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 FAKENEWS to get 50% off your VIP membership.
Reporting on the Mirror – WASHINGTON POST
Pointing out the failed system is almost as hurtful as not focusing on diversity.
At the Washington Post, there is new leadership in the form of Will Lewis coming in as CEO. The past few days have been a period of upheaval. On Sunday, Executive Editor Sally Buzbee stepped down with no other announcement or message to staff, a pretty direct indication she had been pushed out. Lewis is bringing in people he has worked with in the past while explaining to staff how poorly things have become for the paper as far as circulation, web traffic, and revenues.
The meeting became contentious, as some were pointing out the fact that the paper was, at least for the current term, looking less diverse. This is the mentality at the foundering news outlet; the adherence to DEI has ushered in these dismal results, so by all means, what needs to happen is to continue that failed practice. This message from the Washington Post Guild displays the need for some adults to take over.
New statement from The Washington Post Guild, expressing concern over Ms. Buzbee's abrupt exit: pic.twitter.com/R9LpokVeIy
— Ben Mullin (@BenMullin) June 3, 2024
To help out the union reps: You are speaking of new executives who just removed some of the mismanagement, so you should be satisfied. Being concerned with diversity when bringing in skilled individuals to fix things should be the focus and underscores where the problem has been.
Recommended
After Lewis laid out his plans for a new structure inside the paper, he introduced who would be helming the divisions, and one staff member highlighted these names. "You chose two of your buddies to come in and help run The Post," she said. "And we now have four White men running three newsrooms."
Lewis tried to get the point across to the staff of how serious things have become.
In one heated exchange with a Post staffer, Lewis warned that the newsroom cannot afford to be resistant to change, saying that 'decisive, urgent' actions are needed for the company to survive upheaval within the media industry and a recent loss of subscribers and revenue. 'We are going to turn this thing around, but let's not sugarcoat it. It needs turning around,' he said. 'We are losing large amounts of money. Your audience has halved in recent years. People are not reading your stuff. Right. I can't sugarcoat it anymore.'
Low-Octane Gaslighting – PBS
They looked all over for the worst examples in order to blame Trump. Looking for connections to Trump was not a priority.
"PBS News Hour" engaged in some of the lowest forms of journalism, which is cherry-picking mostly anonymous messages on the internet and elevating them into a news story. The segment first began with the criticisms of Trump trial judge Juan Merchan, with claims that this was an inherent threat to our judicial system. Of course, there was no such discourse and concern with members of the press who have been doing the exact same thing with another Trump trial judge, Aileen Cannon.
Then correspondent Laura Barron-Lopez highlighted how there were scathing threats toward Judge Merchan found on the internet. These were culled by the left-wing outfit Advance Democracy, and without any direct or even indirect evidence, these threatening posts were blamed on Donald Trump.
This work is on par with finding randos saying offensive things in chat rooms and declaring those to be the messaging of the Republican Party.
Barron-Lopez worked with Advance Democracy, a group tracking "far-right social media," to pluck out Merchan messages that can be blamed on Trump:
— Tim Graham (@TimJGraham) June 3, 2024
"Hang the judge for corruption."
"Hopefully, he gets met with illegals and a machete."
"The gloves are off and do your duty." pic.twitter.com/9oZ1yhQxxL
DNC PR Firm – TIME MAGAZINE
It has become glaringly obvious that Joe Biden is a president in need of being controlled and choreographed as much as humanly possible. Any deviation from a preset scripted agenda is almost assured to go off of the rails. This is why they are fighting to prevent the tapes of the Robert Hur interview becoming released; if Biden’s condition is actually seen and/or heard, it would reveal much, as well as expose how much the official transcript had been cleaned up.
Biden sat down with Time Magazine reporters in the Oval Office for an interview, and from what can be seen, this, too, went awry. First, the outlet was made to issue a major correction on a claim made by Biden on inflation.
Time fact-checks Biden’s defense of his record on inflation. https://t.co/4cklIYuak9 pic.twitter.com/dxxuYW3dcn
— Alex Thompson (@AlexThomp) June 4, 2024
In the course of the interview, Biden also blamed things like shrinkflation, corporate greed driving up prices, declared Russia’s military had been decimated, and at one point confused Putin for Xi in the discussion. Then came the real capper in this exchange:
TIME: Large majorities of Americans, including in the Democratic Party, tell pollsters they think you are too old to lead. Could you really do this job as an 85-year old man?
BIDEN: I can do it better than anybody you know. You’re looking at me, I can take you too.
We eagerly await the various members of the press decrying loudly this threat made upon a journalist and how it represents a danger to our democratic institutions.
Read the full transcript of President Joe Biden’s interview with TIMEhttps://t.co/E4hoBv1Luy
— TIME (@TIME) June 4, 2024
Presentation Paradox – MSNBC
Does the phrase “consider the source” mean nothing to this network!?
On CNN, one of the more sober legal analysts covering the Trump trial has been Elie Honig, who has been willing to call things in an objective fashion. This understandably has bothered the hysterics over at MSNBC. They formed a panel in which they took a break from their frothing at the mouth outrage at Trump to deliver criticisms at Honig.
Making this already imbalanced coverage go completely wheels-up in a ditch is that the lead critic on this panel was disgraced recidivist perjury recipient, disgraced lawyer, and admitted embezzler Michael Cohen delivering the most invective. Simply amazing decisions being made at this network.
MSNBC Legal Analysts Join Frivolous Attack on CNN’s @eliehonig
— johnny dollar (@johnnydollar01) June 4, 2024
The MSNBC attempt to pounce on Honig follows disgraced felon Michael Cohen’s claim that “there’s something really fundamentally fucked up with this guy...”
So sez @isaac_schorr https://t.co/F5oDNg2tDV
Prose & Contradiction – NOTUS
The gang at NOTUS wanted to join in on the Alito flag-bashing thing, and in its attempt there is a rampant conflict in facts. In attempting to show this is a new development that Republicans are embracing there is also the attempt to establish the “Appeal To Heaven” flag as a nefarious emblem of the insurrection movement.
Except…few considered it in that fashion before this month.
The flag, which features a pine tree on a white background with the text, “An Appeal to Heaven,” has existed since the nation’s fight for independence. But the flag is more than a historical artifact for some Republicans, who seem to want to apply the right of revolution to today’s American politics. Republicans are only clinging to the flag tighter after it became more controversial in recent weeks.
This, as we have noted prior, defies prior coverage of what had been spotted at the Capitol that fateful January. The New York Times and CNN each studied the various signs, emblems, and flags on January 6, and neither outlet highlighted Alito’s flag as a noteworthy inclusion.
So how exactly can it be said it became controversial in the past few weeks, AND it has long been known as an issurectionist symbol?!
The ‘Appeal to Heaven’ flag is all over Capitol Hill: https://t.co/I7jmTeuAsf
— NOTUS (@NOTUSreports) June 4, 2024