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Here's the New Script from the White House for All the Press to Follow

Brad Slager
Brad Slager  |  Mar 23, 2022
The opinions expressed by columnists are their own and do not necessarily represent the views of Townhall.com.

"Riffed from the Headlines" is Townhall's daily VIP feature with coverage on the deeply flawed aspects of journalism in the nation. We'll look to bring accountability to the mishaps, malaprops, misdeeds, manipulations, malpractice, and manufactured narratives in mainstream media.

03.23.22

Matching Media Memorandum – VARIOUS OUTLETS

  • The new Word Of The Day from the White House is…

Think back to the outrage that was heard during the Trump years that Fox News operated as a direct conduit for White House messaging. While not inaccurate, it was called an ethical problem by many in the press. Well, what can be said when more than one news outlet is parroting the talking points of the Biden administration?

We showed yesterday how numerous news divisions were putting out the same interpretation of Senator Josh Hawley's look into the sentencing records of Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson, and now as the hearing is underway, it is taking place again. It begins with Deputy Press Secretary Andrew Bates putting out his interpretation of the look into KBJ's sentencing history. 

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Seriously, QAnon?! The conspiracy outlet that has been dormant for over a year, and shown by The New York Times to have been run by a pair of randos, is held as the driving force behind the Republican Party. That was all that was needed to be declared marching orders for the press. They had their perfect framing device.

JEFFREY TOOBIN - "A way that was quite clearly an appeal to the QAnon folk, the cult that is now a bigger part of the Republican Party and this weird obsession that QAnon has with Democrats and pedophilia."

MALIKA HENDERSON - "There's a lot of dog whistling to folks in QAnon with some of these questions."

ABBY PHILLIP - "Definitely a dog whistle to the kind of QAnon Right."

PAUL WALDMAN - "...an apparent attempt to secure the QAnon vote when he runs for president."

JOY REID - "a direct shout out to Qanon & the right-wing fanatics"

IAN MILLHISER - "I think the press is, for the most part, doing a very responsible job of covering Hawley and others' QAnon attacks on Judge Jackson."

LOS ANGELES DAILY NEWS - "Josh Hawley's disgusting QAnon slur"

TALKING POINTS MEMO - "Senators Question Jackson Again After Day Of QAnon-Tainted Attacks"

JONATHAN WEISMAN - "a fixation of those wedded to the QAnon conspiracy theory."

SALON - "Republicans turn Ketanji Brown Jackson's Supreme Court confirmation hearings into a QAnon circus"

Gilded Reframe – DAILY BEAST

  • Looking at a myth and treating it as Gospel.

There is plenty of reinterpreting and adjusted analysis taking place in the press in their need to defend Ketanji Brown Jackson from hateful attacks. (Clarification: Attack is defined as "Looking into court records, or asking a nominee questions about past rulings.") In order to declare today's Q & A in the Senate as a racist or sexist affront, the episode of Christine Blasey Ford needs to become recast as an event of a sainted individual being ignored after delivering unimpeachable facts about an attempted rape. 

That was the approach of Matt Fuller, who covers politics stuff at The Daily Beast. His claims of Mrs. Ford's testimony being the "stuff" of verified sanctity are disassembled by the facts. 

Pathological Media Amnesia – MSNBC

  • Lawrence O'Donnell missing the point he is commenting on is always a problematic reality.

In his contempt for a question posed to KBJ, Lawrence O'Donnell fails to see the significance of Senator Lindsey Graham's question. That the question nearly mirrored that which was asked of Amy Coney Barrett – the entire point of Graham's approach – is completely lost on Larry, as he complains. 

News Avoidance Syndrome – VARIOUS OUTLETS

  • Keeping border children in protective custody was inhuman; outright abandonment is apparently acceptable.

As just a reminder of the stories at our southern border that the press has absolutely no interest in covering…

Glossary Over Things – ORLANDO SENTINEL 

  • Hey gang, using scare quotes with a fact does not alter its definition, no matter your desire.

As the Lia Thomas transgender athlete story continues, the media continues to expose their agenda. We showed yesterday how "The Today Show" wanted to dress up images of Lia to soften the appearance, and now a Florida paper strives to further blur the definitions of gender on behalf of their narrative. 

Ron DeSantis engaged in some trolling by making the declaration that a swimmer who finished second to Thomas – Emma Weyant of Sarasota, Florida – was the actual winner in the female event. In reporting on this, The Orlando Sentinel took an odd approach in how they mentioned Weyant. 

This means they are taking the position that a biological male is declared a woman, but someone born female and competing as one gets clarified as a "woman." Maybe the same can be used to classify the Sentinel as a "journalism outlet." At the very least, the framing for this story could have been centered elsewhere.

Reporting on the Mirror – BUZZFEED

  • Defining success is becoming more difficult in the publishing world.

There has been an ongoing drama surrounding the move to take BuzzFeed public. After a highly touted IPO announcement, the stock market performance since offering shares has been shaky, and it has caused a rift within the company as employees were shafted after being issued stock but blocked from selling shares as the values plummeted.

Currently, the 2021 revenues were off around 20%, and profits came in less than half of projections. Some major restructuring is taking place as buyouts have been offered to one-third of their news staff and executive shuffling is taking place, while the stock is down -40% from its opening this past December.

The company is being sued by a group of 80 current and former employees over the IPO move that collectively cost them millions.

Anti-Social Media – THE NEW YORK TIMES

  • Adding to her growing list of inaccuracies, Nikole Hannah-Jones calls the act of tipping a holdover from slavery.

In a discussion kicked off by Touré, the perpetually historically-challenged Nikole Hannah-Jones weighed in to say that tipping is a practice that was derived from the days of slavery. She also claimed few other countries engaged in the practice. Jones was quickly unraveled by her kryptonite – a historian.

Phil Magness delivered a brief thread that proved Jones wrong on each of her points.