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Ignoring the Details Behind a Riot

Brad Slager
Brad Slager  |  Nov 27, 2023
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11.27.23

Artisanally-Crafted Narratives – WASHINGTON POST

This weekend, the story came out of Ireland about riots breaking out as a result of an individual going on a knife-wielding spree, including wounding a woman and three children. It is said the anger was over this being an immigrant committing the violence, but there is little in the way of interest from the Washington Post. Instead, the focus is on who is reacting to this act.

Online, it has become a cliched meme – the image of actor Leslie Nielsen from the "Naked Gun" films standing in front of an exploding fireworks factory and telling people to disperse from the area, "There's nothing to see here."

At WaPo, Karla Adam did the meme.

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There is nothing in the way of looking into the crime, and she attempts to dismiss the allegation of an immigrant being responsible. But in regards to the riot, she is full of commentary about how "Far-right protests" were responsible with the "right-wing" violence breaking out. She added:

Police blamed a “lunatic, hooligan faction driven by a far-right ideology” for the violence that broke out after a small group of anti-immigrant protesters arrived at the scene of the knife attack.

Ms. Adam also says it is a "rumor" that the knife attacker has an immigrant background when it has been confirmed he was a naturalized citizen from Algeria. It is rather striking how little interest there is in the cause and the desire to elide those details, as the rioters are clearly and repeatedly called out for who they are.

Reporting on the Mirror – BBC

  • Reporter faces the truth about his falsehoods and has zero remorse about being 100% wrong.

The performance of the collective media complex in covering the Israel-Hamas war has been woeful, and among the consistently poor performers has been the BBC. Recently, it had to issue an on-air correction over yet another error-prone report. The network accused the IDF of targeting doctors and Arab-speaking individuals at the al-Shifa hospital when, in truth, it was the IDF bringing in doctors and Arabs to assist with things at the hospital.

Now, we see an interview with BBC reporter Jeremy Bowen, who was steadfastly standing behind his reporting on the war, even after he was confronted with the reality he had been among those reporting on the wildly inaccurate story of Israel allegedly bombing a hospital and killing 500 Palestinians.

Low Octane Gas Lighting – THE NEW YORK TIMES

  • How this prisoner incurred her injuries is a complete mystery that reporters are incapable of unraveling.

As Israel and Hamas are conducting the exchanges of kidnap victims and prisoners during a tense cease-fire, the Western media are still incapable of being critical of the terrorist group and its sympathizers. In one detailed report, The Times sympathetically describes a female who had been in an Israel jail as "a disfigured woman."

The Times appears hesitant to describe Israa Jaabees accurately, given she was convicted of terrorism and acquired her disfigurement when her car bomb detonated.

Stealth Story Evolution – REUTERS

  • I thought only Boko Harem recruited young children into their military…

On the other side of the captives exchange, Reuters attempts to build an equivalency. It suggests it was a prisoners-for-soldiers swap until people called them out on the fact that we have been seeing elderly females and children among those being returned to Israel.

Pulitzer Prize Nomination – USA TODAY / For The Win

  • When you deliver something even less than content-free reporting.

This time of year, some might be watching the holiday-themed comedy "Planes, Trains, and Automobiles." In one scene, a fed-up Steve Martin turns to John Candy, who unspooled a directionless anecdote and cracks, "Here's a good idea – when you're telling these little stories… have a point!"

This scene was called to mind when a piece from Charles Curtis of For The Win noted that Cris Collinsworth was not in the broadcast booth for last night's Sunday Night Football game. Charles taunts us with the reason behind the move in the headline, only to meander for a couple of hundred words to ultimately say: I dunno…

The voice you’re hearing alongside Mike Tirico on Sunday Night Football for the Week 12 broadcast of the Baltimore Ravens and Los Angeles Chargers is not his usual partner, Cris Collinsworth. No, it’s former NFL head coach Jason Garrett, and if you’re here, you’re probably wondering why it’s Garrett over Collinsworth. We don’t have a definitive answer, but it would seem that because Collinsworth was on the mic with Tirico on Thursday for the San Francisco 49ers and Seattle Seahawks Thanksgiving game, maybe Garrett was needed for a second Week 12 contest. There you have it!

There we have…WHAT?!

"Riffed from the Headlines" is Townhall's daily VIP feature with coverage on 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.