Media
February 19, 2024 — John Hinderaker
In 1962, there was a Senate race in South Dakota between Republican Joseph Bottum and Democrat George McGovern. The seat was open due to the death of Republican Francis Case. I was just a kid, but I remember that election well. Bottum was the favorite, but in the closing days of the race the Democrats spread a rumor that he was an alcoholic. That ploy may have been crude, but
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February 17, 2024 — Scott Johnson
As part of his celebration of life in Putin’s Russia, Tucker Carlson took a side trip to the grocery store during his visit to Moscow. Like the political pilgrims of old, he was impressed. It somehow “radicalized” him — “against American leaders.” Drawing on NRO, Ed Driscoll has more here. What’s wrong with this picture? Tucker Carlson bragging that Russia is better than America because groceries are cheaper in the
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February 11, 2024 — Steven Hayward
One of the most valuable lessons I learned from M. Stanton Evans about the modern media is that the predominant method should be understood as “ventriloquist journalism,” that is, prestige reporters at the premier outlets like the NY Times, Washington Post, and the TV network news bureaus don’t really report at all. For every issue or event that occurs, the media already know what they think is the narrative of
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February 9, 2024 — Steven Hayward
Geez, from the way the left is reacting, you’d think Tucker Carlson was doing an imitation of the New York Times‘ Walter Duranty, and slobbering over a Russian dictator and whitewashing the scene. Oh, wait. . . It’s pretty clear that the mainstream media is angry at Carlson because he didn’t get their permission to interview Putin, and moreover won’t agree to stick with the approved narrative. I haven’t had
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February 2, 2024 — Scott Johnson
Doing the job that the mainstream media natives would prefer not to do, John Hinderaker reports on the likely arson that damaged the office of Center of the American Experiment and two other conservative organizations at the suburban office building that houses them (video below). One can reasonably infer that the organizations were targeted on political grounds. Arson won't slow us down. New footage and update from our President John
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February 2, 2024 — Scott Johnson
John Hinderaker wrote here about the apparent arson at the offices of the Center of the American Experiment and other conservative organizations in suburban Minneapolis over this past weekend. The Star Tribune hasn’t gotten around to covering the story yet. Someday soon, but not yet. In the meantime, Alpha News is doing the job that the local mainstream media natives won’t do. Alpha News posted its story here yesterday afternoon.
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January 30, 2024 — Scott Johnson
NRO has posted the breaking news update “Undercover Israeli Commandos Kill Three Palestinian Militants in West Bank Hospital Raid.” The update by David Zimmerman links to a video posted by national security minister Itamar Ben-Gvir. The tweet below incorporates the video in the upper left panel. Fauda, in real life, CRAZY VIDEO of IDF SF dressed as Doctors and nurses raided a hospital in Jenin where the head of Hamas
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January 25, 2024 — Scott Johnson
I subscribe to the (free) Morning Wire news roundup disseminated by the Associated Press. This morning the AP flags the story that is tied to this subject line: “Qatar ‘appalled’ by Netanyahu comments.” The story flagged by the AP story appears under three bylines and this headline: “Qatar, a key mediator in sensitive Israel-Hamas talks, lashes out at Netanyahu over critical remarks.” We are supposed to be “appalled” by Netanyahu
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January 23, 2024 — Scott Johnson
NRO has posted a long article by Zach Kessel and Ari Blaff on mainstream media coverage of the Israel-Hamas war. They find that the Washington Post’s coverage ranks as the worst. According to Kessel and Blaff, “While other U.S. outlets have on occasion fallen into the trap of credulously parroting Hamas propaganda, none as prominent have done so with the frequency and brazenness of the Post…” They make an impressive
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January 20, 2024 — Scott Johnson
The Star Tribune represents the mainstream media at work in Minnesota. It relentlessly peddles the left-wing line on its news pages and its editorial positions. It is, moreover, a profitable business owned by a billionaire. Glen Taylor bought it in 2014 for $100 million. He may have assumed some of the paper’s debt in the process. It reportedly makes a substantial amount of money churning out its product. According to
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January 18, 2024 — Scott Johnson
When I read via Josh Kraushaar on X that Tom Friedman had interviewed Antony Blinken at Davos, my reaction was that what we had here was dumb and dumber without the comedy. (Josh is the editor of Jewish Insider, which reported on the interview here.) Now Matt Continetti takes up the Friedman/Blinken Davos routine in the Free Beacon column “Delusional in Davos.” Matt concludes: Maybe the thin mountain air made
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January 18, 2024 — Scott Johnson
Mainstream media sources repeatedly cite the number of those killed in Gaza by the IDF according to “Palestinian health authorities” or the like. Most recently the number has been set at some 23,000. The Wall Street Journal, for example, takes up the issue this morning in “Israel, Under Pressure to Scale Back Intensity of War, Pulls Thousands of Troops From Gaza” (“More than 24,000 Palestinians have been killed since the
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January 14, 2024 — Scott Johnson
Norman Podhoretz observed in one of his Commentary essays that the name of the Middle East Media Research Institute (MEMRI) appeared to be “the invaluable MEMRI,” because that is how he and other consumers of its information unfailingly referred to it. In a footnote to one of those essays, Podhoretz explained: I am indebted to the invaluable work of the Middle East Media Research Institute (MEMRI). Under the leadership of
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January 8, 2024 — Scott Johnson
The Star Tribune represents the mainstream media at work in Minnesota. It is the dominant voice of conventional wisdom that relentlessly peddles the left-wing line on its news pages and its editorial positions. It is, moreover, a profitable business owned by a billionaire. Glen Taylor bought it in 2014 for $100 million. He may have assumed some of the paper’s debt in the process. It reportedly makes a substantial amount
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January 4, 2024 — Scott Johnson
Yesterday the Washington Free Beacon posted Thaleigha Rampersad’s video compilation of the chorus of hosannas that greeted the announcement Claudine Gay’s appointment to the presidency of Harvard in December 2022 (see “Raving gaily”). Today the Beacon follows up with another Rampersad compilation, this one of the chorus of media talking heads explaining Gay’s resignation from the presidency this week. Once again we see the herd of independent minds at work.
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January 3, 2024 — Scott Johnson
Senator Tom Cotton was the guest of honor at Commentary’s annual roast this past November 12. That means he was the roastee. In the January issue editor John Podhoretz turns over the space reserved for his monthly editorial on the issue’s first page (and in this case a few more) to Senator Cotton’s Guest Commentary (“Now More Than Ever”) — his remarkable speech paying tribute to Commentary at the roast.
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January 3, 2024 — Scott Johnson
In the video compilation below, the Washington Free Beacon draws on the chorus of hosannas that greeted the announcement Claudine Gay’s appointment to the presidency of Harvard in December 2022 after a five-month search. The Wall Street Journal reminds us: “That was the shortest search in about 70 years, according to the Harvard Crimson, the student newspaper.” Gay’s appointment set off a stampede among the media’s herd of independent minds.
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