It’s always nice when a member of the establishment media actually gets it. Columnist Megan McArdle wrote an op-ed taking the misinformation/disinformation industry to task for a series of sins that explain why they have not been able to accomplish their objectives.
And what are those objectives?
Attacking former President Donald Trump and the right, of course. //
The reason the misinformation/disinformation industry failed to harm Trump is because it was so obvious that this was their entire mission. Even though they tried to disguise their aims under a veneer of a desire for accuracy, it was evident that they were motivated more by politics than a desire to make sure people are properly informed on the issues.
As McArdle highlighted – the bulk of their “fact-checking” went in only one political direction. It was rare for these intrepid seekers of truth to correct any of the long list of falsehoods coming from the left. It was as if they weren’t even trying to hide their bias. //
Members of the misinformation industry would have been smart to at least pretend to care about debunking false narratives on both sides by also going after folks on the left who propagated falsehoods in public spaces.
But they didn’t. This is why they continue to fail. //
GBenton
13 hours ago
McArdle is blinded by her bigotry toward Trump. Those weren't errors, no. The fact checkers lied.
but she doesn't ask why or connect the dots.
they had to lie in a coordinated conspiracy because Trump was revealing the truth and threatening the status quo, of which McArdle is a beneficiary.
Trump represents real reform and those who hate him most have something to lose if the corrupt status quo ends.
The purpose of fscr checkers is to enable leftist misinformation and hide the truth.
But one man's accomplishment is another corporation's impending financial loss.
The corporate media was not happy about the conversation that happened on X, and I can't say I blame them. The conversation should give them a sense of terror, and not because it allowed Donald Trump to speak uncensored and without any boundaries. Yes, seeing Trump talk about plans for the future, the corruption in Washington, and the lies of the left was not something they wanted anyone to hear, but it goes deeper than that.
For as long as they can remember, the press has been the gatekeepers of information and narratives. The internet introduced some very real complications to that, but thanks to many of the overlords in Silicon Valley being just as radically leftist as they were, controlling information wasn't that hard to do. Censoring, blacklisting, and silencing wasn't just easy, they considered it a noble pursuit. //
And then Elon Musk bought Twitter after a lengthy struggle against its board members, and discovered just how deep the rabbit hole of government collusion and cooperation went. This information was released via the "Twitter Files."
https://redstate.com/tags/twitter-files //
All of this led to the moment where Donald Trump, the once banned former president, spoke to the world's richest man in a live conversation anyone could listen to about everything from the border to electric cars, the economy, and plans to shrink the government. It was unfiltered, uncensored, and terrifying for the information gatekeepers of the modern era.
Trump didn't have to fight them here. He didn't even have to go around them. He completely ignored them. //
justpaul
8 hours ago
The Leftists thrive on group think and the hive mind. They can't accept the idea that we could all simply talk to one another directly, instead of through them.
That's what Trump did last night, and they are scared to death that people listened. //
anon-fl4c
8 hours ago
The MSM has done irreparable damage to this country with the lies, censorship and suppression of all things true. Even when us “plebs” caught on, they continued the gaslighting in lock step and went too far.
Last night they hit the iceberg. I’m hoping there’s not enough lifeboats. //
cyberjockey justpaul
5 hours ago
They're scared to death that not only did people listen, but they might have started questioning all the narratives that the propaganda media has been pushing for decades. And questioning all the narratives/smears regarding Trump.
And that is what scares them most of all. The idea of people critically thinking and questioning instead of just accepting the narrative/agenda.
The Kamala Harris campaign has been editing press headlines and putting the fake versions in ads as a way to spread disinformation. That's according to a new report that found multiple instances of Google ads being manipulated without the consent of the various news organizations linked to the false headlines.
Jim VandeHei @JimVandeHei
·
🚨🚨 The Harris campaign has been editing news headlines and descriptions within Google search ads that make it appear as if the Guardian, Reuters, CBS News and other major publishers are on her side, Axios has found.
axios.com
Harris-sponsored Google ads suggest publishers are on her side
3:35 PM · Aug 13, 2024 //
There is no doubt in my mind that this would be a major scandal if the Trump campaign were involved. Could you imagine the screams of "disinformation" and threatened lawsuits from press organizations? It'd be non-stop. Because it's Harris, though, it's no big deal. //
Bonchie @bonchieredstate
·
Yesterday, Sara Fischer of Axios threw a fit on CNN over “disinformation” and Elon Musk allowing Trump to “say whatever he wants.”
Today, she’s hand-waving away the Kamala Harris campaign editing press headlines in ads to spread disinformation.
Incredible.
5:32 PM · Aug 13, 2024
Glenn Greenwald
@ggreenwald
·
Follow
The way the US corporate media transformed Kamala Harris from a national embarrassment to a transformative pioneer overnight -- without even pretending to care about anything that she thinks or believes -- is a powerful testament to how potent the science of propaganda is:
TIME
@TIME
The reintroduction of Kamala Harris https://ti.me/4fCTs5n
10:06 AM · Aug 12, 2024. //
The article is titled, "The Reintroduction of Kamala Harris,” and like similar headlines and stories in newspapers, magazines and websites around the country, they try to depict a candidate who’s been reborn, who’s undergone a magical metamorphosis and gone from an ugly caterpillar to a beautiful butterfly. //
But here’s the reality: Nothing about this woman has changed in the past 22 days, not her record, not her cringe-inducing mannerisms, not her lack of accomplishments as vice president—not a single thing. Yet the media is seemingly in lockstep pumping out story after story about how exciting and competent she’s suddenly become. //
Brian Doherty
@BDOH
·
Follow
Kamala Harris has been reintroduced more times than the McDonalds McRib sandwich.
7:32 AM · Aug 12, 2024. //
anon-xztj
6 hours ago
Also remember or for those who didn't know Time Magazine had Adolf Hitler on their cover in 1938 as "Man of the Year"!
The idea that a reporter would think that the White House has any legal means to interfere with any American, particularly a candidate for the presidency in an election year, saying any damn thing they want to demonstrates how thoroughly corrupt and fascist-adjacent the mainstream press has become. The fact that a reporter from a newspaper that shared a Pulitzer prize for pushing a totally discredited hoax thinks he has any moral ground to protest "misinformation" is the official death knell of irony.
To the extent that 'misinformation' is a problem, Ground Zero of that problem is the mainstream press. They are the ones who insisted that an obviously demented and sometimes drugged Joe Biden was completely in control of his faculties. //
Giving the yahoos in the press corps a license to police misinformation is like giving a three-year-old a can of gasoline and a lighter. //
RiverRev
29 minutes ago
I think I trust the three year old more.
This is not a slip of the tongue. Smith serves with Vance in the Senate. She has to be familiar with his life story. This was an attempt to set a narrative with CNN's native demographic of low-functioning midwits. Note how reluctant Acosta is to upset the apple cart.
Taken together, these two things indicate that Donald Trump and JD Vance are facing opponents who will casually tell the most extravagant lies and stoop to the worst kind of slanderous comments because they know their audience doesn't care and they have no fear of being challenged by the media.
When it comes to supporting Harris for this election run, Powell Jobs has many tools at her disposal that lend a media advantage, starting with the fact that she is the publisher of The Atlantic. This would be the outlet that delivered the fraudulent yet widely-cited news item in 2020 that claimed Donald Trump called dead WW2 soldiers “suckers and losers,” based on anonymous sourcing. It is not tough to see how that outlet would lean Kamala’s way.
But this is hardly the only media influence Powell Jobs could leverage. Through two organizational entities, she has tendrils spread out across the media environment, in both mainstream outlets, local news, and as we will show, even in the realm of astroturfed propaganda sites. This is a veiled sector of the Jobs umbrella activities and one that can wield some significant influence.
It is amazing (though paradoxically not surprising) that the media industry behaves as though we cannot discern their full in-the-tank position with Kamala Harris. They have spent the past two weeks literally rewriting her history on multiple political positions, selling these bald-faced lies as if her record is something that would defy basic research.
One part of the video @joerogan was talking about Kamala; on another part of the video, he was talking about me. MSNBC combined it together to make it look like everything said was about Kamala and that he was endorsing her. Of course this is completely false. //
What's really serious here is that, not only does Joe Rogan deserve an apology, there's actually something bigger at stake here. This is yet another example of how MSNBC is working hand in glove with the Democrat Elite and the Kamala Harris campaign to try to spread lies....
After episodes of Axios and GovTrack retroactively changing their reporting, we are in uncharted territory where we are in Soviet style rewriting of history, not just media bias.
there’s a joke that I saw on Twitter today, which was that in the Soviet Union, the future was always written, but it’s the past that kept changing. And what they were talking about is Stalin and other Soviet leaders had a habit of changing history. And they would do it in many ways. And one of the ways they would do it as featured in this image. //
Axios wrote an article today saying that’s not true. She was never called the Border Czar. And then people found from 2021 articles in Axios calling her the Border Czar because she doesn’t want to now take responsibility for the border problems.
So Axios just reinvented it, wrote an addition saying, oh, we were wrong back then. We used it improperly.
No, they didn’t. They used it in context at the time because that’s what she was called. And just like the Soviets go back and airbrush people and rewrite things, that’s what Axios did today. //
GovTrack had rated her in 2019 as the most liberal senator in the Senate. That means to the left of Bernie Sanders. That’s a problem for Kamala Harris, and that is something that Republicans are hitting her on.
And in completely Soviet style. GovTrack simply took down her page and posted a notice saying that they’ve reconsidered things. And their whole methodology that they used in 2019, not just for her, but for everybody, was now wrong. And they removed the page much like the Soviets would remove pages from the encyclopedia. //
4fun | July 24, 2024 at 9:34 pm
I think this is the Soviet joke you were looking for.
The past is rewritten so fast that you don’t know what will happen yesterday.
As RedState reported earlier on Wednesday, the left-wing outlet published an article attacking Republicans for referring to Harris as the nation's "border czar." There was just one problem. Axios published an article in 2021 stating that she was. //
What's the first rule of holes? Something about not digging any further? After getting caught with its pants down, Axios didn't step back and admit it got it wrong. Instead, it added an editor's note throwing itself under the bus for once referring to Harris as the "border czar." In other words, an entire article was written to claim Republicans were lying, and in the end, Axios had to admit it had reported the exact same thing. //
Now that it's become clear she failed miserably at the task, the press wants to take it all back and pretend she holds no real responsibility for the disaster that continues to unfold. Call it Soviet, Orwellian, or worse, it's incredibly creepy to witness the lengths to which supposed "news" outlets are willing to go to protect Harris. This is not how the press is supposed to operate. //
CrankyBoomer.substack.com
an hour ago
I beg to differ.
Since her job as border czar was to do absolutely nothing, from the dems' perspective she succeeded brilliantly.
Ditto Mayorkis brilliantly succeeding at securing the border. They got exactly what they wanted from him too.
In a new wrinkle exposed in the defamation lawsuit brought against CNN by a private contractor and former military veteran, a deposition filing was made with unredacted content that may expose the network further. As we covered recently, the news network is facing a lawsuit that may match – or exceed – the defamation settlement FoxNews reached with Dominion Voting Systems.
This stems from a report made on “The Lead With Jake Tapper” by Alex Marquardt where he covered a component of the extraction efforts from Afghanistan. Security contractor Zachary Young worked as a private evacuation expert in the region, and Marquardt’s report carried the supposition that Young was an illegal operator. Judges have determined there is enough revealed to bring to a jury the charge that CNN knew there was a lack of factual basis and may have acted with malicious intent.
Byron York @ByronYork
·
It's a huge day in politics and MSNBC has pulled 'Morning Joe' off the air. They're apparently worried the MJ crew might say something 'inappropriate' about the Trump assassination attempt. From CNN: https://cnn.com/2024/07/14/media/msnbc-morning-joe-pulled-trump-assassination/index.html
7:36 AM · Jul 15, 2024
jester6
a few seconds ago
To me, the most disguising feature of people on the left is that they do not understand human nature, especially when it comes to violence and reciprocity.
They think violence is just an antiseptic theoretical concept. They treat it like an idea or theory you would toss around in a classroom or dope-infused bull session in a dorm room. They seem to believe violence is something you can experiment with and then turn off with just a few words.
They also never consider the fact that humans are hardwired to be reciprocal. If someone gives us a gift, we are more likely to give a gift in return. If someone wrongs us, we are more likely to wrong them back.
If you read the history of any major conflict, you will find that almost everyone starts with one or both sides, making fundamental mistakes when assessing their opponents.
I am certain if we ever stumble into a civil war, the left's poor understanding of human nature will be a major cause.
The Associated Press @AP
Biden at 81: Sharp and focused but sometimes confused and forgetful https://apnews.com/article/biden-age-election-debate-trump-7c366fda83a697265d9ecc77e8a32fd1?utm_campaign=TrueAnthem&utm_medium=AP&utm_source=Twitter
12:32 AM · Jul 4, 2024
Charles West @CharlemagneWest
·
Replying to @AP
AP in 2024: accurate and fair but sometimes partisan and shoddy.
8:43 PM · Jul 3, 2024
KJSpeed
2 hours ago
Baghdad Bob bowed his head because he knew that he'd been beat
and he laid his fork-ed tongue at the ground by AP's feet.
Weminuche45
7 hours ago
It's naive to assume the "news" media's intention is to inform. Their intention is to persuade you, entertain you, and profit from you. //
Romeg
an hour ago
To paraphrase Mark Twain "If you don't [follow] the news, you're uninformed. If you [DO follow] the news, You're misinformed."
All of the Alphabet networks as well as the two leading newspapers in the United States; the New York Times and The Wall Street Journal, are within walking distance of mid-town Manhattan and are totally dominated by leftists whose agendas have one thing in common; The Destruction of The Republican Party, and a secondary objective of the destruction of The Constitution of The United States of America. Their greatest fear is that another four-year term by Donald Trump will further increase the originalist make-up of The SCOTUS and the further diminution of The Administrative State, especially following a week in which the Leviathan took some pretty serious reductions in its power with the abolition of The Chevron Rule.
A truly originalist SCOTUS might well put an end to The Administrative State altogether since there is no provision whatsoever for the delegation of the power to legislate that is granted, EXCLUSIVELY, to Congress.
Cafeblue32
an hour ago edited
Imagine being a journalist in the US with all the protections, perks, and privileges that go along with it, and with all the massive examples of corruption and rot to go after, you focus on a SCOTUS judge's back yard flags his wife flies- that all perfectly normal flags representing normal things Or that should be normal, that is. That is what you have dedicated your investigative talents to? //
pinkunicorns
2 hours ago
I feel that those who have compromised their souls for the affirmation of strangers are a large populous.
But, in the end,no matter who you are, as MLK said, "One day we will learn that the heart can never be totally right when the head is totally wrong."
I pray that day is soon.
anon-ice5
a day ago
Even the initial question by the reporter is misleading. She says what is Johnathan's reaction to the four hostages and them getting released. But, they weren't released they where rescued, released would imply that Hamas willingly gave them up to the IDF but they plainly didn't. Rescue though shows that the IDF took them away from Hamas captivity despite Hamas' resistance.
Something similar would be the police rescuing an abused child from their abusive parents vs the the abused child being released from the abusive parents to the police. //
Avatar
Cafeblue32 anon-ice5
a day ago edited
When I did an oh-so-brief semester stint in a Journalism 101 classd thinking I wanted to be one, we learned about these things called "weasel words" that are subtle bias inserted into the story to gently nudge you into agreeing with the author's viewpoint. But now everything is in stark contrast of right v left, the holy v the profane, the rich against the poor, with everyone v white people, especially the ones with dangly bits. There is no need for sublety anymore. The left controls all the institutions. Once you have control, you don't need persuasion. You just need force and compliance.
Our system was always an adversarial one of the people v their government. It is so serious they created an entire Constituion dedicated almost entirely to limiting and separating government power. The press is protected because they are the advocate of the powerless against the powerful.
But the press has chosen sides, and decided to side with the bureaucratic state dedicated to corporatist fascism rather than the people. It in fact attacks the very people it is supposed to be defending. Thus, it is no longer a mechanism of a free society, it is the oppressive tool of the bureaucratic state that exists to reap ever more power over citizens and to sustain itself. When you have the media actually condemning free speech and calling it dangerous and a threat, and openly lying about what we can plainly see is a lie, they have jumped the shark and forfeited their right to protection, and something is very wrong in within the entire institution. //
Prester John
a day ago edited
The reporter didn’t ask about Cornicus’ reaction to the rescue, she asked him for his reaction to the hostages’ “release”. A significant difference that shows a deliberate choice of words.
anon-89ic
a day ago
There is something else going on here that you would think the American Left would be all over--namely, what Israel is learning about life inside Gaza, which reminds so many Jews of what the Americans found when they entered the death camps at the end of World War 2. While Israel is not engaging in genocide, Hamas is engaging in a sort of its own, not seen since Bosnia in the 90s. Namely, Hamas is using this war to kill not only its own people who it views as collaborator with israel, but, increasingly, its war on girls. Hamas needs boys for fighting, but girls are basically useless. It appears that Hamas is intentionally murdering thousands of girls--deaths that they then blame on Israel. Hamas hates women and doesn't want them, except the few they need for sex slaves. This gives us insight why the American Left loves Hamas so much--between abortion and the trans thing and girls sports, the American Left hates girls as much as Hamas does. It's the only way to explain why the Left supports Hamas--because the Left and Hamas believe in the same thing and Biden is their standard bearer. Report that, I dare them. //
anon-89ic anon-8w73
a day ago
I've been needing some light reading this spring, so I've been re-reading old Agatha Christie and Ellis Peters mysteries for the first time in probably 40 years and I noticed something about these books, written by similar English women. At the end of each book, not only is the murderer dealt with, but also order is fully restored which means all the women are securely locked down in the control of strong men. Feminism was supposed to erode this restriction on women running wild, but modern Democrat women seem to be yearning for that order, and if American men won't give it to them, the Imams will. Weird, huh? //
Marina Medvin 🇺🇸 @MarinaMedvin
·
“How dare those Jews rescue their hostages!” — WaPo, outraged.
8:22 PM · Jun 8, 2024
Everything about that headline is carefully crafted to mislead. For one, the claim that "more than 200 Palestinians killed" is completely unverified. Those numbers come directly from the Hamas-controlled "Gaza Ministry of Health." Also absent in them is any admission of how many of the dead were combatants, either because they were members of Hamas or chose to fire on the Israeli forces.
Then there's the labeling of the operation as an "Israeli hostage raid." This was not a "raid," a word that typically produces impressions of aggression (i.e., a bombing raid). It was a rescue in which self-defense was used while securing the safety of the four hostages.
That's nothing, though, compared to what one BBC reporter did while interviewing Jonathan Conricus, a former IDF spokesman.
Brian BJ @iamBrianBJ
·
The prize for most stupid question of the day goes to.... the bbc for asking the following question:
Should the @idf have warned Palestinians before launching the rescue operation ?
Listen to how @jconricus handled that one Show more
4:31 AM · Jun 9, 2024
After allowing Conricus to share his reaction to the rescue, the reporter's first question wasn't about why these hostages were being held by civilians. It wasn't about how the families felt when their loved ones returned after such a daring mission. It was to immediately pivot to "the death toll among Palestinians." //
Long story short: The mainstream press is awful. There is no low its members won't stoop to, and that includes becoming propagandists for terrorists. ///
In one sense, the BBC reporter actually gives an opportunity to defuse and debunk some of the criticism that IDF is going to get.