Get access to Brad Slager's "Riffed From the Headlines," a daily VIP feature where he looks to bring accountability to the mainstream media. Use promo code FIGHT to get 60% off your VIP membership!
Reporting on the Mirror – CNN
Why would such a swell guy need this help?
With all of the talk and coverage of the still upcoming book release from Jake Tapper on his revisionist history on the slide of Joe Biden, a new wrinkle has developed. The Washington Free Beacon has learned that Tapper hired a notorious PR crisis expert to assist in gussying up his image for the promo tour.
Why such a polished newsman would need such is rather telling, and that he selected a firm and representative who has a resumé of helping some unsavory characters is also eye-opening:
Tapper has hired Risa Heller, a crisis communication expert described as the "warrior of choice" for "cancellable elites" trying to survive a scandal. In 2022, Heller met with former CNN boss Jeff Zucker days before he was forced to resign for, among other things, concealing a romantic relationship with a subordinate executive. She helped Anthony Weiner navigate his (first) dick-pic scandal in 2011. Jeffrey Toobin, the disgraced CNN personality, sought Heller's counsel in 2020 after he was caught pleasuring himself on a Zoom call with colleagues. She worked with convicted Theranos fraudster Elizabeth Holmes on a sympathetic puff piece in the New York Times ahead of her sentencing.
Now, we are not experts in the public relations game, but considering Heller’s clients listed were fired, run out of politics, fired, and convicted…maybe someone with a better track record would have been a better choice?
Recommended
As @AndrewStilesUSA notes, Tapper is working with a crisis comms pro whose past clients include Elizabeth Holmes and Jeffrey Toobin https://t.co/qoNMZg8Swd https://t.co/pHRlq6IIVS
— Peter J. Hasson (@peterjhasson) May 14, 2025
Low-Octane Gaslighting – WISN 12 NEWS, MILWAUKEE
Quite the bid for a Pulitzer Prize.
Last week, we showed how ProPublica has become the recipient of a bright, shiny, new Pulitzer, as a result of a series of fraudulent stories about state abortion laws leading to the threats and deaths of women. Now, this local station is trying out that same tactic.
WISN reports that a woman in Georgia who is pregnant and has been declared brain dead is being kept functional on life support in order to save the child. This is said to be enforced as a result of the state’s tough abortion law, and just like those ProPublica pieces, this is completely false.
The abortion law does not pertain to instances like this one, as pulling life support is not regarded as an abortion procedure. What is actually in play is a long-standing law in the state that the woman’s viability be maintained for the sake of preserving the life of the child, barring a patient having established prior to not having her life sustained.
A hospital is using a breathing tube and other measures to keep a brain-dead Georgia woman's body functioning because she is pregnant. | Click on the image to read the full story https://t.co/V0RrT3Jwry
— WISN 12 NEWS (@WISN12News) May 16, 2025
Prose & Contradiction – CNN
The positive economic news is beginning to reach crisis levels!
This has been a week filled with the press tying themselves into knots trying desperately to spin positive economic indicators into bad news. CNN is once again at it, sounding even more desperate than its previous attempts.
Against its will, the outlet reports that there are good economic signs, and there is a desperate attempt to find a downside to this good news. Prices are dropping across the economy – but this is due to bad influences!...or something like that. So, while food, clothing, and automobiles are dropping in price, we should panic because luxuries like hotels and tickets to sporting events are also dipping.
It needs to be noted this was written by Matt Eagan, the CNN econ expert who last year was promising that if Trump were elected, inflation would spike.
"Good news! Prices are falling. But it might be for bad reasons"
— David Perreault (@DavidPerreault) May 15, 2025
https://t.co/eEXjU6ioQV
Stealth Story Evolution – VARIOUS OUTLETS
Seems like this was information that journalists should have been able to ascertain.
We began this week with the scalding report in the press about the nation of Qatar “gifting” President Trump a sparkling new luxury jet to serve as Air Force One. That this came from the source Jonathan Karl was just our first reason to pause on the outrage.
As we said Monday, calling this a “Breaking Exclusive” from Karl was an issue, given that the story was fully reported on by The Wall Street Journal over a week prior, with no fanfare. Now comes more details – details the press should have been able to collect via – you know – journalism and research.
Republican Senator Markwayne Mullin was discussing the parameters with Jake Tapper and delivered some rather disqualifying details. The discussions over this plane coming to the U.S. began over a year ago – during the Biden administration.
So much for this being a bribe for President Trump.
Presentation Paradox – CNN
Once again we fear for Harry Enten’s Job!
We will never fail to marvel at how it is that CNN’s data guru Harry Enten can deliver the facts that show the overriding narrative at his network is countered by public realities. (We also marvel at how he gets away with delivering these disqualifying results.)
For the latest, Enten shows how Trump’s approval numbers are actually rising, and also in conflict with most reporting, this is not based on a lone cherry-picked poll but an aggregate of many results, showing it is a legitimate pattern of approval.
Keep that resumé up to date, Harry!
Time for a reality check... I think some folks thought Trump's approval rating would keep falling, but it's rising.
— (((Harry Enten))) (@ForecasterEnten) May 16, 2025
Ipsos has his net approval going from -8 pts to -1 pt with voters. Aggregate has him up higher than late April too & much higher than at this point in term 1. pic.twitter.com/uP0xYvnnnZ
