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WaPo Promoted Hitler's Manifesto Now Squeamish Over Writings of Tennessee Shooter

Brad Slager
Brad Slager  |  Nov 10, 2023
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11.10.23

Pathological Media Amnesia – WASHINGTON POST

  • Sure, Hitler was bad, but not Audry Hale bad!

With the release of three pages from the manifesto of Audry Hale, the Tennessee school shooter, many have become upset over this leak. Added to the list of those in discomfort is the Washington Post, as it has written a cautionary screed about the supposed danger of releasing this information:

Parents of several of the students killed have fought hard against the release, filing a motion to intervene in the legal battle. In an anguished and fiery declaration filed in court, parent Erin Kinney castigated media outlets “shamefully clamoring for these writings,” accusing them of being motivated by profit rather than public interest.

Deciding whether publishing the information does more good than harm is a tricky balancing act, said Adam Lankford, a criminologist at the University of Alabama who has studied how media coverage affects future shooters. 

Of course, all the cautionary approaches by the Washington Post are undermined by a simple reality: The very same outlet has been free to report on and discuss the manifestos of numerous killers – including touting the merits of seeing Hitler's own writings.

Democratic Custodial Services – NBC NEWS

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In the ongoing effort to slam Ron DeSantis over anything, NBC News saw a comment from the governor about not attacking children politically, and it felt it caught him in a hypocritical position. So…in order to make a slam, it means Hunter Biden, the 53-year-old recidivist drug addict with a hooker history, is to be regarded as a child.

Reporting on the Mirror – WASHINGTON POST

  • Look, sometimes you have to participate in a war crime to get a good story!

In a clear case of someone in a chasm needing to put down the shovel, WaPo columnist Megan McArdle was attempting to deflect on the developing story of news outlets having used freelance photojournalists who might have possibly been embedded with Hamas as they perpetrated war crimes inside Israel.

She declares it wrong for Israel to "target journalists" (something the IDF has not specifically been doing) but then when someone pointed out to her the prospect of one of those photojournalists filmed clutching a hand grenade while on a motorcycle with a terrorist, she offered up a defense that needs to be printed out and hung in a museum, as it is THAT beautiful of a work of art.

Matching Media Memorandum – MSNBC

  • Sure, thousands have perished, but won't someone think of the journalists?!

Joining in with the lame defense of journalists was Chris Hayes, who lapsed into one of the more ridiculous tropes we have seen in recent years. He decided – invoking the method established by Jim Acosta years ago –that anyone pointing out the possibility of these freelancers working with Hamas is putting the lives of the journalists in peril.

First Amendment Strike Force – NBC NEWS

In a case of punditry that will always baffle us here at RFTH, the wizards at NBC News decry the fact that a collection of government agencies and non-profit groups policing speech on the internet have become disjointed and are no longer working as effectively as they once had been. Again, the fact that authorities have been hampered in their effort to police our freedom of expression is being presented as bad news.

Low Octane Gas Lighting – POLITICO

As we covered here earlier, the attack of elderly Jewish protestor Paul Kessler in California, leading to his death, has been soft-pedaled in the media. The hesitancy to say he was killed in an attack has been added to the list of other ways reports of violence against Jewish people have been reclassified so as not to impugn the honor of violent pro-Palestinian individuals.

Taking the new approach here is Politico, which acknowledges that Kessler was involved in an altercation, but his attacker is made to sound like a reasonable sort, as he was agreeable and cooperative – after his violent assault.

"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.