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A Media Target Is Moving

Brad Slager
Brad Slager  |  Aug 09, 2024
The opinions expressed by columnists are their own and do not necessarily represent the views of Townhall.com.

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Reporting on the Mirror – (Formerly) CNN

  • We won’t have as much of Ollie to cite any longer!

The word came out that Oliver Darcy, CNN’s media maven and Brian Stelter’s former Boy Wonder, is starting up his own privately-run subscription service. It does feel as if Oliver had been shown the exit door and given time to set his affairs in order. There is a “govern yourself accordingly” vibe to this abrupt announcement. The “Reliable Sources” newsletter will be put on hiatus for at least a few months.

Dubbed “Status,” it will be something of a tech-media business newsletter…we think? What it will require is that you pony up $15 monthly to get his skewed and slanted ramblings, or $150 annually. OR for $600, you could be in an upper tier level and get fabulous perks, like speaking with Darcy on Zoom calls.

Hey, if that’s your thing, we are not here to kink-shame.

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News Avoidance Syndrome – VARIOUS OUTLETS

It has been rather amazing that we are going on three weeks since Kamala Harris has been tabbed to be the presidential nominee and she has yet to conduct a single interview or press conference. Moreover, the press appears to be perfectly fine with this. There are two main reasons Harris will not make herself available to the press: She is horrible speaking extemporaneously, and the press is already doing all of her promotions for her. Note how she is supposedly surging in the polls without ever having an in-depth talk of her positions or a national press event. She does not even have her policies listed out on her campaign website.

This is all insane campaign strategizing, but not only is it a reality, it is ostensibly working in her favor, all because the press is working on her behalf. Moreover, the press does not seem to care this is happening; they seem content to not bring up her issues and challenges – it interrupts the coverage of the latest dance song based on her laugh and the fashion choices of her running mate.

Legalized Press-titution – POLITICO

  • So corpulent and grubby is the new orange this season?

This is how desperate the press is to talk about anything but the issues. Anyone who looks at Tim Walz visually may come up with a variety of impressions, but considering him a fashion icon is probably deep — if not last — on the list. Yet here is Politico selling us on the concept that his grubby, Polaris-driving, duck blind snoozing “style” is set to become all the rage.

Anti-Social Media – CNN

  • This is both trashing a serviceman and journalism.

As the Tim Walz military service record continues to be a bother for the press, they need to turn it back onto J.D. Vance. The need to downplay or denigrate the fact that he was actually in Iraq and served in the war is seen from Brianna Keilar, who tries to suggest that his working as a correspondent was not as valid. This means that his service in Iraq during a war does not really count, but Walz only being stationed in Italy and ducking out prior to an Iraq deployment makes him a hero.

Body Checking the Fact-Checkers – THE NEW YORK TIMES

The New York Times cobbled together a team of fact-checkers to pore over the Donald Trump press conference on Thursday. The sheer amount of factual errors in their measurements was deeply impressive, including one requiring a correction.