Fake News
June 16, 2019 — Steven Hayward
I missed the notice a few days ago that publisher Houghton-Mifflin is delaying publication of Naomi Wolf’s latest book, Outrages, for the simple reason that it has been exposed as an embarrassing piece of crap. (See Scott’s post “Death Recorded Live” if you haven’t followed this fabulous story.) This from the Times story: “As we have been working with Naomi Wolf to make corrections to ‘Outrages,’ new questions have arisen
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June 13, 2019 — Steven Hayward
Sorry to hear that Sarah Sanders is stepping down as Trump’s press spokesperson. I think she has been the best press spokesperson in modern times, as she has the perfect combination of unflappability and contempt for the contemptible press corps. She always treated the press with the mien of a kindergarten teacher angry and disappointed with a bunch of unruly toddlers. But the daily press briefing has outlived its usefulness.
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May 23, 2019 — Steven Hayward
Anyone remember Samantha Smith? Don’t run away to look her up on Google; I’ll come back to her in a moment and explain why her name occurs to me just now. Two large media meta-narratives prompt the title question here. First, Michael Avenatti. Finished laughing? Okay, good; to continue: Avenatti was entirely the creation of the media, right down to the idea, which CNN and MSNBC took seriously, that he
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April 1, 2019 — Steven Hayward
So it’s April Fool’s Day—the day when you’re supposed to fall for . . . fake news. Which means it’s just another day for CNN. Yet another great American custom the media has ruined for everyone. (Though I am still skeptical of today’s news that Mick Jagger is getting a heart valve replacement operation soon. I think this is a deep cover story for his unfolding plan to become the
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April 1, 2019 — Paul Mirengoff
Isn’t it ironic that, at the same time Robert Mueller completed his investigation of the signature alleged scandal of the Trump presidency, Valerie Plame, the key figure in a Bush era alleged scandal that led to the appointment of a special counsel, is back in the news. Plame moved to New Mexico. Reportedly, she will offer its residents her services as a U.S. Senator. Plame told the Washington Examiner, without
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March 29, 2019 — Steven Hayward
Scott’s two posts on his and Victor Davis Hanson’s treatment by The New Yorker calls to mind one of the first and most important lessons I learned from my mentor in journalism, the great M. Stanton Evans. Most “mainstream” journalists are not merely biased, but have a narrative story line in mind when they begin “reporting,” so that when they call you on the phone, they aren’t looking for actual
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March 28, 2019 — Paul Mirengoff
Amber Athey of the Daily Caller has compiled a list of the worst offenders among news anchors and reporters who, as she puts it, “gave breathless coverage to the alleged [Russia collusion] scandal and ultimately misled the public.” She names 15 offenders. Naturally, Rachel Maddow heads the list. She built her program around the phony collusion story. Below is a sampling of others singled out by Athey, but do read
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March 27, 2019 — Paul Mirengoff
According to the Daily Caller, MSNBC host Rachel Maddow lost half-a-million viewers in just one week after it became clear that Robert Mueller did not find enough evidence to support a claim of “collusion” between the Trump campaign and Russia. The phony Russia collusion story had been good to Maddow. It helped drive her show consistently to first or second place in overall cable news ratings during the past year.
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March 25, 2019 — Paul Mirengoff
The mainstream media isn’t known for self-awareness. And those in the MSM who report on media are typically as lacking in this regard as their brethren. Thus, it surprised me that the quotation in the headline (paper edition) of this post comes from Paul Farhi, who writes about media for the Washington Post. Farhi’s article is unsparing. If he were a pro-Trumper, he might be accused of spiking the football.
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February 27, 2019 — John Hinderaker
We have reached peak absurdity in our public life: CNN says that President Trump is trying to achieve denuclearization of North Korea in order to distract us from its wall to wall coverage of Michael Cohen: I am going to be at CNN’s Washington, D.C. studio in a few hours for an appearance on Sky News in Australia. It’s going to be like venturing into a parallel universe where up
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February 12, 2019 — John Hinderaker
I am so old, I can remember when liberals invented the term “fake news” to refer to pro-Trump commentary on Facebook. Those days are long gone, of course, and President Trump has made the phrase his own. “Fake news” now refers to the partisan falsehoods that dominate the New York Times, the Washington Post, the Associated Press, and many other news outlets. Which you can tell by the fact that
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February 1, 2019 — John Hinderaker
Things are looking bleak for McClatchy Company: This morning, Craig Forman, CEO of McClatchy Company, emailed all staff to say about 10 percent of the newspaper chain’s employees would be offered voluntary buyouts. *** McClatchy publishes newspapers across the nation, including the Miami Herald, Kansas City Star, Idaho Statesman, Fresno Bee, and Charlotte Observer. Last August, the company cut about 3.5 percent of the staff, nearly 140 employees. The slow
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January 21, 2019 — Scott Johnson
A reader writes from China to lend a hand to attorneys who may represent the MAGA hat-wearing Catholic high school studentsin their potential libel lawsuits. According to the AP and other outlets, these students allegedly mocked a Native American after they participated in the pro-life rally in DC on Friday. John posted a screenshot of the principal AP story by Adam Beam and Brian Melley here yesterday. The story has
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January 20, 2019 — Steven Hayward
I’m wondering whether Buzzfeed should be known as Buzzbomb or Buzzfizz, since so many of their stories fizzle out or blow up in their own face. Or maybe we should adapt the old French-inspired phrase, “hoist by their own Buzzbomb”? I think there might be an analogy here to the Allied bombing of Germany in World War II. Postwar studies of bombing showed that Allied air raids missed their targets
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January 19, 2019 — Scott Johnson
On Thursday evening BuzzFeed posted a story with the attention-grabbing headline “President Trump Directed His Attorney Michael Cohen To Lie To Congress About The Moscow Tower Project.” CNN ran with the story essentially nonstop yesterday. Below is CNN New Day’s tweet with a video clip of the show’s interview with BuzzFeed reporter Anthony Cormier discussing his story yesterday morning. The excitement was palpable. “If true,” Trump was toast. Democrats couldn’t
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January 7, 2019 — Scott Johnson
In “Fakiest news of 2018” I gave the award to Greg Gordon and Peter Stone of McClatchy News. They earned it with their peddling of the Prague connection element of the Russia hoax and the smearing of Cleta Mitchell. When it comes to fake news, Gordon and Stone are Exhibit A. I posted Cleta Mitchell’s email correspondence with Gordon and Stone so that readers could see with their own eyes
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December 29, 2018 — Scott Johnson
McClatchy News reporters Greg Gordon and Peter Stone are the authors of the latest version of the Russia hoax story featuring Trump attorney Michael Cohen’s putative trip to Prague to work out the details of the Trump campaign’s collusion with the friends of Vladimir Putin. The story is more of the same bushwa they have been peddling for some time (see below). The byline of Gordon and Stone is a
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