02.07.24
Low Octane Gas Lighting – CNN
"This is a disgraceful interview…I bet…"
To say that Tucker Carlson's announced interview with Russia's Vlad Putin has riled up the news industry is to traffic an understatement. There has been no shortage of wailing over his upcoming discussion, but it is a toss-up who was more incensed – Erin Burnett (who had a lengthy gripe-fest over the talk) or Abby Phillip, who appears on the brink of tears in her "takedown" of Carlson. Now, there is validity to slamming Tucker over making the false claim that no other journalists were willing to speak with Putin. But Phillip, in particular, seems intent on going to the next level and complaining about the content of this discussion with Putin.
We get the desire to declare that Vlad will deliver his fractured version of the facts, but maybe it is wiser to wait and see the actual information before declaring it "misinformation, disinformation," is all we are suggesting.
.@juliaioffe on Tucker Carlson interviewing Putin in Russia: “What's really shocking is the way he just walks right into Moscow and presents himself on a silver platter to the Kremlin. Doing the Kremlin’s job of misinforming, disinforming the American population.” pic.twitter.com/1ySqKpNH2I
— Abby D. Phillip (@abbydphillip) February 7, 2024
Both Kinds of Standards – NBC NIGHTLY NEWS
Is this a "Not All Despots Are Created Equal" scenario?
Just as complaints are raining down that Tucker dares to speak with a hostile totalitarian regime, here arrives Lester Holt with his interview with the ambassador from…wait for it…Iran. This, by the way, follows Holt's recent sit-down with the president of Iran last fall. If you missed the outcry about Lester giving an audience to a dictator or normalizing a violent ruler that is simply because there was no such outcry to be heard.
Tuesday's "NBC Nightly News" aired a Lester Holt interview with Iran's ambassador to the UN. Does Adam Kinzinger consider him a "traitor"? Bill Kristol can't advocate that he can't re-enter the USA. He never left.
— Tim Graham (@TimJGraham) February 7, 2024
Lester's done several Iran-official interviews (some too soft). pic.twitter.com/MYhDhrVJu0
First Amendment Strike Force – NEWSWEEK
Newsweek is breaking a story that the European Union is allegedly looking into imposing travel sanctions on Tucker Carlson. One EU Parliament member is exploring this possibility:
The lawmaker—who has called for the EU to explore imposing a "travel ban" on Carlson—described Carlson as "a mouthpiece" of former President Donald Trump and Putin, adding: "As Putin is a war criminal and the EU sanctions all who assist him in that effort, it seems logical that the External Action Service examine his case as well
One would think that punishing a journalist in this fashion would generate outrage in the industry, but since the industry is displaying outward contempt for Tucker, this will not be seen as an affront to journalistic practices.
Pre-Written Field Reports – VOX
Sometimes, the partisanship in the press is so entrenched that they do not even make an effort to try looking into a story after the script has been written. When it comes to the border bill offered by the Senate, there are plenty of facets worthy of reporting on, but the Vox gang is content to just play Mad Libs and fill in the blanks.
Look, there is certainly worthy content to mine regarding the fact that Senator Mitch McConnell helped draft a bill he is now deriding openly, how he basically tossed Senator James Lankford to the wolves, and even Senator Mike Lee adroitly pointed out the cynical way the monolithic bill was crafted for months and then they intended to give politicians a matter of just a couple of days to decide on their vote.
Instead, Vox just ran with the "GOP-bad" playbook and made themselves look foolish as a result. For years, the Democrats have insisted the GOP is making up a problem at the border, the press has long declared there is no crisis, and the White House has perpetually said the border is closed and secure. Over the past weeks, suddenly there's a crisis, Biden needs a law passed in order to take action, and Vox is literally trying to sell us on the concept of Democrats suddenly wanting to pass a "right-wing" bill.
Democrats are trying to pass a right-wing border bill, but the GOP won’t let them https://t.co/lnVOTBgTzr
— Vox (@voxdotcom) February 6, 2024
Blue-Anon – NBC NEWS
On the election conspiracy front, NBC News dedicated no fewer than four reporters in its desperate attempt to keep mining the case that the conservatives of this country are beholden to a Taylor Swift-Travis Kelce-NFL-Democratic Party conspiracy psy-op – even as the piece itself declares voters are not swallowing the theories.
The outlet uses a political reporter, a field producer, and two campaign embeds to detail the prevailing conspiracy…that they say no one is following. They also state that the MAGA are different from Trump voters, somehow. All of this means that as particular influencers might be pushing out some wild claims for the sake of clicks and attention, it ends up being that the ones taking these influencers' theories seriously are the journalists.
Trump voters aren't buying the MAGA conspiracy theory around Taylor Swift https://t.co/8NekvzOdRS
— Meet the Press (@MeetThePress) February 7, 2024
Presentation Paradox – CNN
Insisting the facts say something different.
As the 50th anniversary of the release of the comedy classic film "Blazing Saddles" arrives, the thinkpieces are dropping like the fertilizer from the back end of a steed. At CNN, Noah Berlatsky attempts to explain how conservatives who find favor with the movie are wrong because the premise of the film is to call out the moronic whites who still harbor racism, and that is who the Republicans are, don't you know:
But you’re really not supposed to outright say that rural White MAGA voters — the “people of the land” — are deplorable racist dunderheads. You’re supposed to be respectful. But Blazing Saddles,” 50 years ago, said that treating racists with respect is BS.
Sure, there are no racists on the left – so long as you are willing to ignore the inveterate racist in the White House, who claims blacks not voting for him are not truly black, and who said, "Poor kids are just as bright as white kids."
Berlatsky also tries to claim if the movie could be made today, those on the right would be the ones who would object. This, despite that conservatives always point to it being unproducable in today's social climate. Also, despite that, Berlatsky gives a quote from the creator, Mel Brooks: "We have become stupidly politically correct which is the death of comedy." It seems ridiculous to need to point this out, but here we are – political correctness, and its modern evolution of wokeness, is a product of the hyper-leftists.
Here is @CNN attempting to draw a conclusion about "Blazing Saddles" and conservatives getting the movie wrong, all while providing contradictory evidence to the central claim.https://t.co/SNd6OV0FDl
— Lie-Able Sources (@LieAbleSources) February 7, 2024
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"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.