"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.
01.27.23
Low Octane Gas Lighting – CNN
- Just in time to save the destroyed narrative…
You could just feel it. The story of a black man in Memphis who died at the hands of officers following a traffic stop had all the makings of the next racial strife to rise up in this country. The press has been all over the incident, and the police force has been routinely indicted. One detail has been very lightly covered, however.
The five officers involved in the incident are all black themselves.
This bit of inconvenience for the media and the activists has been a stumbling block, but at CNN, Van Jones arrives with the solution to their problems: Despite POC police involvement, it is still a case of white racism. "Huh?!?!" you may respond. Allow him to explain.
- "How do we explain Nichols’ horrific killing, allegedly at the hands of police who looked like him? But the narrative 'White cop kills unarmed Black man' should never have been the sole lens through which we attempted to understand police abuse and misconduct. It’s time to move to a more nuanced discussion of the way police violence endangers Black lives. One of the sad facts about anti-Black racism is that Black people ourselves are not immune to its pernicious effects."
And on he goes. Much like we have come to have it explained that if Hispanic racial incidents well up, it is blamed on “white colonial racism” imbued in the culture. And now we see it explained that blacks are possibly infiltrated with white racism.
Opinion: The police who killed Tyre Nichols were Black. But they might still have been driven by racism https://t.co/4sJejMp4UM
— The Tech Tab (@thetechtab) January 27, 2023
Gilded Reframe – NBC NEWS
- An apology seems impossible. An explanation from the network may be equally miraculous.
The police body cam footage from the Paul Pelosi incident has finally been released, and it is as dramatically violent as expected. But there are details, now seen, that raise a number of other questions. One of those – what now becomes of the NBC News reporter, Miguel Almaguer, who had reported back in November about the night in question only to become suspended over it, have his story spiked by the network, memory-holed across all their platforms, and explained that his journalism did not measure up to NBC Newes standards?
We can now see that almost all of Almaguer’s reported details have been verified by the video release. Will we ever get an explanation as to why NBC acted out in this fashion to an accurate news report?
We need to hear from @NBCNews about what aspects of his accurate report did not meet their editorial standards, and why. https://t.co/k2tihGfzSg
— Brad Slager: CNN+ Lifetime Subscriber (@MartiniShark) January 27, 2023
Artisanally-Crafted Narratives – THE NEW YORK TIMES
The Times takes a curious approach to the story of the pair of lawyers who were arrested in 2020 following their firebombing of a police cruiser during the BLM riots in New York. They face their sentencing this week, and The Times offers an almost sympathetic approach, describing the calamity befalling both of them as they are primed to be sent off to prison.
As practicing attorneys, they were certainly aware of the legal fallout of their actions. They also were aware that they not only used a Molotov cocktail but they provided those to other protestors that day, and that in doing so, indicates premeditation and was evidence of domestic terrorism activities.
Two young New York lawyers lost their licenses to practice law after burning an empty police car during a protest days after the murder of George Floyd in 2020. One of them will be sentenced on Thursday, and he may also lose his foster children. https://t.co/WdBNzw1dSL
— The New York Times (@nytimes) January 26, 2023
Demo-lition Project – DIRECT TV
The news comes out that for the second time within a year, Direct TV is removing a conservative news network from its cable channel packages. This time it is Newsmax getting dropped, following the removal of One America News Network last April.
Direct TV reps claim this was over a carriage dispute – the fees paid to carry the channel – and that paying a higher premium to Newsmax would impact its customers with higher fees. Call this dubious, considering that Newsmax barely is able to crack the top-50 in cable news ratings. Meaning: the channel would not be negotiating from the position of strength. It is questionable just how much they could demand in the first place.
Glossary Over Things – (not 'The') ASSOCIATED PRESS
- Yes, this is just going swimmingly for the outlet…
Yesterday, we detailed for you how The AP had…WHOAH, sorry! We meant, “how Associated Press experts” came out to inform us that use of the direct article “the” should be avoided, because this is supposedly somehow demeaning or insulting, or some such nonsense.
In their explanation for the style guide, AP declared that use of a term such as “the French” is – we are not sure – offensive, or something?
Well…the outlet was roundly mocked over this bizarre stance, so much so that they have deleted that initial claim, and have followed it up with another, which is no better as far as being clear. They would be better off just signing off of The Twitter, and pretending they never brought it up.
We recommend avoiding general and often dehumanizing “the” labels such as the poor, the mentally ill, the disabled, the college-educated. Instead, use wording such as people with mental illnesses. And use these descriptions only when clearly relevant.
— The Associated Press (@AP) January 27, 2023