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Amid Layoffs a Taylor Swift Reporter Finds Work

Brad Slager
Brad Slager  |  Nov 07, 2023
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11.07.23

First Amendment Strike Force – FACEBOOK

After more than half a year since the mass shooting at The Covenant School in Nashville, Tennessee, we still have not seen the authorities releasing the killer's manifesto. This week, Steven Crowder obtained images of a few pages from this document, and it has led to almost as many questions as answers. Namely, why is it still being smothered by authorities? One of the initial reactions to Crowder's reveal was whether the doc was genuine, but now, the mayor of the town is launching an investigation into the leak, confirming its legitimacy.

In response, we have learned the images have been blocked by Facebook from its platform, under the claim it violated the standards of the site. Much like the Hunter Biden laptop story being killed, once again, genuine public interest information is attempted to be erased from public view. At least for now, Xitter is more open and permits the images to be shared.

Low Octane Gas Lighting – CNN

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As unseemly as it is to crow about ratings during a global conflict (while here we have reported about the notable demise of MSNBC's numbers following the network talent that took a decidedly pro-Hamas position), in his humorously inaccurately-titled newsletter "Reliable Sources," Oliver Darcy arrives with some deeply questionable comments about the prospects of his own network since the Israeli conflict erupted.

CNN's media maven looked over the viewership data and came to a rather curious interpretation of things:

In cable news, CNN has been the ratings victor during the first month of the Israel-Hamas war, with MSNBC lagging behind, Natalie Korach reports. 

Ummm – Ollie? Your use of the word "victor" here is a bit…off, shall we say. No matter how you look at things, your network still sits in third place in cable news and lags very far behind those of the dreaded Fox News.

News Avoidance Syndrome – VARIOUS OUTLETS

  • So…ummm…this is no threat to democracy or any of the other scripted claims?

This probably will come as a surprise to many readers, but there was a serious and potentially violent episode near Congress today! The Senate was in lockdown mode as a gunman was apprehended near the Capitol. He was in possession of an AR-15.

Certainly, this would be splashed all across the news spectrum for various reasons; democracy was imperiled, a dastardly assault weapon was involved, and there was probably the inspiration for violence from Trump, election deniers, Fox News, the NRA, and/or any other racist name from the conservative universe inspiring this hate – correct?

Oh, wait, never mind, nothing to report…

Pre-Written Field Reports – USA TODAY

In what is becoming a cycle of empty accusations, USA Today has now joined the chorus of news outlets accusing Chaya Raichik and her account, Libs Of TikTok, of creating attacks on various institutions she exposes perpetrating deeply questionable acts and decisions. That the "study" concludes that any form of complaint is considered a "violent attack" should explain much.

But a better explanation is from Raichik herself, who shows the tried practice of a hit piece being written first, then the target is asked to comment to have quotes sprinkled in as a sign of balance. Chaya recorded her lengthy interview with writer Will Carless and showed how throughout the talk, she condemned threats over one dozen times, yet all he could manage in the piece was a brief mention where she "says she opposes violence." Also omitted was her mentioning how she encouraged the FBI to go after those making bomb threats.

A read of Carless' piece shows it is lengthy on comments from numerous other sources and implied victims of LoTT, but scant few quotes from the subject of the article itself.

Reporting on the Mirror – GANNETT

  • You are now relieved of any further reports critical of the coverage by other outlets.

On the subject of USA Today, its publishing parent, Gannett, has been undergoing quite an upheaval as it continues to be rocked by bad financial prospects. This summer saw the eighth top executive in the company choosing to walk away in the span of half a year. The conglomerate saw the announced resignation of the President of Gannett media and the publisher of USA Today, as well as president of Gannett's news division and USA Today editor-in-chief, as well as senior vice president of local news, and editors from a number of its local newspapers. These departures are coupled with the third wave of planned layoffs, which took place in March, following hundreds in a layoff over a year ago, and then cuts of 6% of its news staff at the end of 2022.

However, the priorities are certainly in place, as it was just announced that after a time of auditioning for a post, the company has announced that it has just hired its official Taylor Swift reporter! Bryan West will be relocating to Nashville in order to work out of the offices of The Tennessean, where he will serve as the news company's first "full-time Swifty journalist." This will soon be followed by Gannett hiring a dedicated journalist to cover Beyoncé. 

Blue-Anon – NEW YORK UNIVERSITY J-SCHOOL

  • Teaching about misinformation, or is it a how-to seminar?

It is always a pleasure when the vaunted minds in journalism display for our edification the deeply inherent problems in the industry. Here, we have the highly respected and lowly biased J-School professor Jay Rosen showing the world the kind of approach to the profession he is bestowing upon his students.

Rosen got wind of an action taken by newly-minted House Speaker Mike Johnson, where he deleted all of the podcast episodes he recorded with his wife on their show. Rosen launched into a complex rundown of what this all meant, stating clearly this podcast must have been "damaging," it was a sign of "MAGA extremism," and even how it reflects on the Republicans in the House. Pretty severe accusation from the journalism expert.

And it was all complete equine fecal matter. Johnson's show remains readily available on numerous platforms. Rosen now had the show at his disposal to display the claimed accursed content, but he did no such thing. Instead, when it was pointed out he was wrong with his baseless claims, Rosen simply deleted his tweet, memory-holing his false claims and disinformation – the very sin he should be teaching his charges to avoid.

Pathological Media Amnesia – THE NEW YORK TIMES

  • It seems like no Democrats are theistically hypocritical.

Jumping on the Mike Johnson dogpile is the esteemed theologian at The New York Times, David French – although he leaps on from a different angle. Among the criticisms of Johnson have been the press members reacting to his supposedly dangerous adherence to his faith. French takes the approach differently – Johnson is insufficiently devout because of his work on the 2020 election or some such blather.

It is no surprise that French manages to find a condescending approach to Johnson's faith. It is even less of a surprise that the claimed "conservative" French never manages to call Democrats into question when they blatantly defy the teachings of their faith, such as when Catholic Joe Biden is rabidly pro-abortion. That's (D)ifferent, we have to assume.

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