This is 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.
05.28.21
Prose & Contradiction – CNN
Chris Cillizza really thought he nailed this one. Using a new poll from PRRI, Cillizza tried to scorch the outlying networks OANN and Newsmax. He cited the passage that shows 40% of the viewers from those networks follow Qanon theories. What Cillizza does not want you, or his network, to do, is look into the full poll – something we did.
The poll shows 3% of respondents follow those networks, and it was from that small sample that 40% showed an interest in Qanon. But also another 10% said they follow CNN, and of that group, 11% agree with Qanon. Looking over the totals, it breaks down that 67 people polled out of 5,625 were far-right news/Qanon connected. Nearly the same amount was CNN/Qanon connected – 62. This is not the type of return Cillizza was hoping you would see.
This is a sham of a report from @ChrisCillizza (I know, shocker), but he is either mathematically stunted, or lying. Neither is a preferred look however.
— Brad Slager - Social Toper and Media Antagonist (@MartiniShark) May 28, 2021
His link is not working but I dug up the poll for him.
Sit down Chris; this won't end well.
1/https://t.co/ngJs5nECOi https://t.co/0pbl9q5Uck
Legalized Press-titution – WHITE HOUSE PRESS CORPS
- President Biden has another darling ice cream moment.
During a road trip, Biden made another visit to an ice cream parlor. The press mob closed in, and one reporter eagerly asked what he had ordered. Just listen when he hefts his waffle cone and declares, "Chocolate-chocolate chip," and the press collectively swoons over this announced flavor.
"Mr. President what did you order?" pic.twitter.com/13h2hXW58w
— Charlie Spiering (@charliespiering) May 27, 2021
Body Checking The Fact Checkers – POLITIFACT
- Have they learned nothing from Snopes' embarrassments of correcting jokes?!
Seth Dillion, the CEO of the patently false and routinely avowed satirical website Babylon Bee, showed another example of the fact-checkers diligently following up on whether one of their jokes was a true story. PolitiFact saw the parody The Bee had posted of LEGO releasing a set of "genderless" building bricks, and they worked to debunk this "report."
More pathetic than simply pointing out that this was a gag posting from a humor site, "PolitiFact reached out for official comment!"
"LEGO did not respond to PolitiFact’s query about the post…"
This is a bit disappointing, as it would have been great to hear the response from the main headquarters be, "Få et liv!" (Danish for, "Get a life!")
We would like to apologize for this one, as it turns out it is not true. Thanks for calling us out, @PolitiFact, and we promise to do better. pic.twitter.com/9lvsMPy7jv
— The Babylon Bee (@TheBabylonBee) May 27, 2021
Gilded Reframe – THE DAILY BEAST
- If this is your position on Newsmax, you will need to pipe down with your outrage.
On Tuesday, President Trump sat in for an interview with the news network Newsmax. Justin Baragona of The Beast checked on the ratings and called it a "telling stat" that the interview was the highest-rated show on the network that day, and it netted below 300,000 viewers.
Here is a more telling stat – if this is regarded as a sign of the lack of reach that network has and the waning influence of Donald Trump, then it also means all of the squealing and complaining from the leftist news sphere over their import has been overheated and imbalanced.
Blue-anon – VOX
You always can tell when the media is running low on fumes as they resort to getting outraged not over events but over things they are promising could happen. The ever-amusing and rarely-cogent SCOTUS correspondent at Vox, Ian Milhiser, raises the proposal of what might happen in D.C. – four years from now.
"Serious Question: Imagine that Biden wins the 2024 election, but Republicans refuse to certify his victory, and a GOP-controlled House appoints Trump to the presidency with the support of the GOP-controlled Supreme Court. Do all 50 states remain in the union?"
Yes, he called that a serious question. What makes this even more precious is that he resides in that portion of the media spectrum where – like Chris Cillizza above – the journalists insult those who might traffic in conspiracy theories. Yea, you wouldn’t want to come off sounding like one of those crackpots!
Both Kinds Of Standards – POLITICO
- Curiously, when Republicans have sketchy investments, they are never called ‘Democrat talking points.
Over at Politico, they covered how Secretary of Energy Jennifer Granholm divested from her controversial holdings in an electric bus company. The entire article is mainly a "Republicans pounced" affair:
"...after Republican criticisms"
"...following criticism from Republicans"
"...became a flashpoint for critics"
"...the top Republican on the Energy and Natural Resources Committee asked DOE's inspector general to investigate"
Then we are provided with this dose of completely exonerating PR.
"'Secretary Granholm has acted in full accordance with the comprehensive ethical standards set by the Biden Administration and has completed her divestment well ahead of the time required by her ethics agreement,' a DOE spokesperson said in a statement."
This leads to a simple question: If everything Granholm has done was ethical and above board, why are Republicans accused of forcing her to do something?