Townhall’s daily VIP feature, where we will focus coverage on the deeply flawed aspects of journalism in the nation. We'll look to bring accountability to the mishaps, misdeeds, manipulations, malpractice, and manufactured narratives in the mainstream media.
05.24.21 (Update)
DNC PR Firm – THE WASHINGTON POST
The WaPo exposé of the man who is president details how he is not doing presidential things. It is a warm, sentimental, gushing piece of journalism that is something they would have never dreamed of writing during the previous four years. As proof, we get this aside regarding the previous tenant of the White House.
"It marks a sharp contrast with former President Donald Trump, whose days often ran both early and late with tweets that were frequently angry or inflammatory."
Yes, they actually gave us the No-Mean-Tweets summation.
News Avoidance Syndrome – THE NEW YORK TIMES
With the one year anniversary of the death of George Floyd, the press, of course, needs to churn the Black Lives Matter story anew, and as The New York Times does a deep data dive into the matter, they uncovered some curious statistics.
“After Mr. Floyd’s death, Republicans reported much stronger support for Black Lives Matter than they had earlier in 2020,” write @pikachudy and @hakeemjefferson. “But perhaps even more striking is its rapid decline.” https://t.co/XhRuDHv0zE pic.twitter.com/Lr10y7FUFe
— New York Times Opinion (@nytopinion) May 22, 2021
The approach is that the conservative base today exhibits little support for BLM and far less than at the start of the year. What is amazing is how much is avoided. For instance, note in the chart above how in the first half of the year, the GOP had more support for the outfit than Democrats. This was matched by another chart showing, amazingly, there were times when white support matched and even briefly exceeded black support.
But more amazing of all, when you see the steep dropoff in white and Republican support of the movement, there is no mention of the violence that precipitated this departure. At no point in the article is the word "riots" ever used.
Pounce Of Prevention – POLITICO
We might be able to add a verb to the list of conservative reactions: "Conservative groups have launched a campaign…"
While this technique is hardly new or surprising, what is rather amazing is that there is any level of surprise with what is being proposed.
"Add another obstacle to the growing list President Joe Biden faces in his negotiations over his massive spending plans: mounting opposition to one of the ways to pay for his proposal — growing the IRS."
Hard to see where this plan went off the rails; in order to sell an unpopular spending budget, the plan is to spend even more on an even more unpopular department in the government – one that had been used specifically to target conservatives the last time Joe Biden was in power.
Both Kinds Of Standards – CNN / Chris Cillizza
CNN's resident deep-thinker Chris Cillizza is very bothered by the wing-nut utterances of the newcomer from Georgia. He is also bothered that many in the GOP no longer pay much attention to her; they certainly do not to the level of the media. The latest dust-up comes because Cillizza was watching her recent interview on The Christian Broadcast Network, where she compared wearing a mask in Congress to wearing a Gold Star.
Now we wouldn't have much of a gripe with Cillizza on a few points he makes. "Greene's comments are clearly a) anti-Semitic b) ignorant of history and c) deeply offensive." Now given that stance, where is his commentary on "The Squad," who have recently made comments that check off the same three boxes? Unlike the GOP, who have stripped Greene of her committee assignments as a result (a sign the party is not enamored with her), "The Squad" members are routinely rewarded with more seats.
Anti-Social Media – ABC NEWS
It is the hallmark of the Never Trump crowd to never make the effort to return toward their former right-of-center position. Or the return to sanity. In a nice counter to the accusation of MTG being an unhinged voice, see Will making the outlandish comparison of the Capitol riot to the terrorist attacks. It is enough of a wild statement that it invites the reaction from parody sites.
The Republican Party will forever be wheels-up in a ditch as long as they attach to the unhinged thinkers like Marjorie Taylor Greene.
— Bullwork Online! The Bulwark Commentary Site (@TheBullwork) May 24, 2021
The party needs to return to the sound minds, like George Will, and cast off those who provide hysterical bromides and extremist commentary! pic.twitter.com/v2Eug3G9p9
Gilded Reframe – CBS NEWS
- The only thing left to do is report on the conservative response…
Sure, Governor Gretchen Whitmer has repeatedly screwed up by violating her own mandates, but this last time was excusable...like all the other times.
Michigan governor apologizes for social distancing blunder https://t.co/jNrQpFfMOB
— CBS News (@CBSNews) May 24, 2021
05.24.21 (Original)
Legalized Press-titution – CNN
It is a grave and serious examination by John Harwood as he traces back the perceived incivility today in Washington to the obstinate actions of GOP leaders in Congress. Harwood references an article from 2012, written by Tom Mann and Norm Ornstein, that supposedly exposes the Republicans of being "an apocalyptic cult," to put things mildly and absent of all melodrama.
"Their conclusions – that the GOP had become 'ideologically extreme, scornful of compromise, unmoved by conventional understanding of facts, evidence and science, dismissive of the legitimacy of its political opposition.'"
Sounds harsh, to be sure. But here is where it is rather telling. In order to find this example of extreme partisan obstinance in Congress, Harwood had to reach back nearly a decade, meaning he had to overlook the behavior and actions witnessed in 2020. It is a curious choice, because if one is to be bothered by a single party working to oppose all it can as far as legislation is concerned – acting "scornful of compromise," as it were – Harwood might have found a better example in the Democrats setting a record for the most times the filibuster was used to stop legislation. They employed that tactic 327 times...last year.
DNC PR Machine – AXIOS
It was clear last Wednesday that Joe Biden was not being too persuasive with the conflict in Gaza. After calls with Bibi Netanyahu pleading to deescalate, those were followed by more rocket attacks. But when news of a ceasefire emerged the next day, it was widely reported across numerous news outlets that Egypt had been the force behind brokering the peace-for-now deal.
Maybe no one thought to let Axios know this detail. The outlet went to great lengths to explain how Biden was the force behind the deal but let Egypt take the controls, as he takes the credit – somehow.
Pulitzer Prize Nomination – THE WASHINGTON POST
For many of us, dropping the restrictions requiring we wear masks is a welcome freedom. But for the other half – women – it is the start of oppression. Ashley Fetters details for us how the removal of the facial coverings is going to lead to the social horror of people suggesting you gals smile more.
"With the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s recent announcement that fully vaccinated individuals can mostly ditch their masks, glowers and frowns are set to make their return to society — and so are the annoying-at-best, threatening-at-worst comments that people often feel entitled to make about them."
This is the unintentional result that many women are going to be facing, a social fate as problematic as the pandemic.
"So for women like Mandelare-Ruiz, a year's reprieve from uninvited demands for smiles has been liberating. 'It's been nice that I don’t have to worry as much about being approachable,'" she says."
This serves as a great lesson for many of us; we need to be made aware of the challenges that going maskless will have for those suffering from RBF.
The Presentation Paradox – THE HUFFINGTON POST
In her hectoring piece on the oppressive new law in Texas regarding schools being prevented from being forced to teach critical race theory, Jennifer Bendery makes a number of points about the law. The problem: She also makes a number of missteps, the first being that at the top of her column she included a video segment of MSNBC's Joy Reid (Pro-tip for J-school students – do NOT ever do this if you want to be taken seriously).
You get the sense of her struggle to explain how bad this law is with this sentence: "The legislation...doesn't explicitly use the word 'ban.' But it might as well."
But in truth, she made one very crucial error that completely compromised all of her claims and accusations, in that she included the full text of the law in her article so we are able to actually read it. Doing so shows what she promises is in the bill does not actually appear in the bill.
Gilded Reframe – TIME MAGAZINE
- When the experts allow themselves to be excused over errors made in the past.
It is always precious when the members of the press, who would never allow for others to have the benefit of 20/20 clarity, excuse themselves from responsibility by saying how things are different today now that more facts have been learned. As more details about the pandemic are coming into focus – like the screwed up masking science, flawed data reported, and the possibility of a Wuhan Lab releasing the virus – Belinda Luscombe has granted herself a reprieve from responsibility.
I'm guessing we will find we made a lot of mistakes handling the pandemic, much of it caused by the fact that nobody had any experience handling a novel virus. Hope we can endeavor to rise above finger-pointing. https://t.co/WM3pfIrTwY
— Belinda Luscombe (@luscombeland) May 19, 2021
Now we understand, the temptation to give yourself an emergency exit the size of an airplane hangar sliding door is huge. But here is what is not addressed; these are the "experts" who were most vocal about Donald Trump's reaction to the same outbreak, but not only is there the likelihood of them being wrong in their criticism, they will never grant the man the same excuse they want to allow for themselves.
Anti-Social Media – THE WASHINGTON POST
- It took nearly a century, but FINALLY, the GOP has fulfilled the promise of the fully racist nation.
It might seem a bit extreme to suggest that the emergence of Marjorie Taylor Greene in Congress is the culmination of the most racist film in Hollywood history coming to life. But if you are film critic and social lecturer Ann Hornaday, this makes perfect sense. She just will not make much sense in her describing it. Her piece, "A new era of incivility in Congress brings ‘The Birth of a Nation’ full circle," might strike some as sounding slightly hysterical, but that is only because it is very hysterical. When you have to reach back over a century to find a cause to slander the GOP you are bound to stretch, just a bit. Considering the film she uses to prove GOP racism features mockery of Republican abolitionist Thaddeus Stevens, she stretches quite a bit.
There is the comedy in Hornaday claiming Greene is playing up her import to garner likes on YouTube and TikTok, all while criticizing her for being critical of AOC, who is a darling on social media. Hornaday also references a video Green shot in 2019 in a visit to the Capitol, looking to harass AOC on camera. This was such a racist maneuver that only two of the people with her on camera were black. Then there is a small sentence that kinda-sorta-mostly undermines Hornaday's entire point that the GOP brings the racist film to life today:
"'The Birth of a Nation' was a scurrilous attempt to defame anti-slavery Radical Republicans." It might be tough to find a more disqualifying sentence within a piece, but it is only Monday, after all.