a sign of taking sides if, for example, a female is not referred to as “she” but as “they.” The staff has fought that this is a sign of contemporary publishing and they oppose being told that all of the work needs to meet approval before being published.
A crackdown on ‘woke’ coverage is tearing 'Atlanta' magazine apart (@Laura_M_Wagner - @washingtonpost) https://t.co/HzenYk9r50
— MediaREDEF (@MediaREDEF) August 30, 2023
Reporting on the Mirror – CNN / MAX
It was recently announced that one of the solutions going forward for CNN to graduate to the streaming generation would be to have exclusive content showing on the parent company’s platform Max. Following the monumental debacle that was CNN+, the executives at Discovery-Warner are still eyeing bringing the news network to the new medium, with a number of network names already tabbed for delivering exclusive content. But, there is already a sign that this will not be successful.
Variety reports that the plan to promote what they are calling "CNN Max" content to streaming customers will involve being intrusive and bothersome. There you are, watching “Game of Thrones” or “Oppenheimer,” and then suddenly, unannounced, Jim Acosta’s smug mug pops up on screen to alert you to some kind of breaking news.
CNN Max is likely to evolve over time. Among the features the company will try out are ways of alerting Max viewers to breaking news while they are watching something else on the service, whether it be an HBO series, a Turner Classic Movies selection or an old episode of Food Network’s “Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives.”
Full Disclosure: We here at RFTH do not have advanced marketing degrees, but we are relatively confident that people tend to watch entertainment to get away from the daily strife in the news. Force-feeding people the content they are actively seeking to avoid seems to be something to generate the opposite effect of generating interest.
Live-Streamed CNN Channel With New Shows Set to Debut on Max https://t.co/qK2W3tAmfN
— Variety (@Variety) August 24, 2023
