"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.
07.18.22
Reporting on the Mirror – MSNBC
Continuing her book promotion media blitz, Katy Tur appeared on The Hill and had a curious dose of introspection about her career.
.@KatyTurNBC: "The trust in media, in newspapers and television, is hitting an all time low. People don't trust us. They don't believe us, and it makes me wonder if this job —as I'm currently doing it— is effective, but if it's doing more harm than good." https://t.co/eUKLZPCUHm pic.twitter.com/PfjXakQThZ
— The Hill (@thehill) July 17, 2022
It is curious because Ms. Tur works to avoid her complicity in this reaction. Recall she had rushed out the erroneous claim that Kim Jung Un had passed away. But even more disqualifying is when we covered here that Katy was singled out by Andrew Cuomo's team when he was facing mounting charges. His handler, Lis Smith, bragged that she had fed Tur defensive spin commentary and that the MSNBC journalist had read Smith's words nearly verbatim on the air.
The Cuomo Scandal Ensnares Journos from MSNBC and The Atlantic https://t.co/uujoPlBVVf
— Talk Radio Gold news wire (@talkradiogold) December 1, 2021
DNC PR Firm – MSNBC
- Don't be hard on Stephanie, maybe the Dems actually made a salient point – worth repeating…exactly…
Stephanie Ruhle sent a pithy tweet about funding police, bouncing off the Uvalde school shooting. It was a seemingly cerebral dose of opinion-making, but then we come to realize that maybe Katy Tur had a point about trust in the media.
This is Stephanie literally copy-pasting the messaging put out by the DNC.#Journalismhttps://t.co/TAIIOMeE97 https://t.co/5u9IEhHht6
— Lie-Able Sources (@LieAbleSources) July 18, 2022
Of particular note, Ruhle had not quoted, paraphrased, or even retweeted the message from the DNC fixture Andrew Weinstein – she completely copped his message and sent it out as her own.
If 400 trained police officers weren’t prepared to engage, what’s the argument for arming kindergarten teachers?
— Andrew Weinstein (@Weinsteinlaw) July 17, 2022
Pounce of Prevention – THE NEW YORK TIMES
The New York Times has focused on one of the biggest economic challenges we are facing as a country: The GOP has started to notice the tough fiscal conditions we are dealing with nationally, and get this – they are leveraging that bad news! The Times has picked up on the detail that Republicans have moved on from just pouncing on the issue.
“My guess is that the negative views about inflation are so deeply baked in that nothing can change in the next few months to change them,” said Jason Furman, an economist at Harvard University and former Obama administration economic adviser. https://t.co/igkCxMdr5m
— NYT Politics (@nytpolitics) July 14, 2022
Glossary Over Things – NJ.COM
Taking the fealty to the trans community to new lows, here is a story of a problem that just about any pragmatic thinker could have anticipated. The ACLU had fought to see that those identifying as trans individuals would be assigned to prisons in accordance with their self-declared identities.
The shocking result – a trans "woman" has been moved out of a women's prison due to the fact that not one but two female inmates became pregnant at the hands of this particular prisoner.
The stupid result – This news outlet continues to use the "proper" pronouns after this reality, declaring that it was a woman who got the women pregnant.
Transgender woman who impregnated 2 inmates removed from N.J.’s female prison https://t.co/CnJkHCn9cC
— njdotcom (@njdotcom) July 16, 2022
Low Octane Gas Lighting – NEW YORK TIMES MAGAZINE
The economy is probably the prevailing issue on the minds of most voters going into November, and to see just how bad things have become for Joe Biden and, by extension, the Democratic Party, look at how The New York Times wants to sell us on a new fiduciary concept. The traditional mindset of seeing your investments rise in value and our overall economy perform on an improving basis is tossed out the window, as a noted economist is brought on to tell us that the idea of growth is actually a bad thing.
- "Growth is the be-all and end-all of mainstream economic and political thinking. But what about the counterintuitive possibility that our current pursuit of growth, rabid as it is and causing such great ecological harm, might be incurring more costs than gains?"
Our leaders believe that Americans have to get used to being poorer. They are trying to figure out how to get there without losing power.
— Laura Ingraham (@IngrahamAngle) July 18, 2022
This Pioneering Economist Says Our Obsession With Growth Must End - The New York Times https://t.co/DhlzAC1FPq
First Amendment Strike Force – NATIONAL PUBLIC RADIO
In an announcement that generated plenty of derision, NPR declared that they are joining in with the growing list of outlets becoming dedicated to fighting against disinformation. The outlet has put together a "Disinformation Team," and if this sounds like something they have been working on for a while, this is valid.
Seems redundant https://t.co/ecwqxJEhiA
— jimtreacher.substack.com (@jtLOL) July 16, 2022
Maybe what NPR will be doing is conducting How-To seminars on the subject? They could be looking to stage Ted Talks on how to disseminate disinformation. The site has claimed the Covid Lab leak was disproven when it had not been, backed Jussie Smollet's unfounded claims, called the Kenosha Wisconsin riots peaceful protests, and much more. Recall this is the outlet that openly refused to cover the Hunter Biden laptop story, siding heavily on that story being sourced by Russian disinformation. The irony…
NPR launches Disinformation Reporting teamhttps://t.co/C2Fqd9kBxZ
— nprextra (@NPRextra) July 15, 2022