Gilded Reframe – PBS NEWSHOUR
A prime example of “Too Good To Verify” on display.
On Monday, Judy Woodruff was part of the PBS braintrust covering the Democratic National Convention, and she had a rather scathing detail to share about the #1 topic of the Democrats this entire week, Donald Trump.
Judy Woodruff completely made this up. She had walked this back, claiming @Acios and @Reuters reported on it.
— Lie-Able Sources (@LieAbleSources) August 22, 2024
1/2 pic.twitter.com/Cgq7j2pnIG
Well now, Judy has had to walk back this comment entirely. See, the thing is, if Trump did say anything about the conflict, it was in support of ending things, but in the two sources Woodruff cited, they never mentioned this was Trump’s plan, and Axios had an updated report where Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has denied the call even taking place.
Credit to Woodruff for the clarification, but the story was updated days before Judy’s ill-advised and completely unresearched claim she made on the air.
I want to clarify my remarks on the PBS News special on Monday night about the ongoing cease fire talks in the Middle East. As I said, this was not based on my original reporting; I was referring to reports I had read, in Axios and Reuters, about former President Trump having…
— Judy Woodruff (@JudyWoodruff) August 21, 2024
DNC PR Firm – CNN
Recommended
Um, yeah – Dana? You are not doing the Democrats any favors with this interpretation.
One of the things to behold from this convention has been the emergence of The Cringe Duo. Second Gentleman Doug Emhoff and VP nominee Tim Walz have been pushed into the spotlight this week and come off as awkward and unnatural as pipe fitter moonlighting as a Hooters waitress.
Dana Bash must have sensed this display and attempted to make the non-toxic nature of these two into a selling point:
They are doing so in trying to put forward male figures — Tim Walz being one of them, Doug Emhoff last night, who can speak to men out there who might not be the sort of testosterone-laden... ya know, gun-toting kind of guy who wants to listen to Hulk Hogan, and the kind of players that came out of the RNC.
LOL! CNN admits Democrat men aren’t exactly the manly type. pic.twitter.com/mRGQ97GBWh
— Brandon Morse (@TheBrandonMorse) August 22, 2024
Legalized Press-titution – CBS NEWS
So…it was a “mostly jolly” attack?
One of the more annoying practices from the journo set is to classify any type of criticism by a Republican on a Democrat as an “attack.” Some of the most benign comments of an opponent are labeled as such, yet when Democrats do the same, the classification is barely used – even when calling a Republican a “racist” or Hitler. Well, we have Tim Walz actually being described as “attacking” in his speech at the convention – sort of.
Ever since Kamala Harris was announced as the new Dem leader, Weijia Jiang of CBS News has been an ardent cheerleader, and last night, she was no less reserved. In raving about the Walz performance, she even fell back on the commanded talking point of “joy” applied to their campaign.
CBS’s @Weijia Jiang marvels at how Tim Walz supposedly “has a way of attacking, but, doing it still, you know, coming across as joyful and jolly.” pic.twitter.com/yissSiMZCi
— Brent Baker 🇺🇦 🇮🇱 (@BrentHBaker) August 22, 2024
Body Checking the Fact-Checkers – CNN
Now had you not made this correction…then what?!
J.D. Vance has shown he is rather adept at subtle mockery and driving points home with breezy and mirthful comments that are also cutting at times in their accuracy. The press becomes exposed in these moments because their default mode with Vance — as with any Republican — is to be critical of their comments. For example, the recent move of the Philadelphia Inquirer to suggest Vance “misordered” a cheesesteak when he had in fact asked a question of the restaurant staff to make a jibe at John Kerry.
For the latest episode, Vance made a comment that the Democrats had selected Chicago as the site of their convention so that Tim Walz is finally able to actually see time in a war zone. CNN’s Alayna Treene felt the need to fact-check what was an obvious joke, correcting Vance’s comment by stating the site had been chosen and scheduled BEFORE Walz had been selected as a running mate.
Vance in WI says his "little theory" about why Democrats chose to host their convention in Chicago is "so that [Walz] could actually, accurately say that he went, he visited a combat zone"
— Alayna Treene (@alaynatreene) August 20, 2024
Democrats selected Chicago in April 2023 — long before Biden even considered dropping out
Stealth Story Evolution – NEWSWEEK
It was a positive Trump story, so it needed to be spun.
During yesterday’s Trump rally, an attendee fell and fainted in the crowd near his podium, and Donald went into the crowd to see how they were doing, after calling for medical help. Newsweek could not allow for that kind of positive news to get circulated, so instead, it initially made it sound as if he was the one in need of assistance – and hey, if it generates some additional clicks, all the better!
EDITOR:
— Brad Slager - Folksy as Walz & Joyful As a K-Hive! (@MartiniShark) August 22, 2024
"Our traffic is lower today, punch up a headline for more action on the site!"
EDITOR (hours later):
"Okay, we are catching hell, but the hate-clicks have balanced us out -- you can change it now." pic.twitter.com/utj2tRAD1p