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!
Pathological Media Amnesia – THE INDEPENDENTS
Some flag manipulations are more equal than others.
Megyn Kelly has been sliding into odd realms in recent months, and as a result, she is finding herself in conflict with her former self. For instance, she was recently critical of Bari Weiss for running CBS News, yet months earlier, she praised Weiss when she had been hired. The latest, however, cannot even be attributed to her changeover.
Megyn was scorching Fox News because an onscreen graphic during the war coverage had at the bottom an artistic blending of the U.S. and Israeli flags. The complaint is odd enough, but as Kelly was raging against this perceived offense with flag propriety, she forgot that, in promoting her show, she had the near-identical “offense” with the U.S. and Iranian flags. This was her display just two weeks ago.
Uh, Megyn???
— Brad Slager: CNN+ Lifetime Subscriber (@MartiniShark) March 19, 2026
This was you, just weeks ago...
This is worse than your endorsement --> criticism of Bari Weiss. https://t.co/jOjQ6XSwPj pic.twitter.com/XWwgl9xcpe
Body Checking the Fact-Checkers – CNN
Recommended
To let you know, Jake, correcting humor carries little worth.
President Trump has caused a stir yet again during a presser in the White House, a result of his unvarnished manner. He was hosting the recently elected prime minister of Japan, and he fielded a question from the Japanese press about not notifying Japan of his intent to attack Iran. To explain wartime tactics of surprise, Trump made an offhand comment about Japan not notifying people ahead of the Pearl Harbor attack.
The tremulous members of the press reacted to this, and among them was Jake Tapper. He felt the need to inform the public that the newly elected Japanese leader was not born when Pearl Harbor took place. We feel the need to alert Jake that the president was not suggesting such a thing. Also, correcting jokes is hardly sound journalism.
FWIW Prime Minister Takaichi was born 20 years after Pearl Harbor https://t.co/TIpOod3W2I
— Jake Tapper 🦅 (@jaketapper) March 19, 2026
BlueAnon – THE ECONOMIST
If they keep insisting this war is lost, they are convinced it will happen.
Much like we covered yesterday with outlets moaning at the loss of the Iranian leader, who they claimed would have brokered a peace deal (even as Ali Larijani pledged not to negotiate with us), the desire to insult the U.S. effort continues.
At The Economist, they seem to want to move some magazine units by insulting President Trump as incompetent in this war effort, even as the leadership has been eliminated, their missile capability is mostly neutered, and the entire Navy is serving as an artificial reef.
The reckless campaign against Iran will weaken America’s president. That will make him angry. Be warned: he makes a very bad loser https://t.co/UUNQjqewMl pic.twitter.com/qYyimeEMjp
— The Economist (@TheEconomist) March 19, 2026
Reporting on the Mirror – NPR / PBS
That massive wave of station closures is still sure to happen, we presume.
Last year, when the defunding of public broadcasting was hotly debated and ultimately passed, we received months of media promises that this would lead to sweeping amounts of stations going dark as a result. Well, we are more than half a year since the money dried up, and things have been rather quiet.
After all, you would have expected to see regular headlines detailing the fall of all the TV and radio stations going under, so an effort was made to look into the conditions. So far, one station has been shuttered, and one…might sort of go off the air. Hardly the promised calamity of news deserts we had been assured was going to happen.
Last year we were told defunding public broadcasting would lead to all manner of catastrophe.
— Brad Slager: CNN+ Lifetime Subscriber (@MartiniShark) March 19, 2026
We sought out the promised wreckage, and here is what was found.https://t.co/rT1yzdAJRE
Artisanally-Crafted Narratives – WASHINGTON POST
Approving of conflict depends on whose war it is, apparently.
In a revealing dose of how influential Trump Derangement can be, the Washington Post has been running polling on the Iran conflict, and there has been quite a variance in the results in just over one week. In both returns, they polled 1,000 people via their cell phone, with some differences in the language.
In the initial poll, days after Operation Epic Fury began, there was strong disapproval, at 52 percent. Then, 10 days later, more people approved the military effort, as a 42 percent/40 percent split. So what made the difference?
In the first result, it was described as “President Trump ordering strikes,” and in the second, it was “the U.S. military campaign against Iran.”
2 polls on the Iran conflict were made by @WashingtonPost with wildly different results on approval, just 10 days apart.
— Brad Slager: CNN+ Lifetime Subscriber (@MartiniShark) March 19, 2026
One had over 50% disapproval, the other saw a plurality supporting Epic Fury. The difference? Whether they attributed the war to President Trump, or the U.S. pic.twitter.com/fFQMZgPfah
