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A White House Press Room Melee Develops

Brad Slager
Brad Slager  |  Mar 21, 2023
The opinions expressed by columnists are their own and do not necessarily represent the views of Townhall.com.

03.21.23

Reporting on the Mirror – VARIOUS OUTLETS

  • Once again, the press rushes out to…a press event.

As the ongoing nano-drama surrounding the will-he-won't-he-be indicted story with Donald Trump continues, the press has been in a frothing mess over the story and embarrassing themselves in the process. On Monday, under the promise of gathering mobs and likely violent outbursts, the press descended on Manhattan. Outside Trump Tower, they were met with – other journalists. The expected swarms of Trump acolytes never arrived, as the press ended up eclipsing any supporters on site.

NBC's Ben Collins had darted out to the scene early, and he was clearly nonplussed by the result.

To indicate just how caught the press was with this un-event, Collins had to resort to condescension and ridicule, basically trying to say he knew this was going to be a bust – even though he rushed to the scene and was live-tweeting in anticipation.

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Perhaps the best indicator of the ludicrous nature of this comes from Chris Mathias of HuffPost.

Blue-Anon – CBS NEWS

Even after the serious non-event, CBS News came out with an alarming report about how intelligence officials were sure there were going to be serious violent outbursts in New York City. Yet, funny enough, even as the trio of reporters promised "threats and violent rhetoric from domestic violent extremists," they also give us every reason to ignore the hype.

- "But the sources said they have not identified any credible or direct threats to a person or property and they are continuing to monitor for credible specific threats. A law enforcement source said they are seeing chatter online…but not much mobilization toward violence or protests at this point." 

Thank you, CBS – we'll call you if we have any further interest. Or, more accurately, any interest at all.

Anti-Social Media – THE WHITE HOUSE

  • The call for decorum with a Democrat administration has been noted.

There was high drama, mayhem, and upheaval in the White House press briefing as a frustrated reporter Simon Ateba of Today News Africa, lit into Karine Jean-Pierre over his inability to get any questions in with her at the briefings. Ateba loudly complained he has gone months buried in the back of the room, unable to be recognized for months at a time. His outburst was enough to rankle other reporters, who called for him to behave in a more proper fashion.

Now keep in mind, any journalist considering Ateba to be acting out of fashion is in a position not seen during the Trump years when Jim Acosta would posture and preen in demonstrative fashion. 

Adding to the amusement was that one of the reporters dressing down Ateba was none other than the usually rabid Brian Karem. Recall he was one who was known for acting in exactly this same fashion toward Sarah Huckabee Sanders, without much in the way of pushback from his peers.

Artisanally-Crafted Narratives – ROLLING STONE

  • We are not exactly sure how you have an exclusive AND fail to report on the story.

Last October, the curious story came out that an ABC News national security reporter, James Meek, had his home raided and was arrested. It was a breaking story from Rolling Stone at the time that had many people pondering the reasons behind the raid, mostly due to the elusive reporting from Tatiana Siegel at the time.

The report basically left things in a manner to suggest that the arrest was in some way connected to Meek's work. But after The Daily Beast did some more digging and by talking to contacts at ABC, they came to the conclusion that the authorities were working on a case of child sex abuse.

NPR has come to learn that editor Noah Shachtman had gutted portions of Siegel's report mentioning these charges due to what he stated were weak pieces of information from her sources. Instead, in light of Siegel's reporting being shown to largely be accurate, it appears her editor Shachtman had a professional relationship with Meek and elected to remove all mentions of the pedophile aspects of his arrest.

Pathological Media Amnesia – VARIOUS OUTLETS

Gallup has come out with its annual survey of Americans that asked what their impressions are regarding the news industry. The numbers across the board are bad enough to send a cautionary warning to the news industry – an industry that routinely ignores these results and fails to remedy the problems recognized by respondents.

Two numbers, in particular, should get attention from the grift merchants in the media: 50% of those answering said they feel news outlets intend to mislead the public, and more than half feel news outlets do not care about the best interests of their audience.

Glossary Over Things – WPVI CHANNEL 6 NEWS

  • Had it been a guy who said this, then a violation of the FCC would likely be charged.

Ahead of St. Patrick's Day celebrations, the Channel 6 morning team in Philly was getting a little too giddy in anticipation. As the weather hostess Karen Rodgers was holding a pair of remotes for her video map controls, she tossed the segment to the traffic reporter Jessica Boyington, unintentionally leaving her with the double entendre that landed her in a viral mess for the entire weekend.