OPINION
Premium

Losing the Diddy Case Makes One a Legal 'Barbie'?

Brad Slager
Brad Slager  |  Jul 02, 2025
The opinions expressed by columnists are their own and do not necessarily represent the views of Townhall.com.

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!

Matching Media Memorandum – VARIOUS OUTLETS

  • The uniform outrage also consistently avoids the factual details.

It is of little surprise that a decrying cadre of journalists came out to condemn the decision of Paramount-CBS to settle its suit brought by President Trump over the deceptively edited Kamala Harris interview last October.

We have Jim Acosta, Chris Cillizza, Jeff Greenfield, and many others coming forward to say this was a mistake, that the suit had no merit, and it was only settled due to a corporate merger being in the balance.

What they, and media maven Brian Stelter, all choose to avoid is the reality that this and the other settlements seen over the past few months are likely the result of the case from January, where CNN was found liable for malicious defamation. These networks saw what happens when the discovery process of a trial takes place and the internal communications are exposed, showing the partisan manner in which journalism is applied in these networks.

Recommended

Watch How CNN Reacted to the June Jobs Report. It's Priceless. Matt Vespa
Why the One Republican Who Voted Against Advancing the Reconciliation Bill Looks Really Dumb Right Now Matt Vespa

Body Checking the Fact-Checkers – POLITIFACT

  • Those pesky facts can just be disregarded when they interfere with the judgment of the column.

Well, the elevated thinkers at PolitiFact have weighed in on the ascendency of Zohran Mamdani, and it is, as expected, a laughable result. What the site chose to focus on was President Trump, as well as a collection of other Republicans and conservatives, declaring Mamdani to be a communist.

Of course, the site turned to a series of experts who supposedly looked over Mamdani’s platform to decide that he is not promoting true communist policies, as if he would come straight out with an agenda pulled from “Das Kapital.” Said one of their experts:

"Communism involves a centrally planned economy, with no market forces. Prices and quantities are set by a central government authority. There is no democratic political competition, and instead a single party rules the country. He is not calling for any of this."

Well, no, because he is running for the position of mayor, not running the entire country. Yet, your description of a “central economy” and “prices set by government” aligns perfectly with Mamdani’s big proposal of city-operated grocery stores, does it not?!

But more evidence is seen in this video that is circulating. Not only does he refer to fellow supporters as “comrades” (kind of a tell right there), he also states how he is in favor of that tried and true communist methodology of “seizing the means of production.” Now, this desire could be mitigated by the fact that New York City does not have much in the way of producing things, but his words are still heard.

Both Kinds of Standards – MSNBC

  • This is an acceptable denigration, we suppose, based on the result.

There was a jolt of shock heard this morning when Sean Puffy-P. Diddy-Puff Daddy-Combs' verdict came in, and he was found guilty on only two of the five major charges brought to trial.

Upon hearing this surprising result, MSNBC turned to one of their legal experts, Lisa Rubin, and she gets away with using some rather insulting terms to describe the all-white/all-female prosecution team. We at RFTH are rather confident in saying that if Combs had been found guilty of all the charges, we would be hearing how this power squad of gals were heroines. But in managing to only get 40% of the charges to stick, they become reduced to “Lawyer Barbies.”

Newseum Art Installation – ABC NEWS

  • Apparently, snoring is not more prominent in summertime?

A new piece is hung in the broadcast wing. Global Warming causes snoring and sleep apnea. Is there nothing this effect cannot cause?!

Demo-lition Project – CNN / MSNBC

  • It’s as if they are not even trying any longer.

With us reaching the exact midway point on the calendar, we close out the second quarter and look at the ratings for the cable news channels. The results are positively anemic for MSNBC and CNN, and show continued erosion of their audiences.

  • MSNBC – Averaged almost exactly one million viewers in primetime, and 91,000 in the advertiser demographic. This shows a drop of 15% in audience from Q2-2024, a 20% dip in the demographic, and in total day, the losses are 26% and 31%.

  • CNN – This is just sad. The primetime audience is a barely-there 538,000, total, with 105,000 in the demo. This shows a drop from Q2-2024 of 13% in audience, and 15% in the demo, and was about the same in total day, 14% and 16%.

  • FOX NEWS – Meanwhile, not only was there growth here, but at night, Fox drew better than two of the broadcast networks, ABC and NBC. 2.633 million watched them in primetime, and the demo clocked in with 304,000. This showed growth from Q2-24 of 25% and 34%, while the total day numbers also grew at 25% and 31%. Additionally, the network sported the top nine programs, and four of those – “The Five,” “Jesse Watters Primetime,” “Gutfeld!,” and “Hannity” – averaged over three million viewers.