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The Premature Death of CNN+ Was Not Early Enough for Parent Company

Brad Slager
Brad Slager  |  Apr 28, 2022
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"Riffed from the Headlines" is Townhall's daily VIP feature with coverage of 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.

04.28.22

Stealth Story Evolution – CNN+

  • Two more days were simply unbearable.

The stark and historic demise of CNN+ has been unlike anything previously seen in the media landscape. Well, leave it to that network to manage to make things even worse. 

It had been announced that the streaming platform would be shut down on April 30, making Saturday the final day of streaming. Then, last night came the announcement that today would be the time for them to pull the plug. 

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First Amendment Strike Force – SPOTIFY

I have written a pair of pieces showing how the news complex has repeatedly lost the narrative battle this year, and the latest example has just come across the news wires.

After months of attacking Joe Rogan as a vile source of misinformation, as well as dredging up over a decade of his podcasts to make a 30-second video of his use of the n-word, all these efforts to silence him have reaped their reward. 

Over the last quarter, subscribers rose by the millions. Spotify's total customer base is 15 percent higher than a year ago, and revenue spiked 24 percent higher from the same period in 2021. 

So much for the media cancelation. 

Stealth Story Evolution – VARIOUS OUTLETS

  • Based on all these positions he holds, Dr. Fauci is bound to be correct.

For whatever reason – likely because he helps them retain the power of fear – the news industry is deeply infatuated with Dr. Anthony Fauci. Yet, if any of the sickness sycophants were anything close to being objective, they might question the man on his vacillating positions on the pandemic. Hell, just this week, he has struggled to keep his story straight.

Let's start with Jim Acosta delivering the announcement from the diminutive doctor-ish man saying that we have exited the Covid-19 pandemic phase. However, this seems to contradict the news item from earlier this week that he would not be attending the White House Correspondents Dinner this Saturday out of Covid caution. 

Then in the Washington Post, they have him further un-clarifying things.

- "Fauci took pains Wednesday to explain his thinking. The country has not reached a major milestone, he said. He was pointing out what is clear from the coronavirus trackers in recent months: The country is in a different position than it was previously."

This follows the pattern of Fauci routinely missing the mark. WaPo went on to revisit another time Doc Tony was shooting into a forest, hoping to hit a tree.

- "In May 2021, Fauci told The Post he thought the virus could reach the 'control' stage by autumn of that year. The delta variant soon rendered that a pipe dream. Before the delta wave had even subsided, omicron came roaring in, sickening tens of millions as 2021 turned into 2022." 

Presentation Paradox – THE NEW YORK TIMES

  • This might be the time for The NYT to go with a variation on the KBJ deflection and just say, "I am not an astrophysicist."

Over on Mars, the Ingenuity drone-copter has been soaring about, snapping various pictures, and one was compelling as it found some debris of the previous Perseverance mission. The New York Times captioned some of the footage thusly. 

Astronomer Jonathan McDowell felt the need to correct The Times for being rather inaccurate in assuming the origins of the crash site. 

Anti-Social Media – ESPN

  • In a story the press would otherwise leap to call racism…

It has been a notable but lightly reported issue at the sports giant ESPN that their treatment of on-air personality Sage Steele has been seen as deeply unfair. There have been a few times when her comments, which trended to the somewhat right-of-center arenas in politics, have been met with reprisals, while others on the air have been tolerated or even encouraged to go forth with their activism.

Steele is now suing the network over its treatment of her, not for anything spoken on the air, but for vaccine comments that she made while on an unaffiliated Jay Cutler podcast. 

Reporting on the Mirror – THE INTERCEPT

  • So about your donor path…

The Intercept came out with an announcement that they are in need of some more funding via donations from their customer base. In and of itself, this is not entirely unusual, as many news outlets face these challenges.

But, given the fact that this is a site founded by a billionaire tech titan, it is cause for curiosity, but then the fact that a journalism outlet is fundraising through the donations arm of the Democrats is a further head-scratcher.