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The Press Struggles With Breaking News

Brad Slager
Brad Slager  |  Dec 10, 2024
The opinions expressed by columnists are their own and do not necessarily represent the views of Townhall.com.

Anti-Social Media – THE NEW YORK TIMES

  • It’s almost as if this was an unprovoked attack or something.

After his acquittal for murder, the Daniel Penny decision clearly bothers the press. In its coverage of the trial result, The New York Times frames the case as one of a former Marine choking to death another rider on the subway. Little-to-zero mention is made of Jordan Neely provoking things with his aggression toward other riders, and there is a complete avoidance of Neely having dozens of arrests over the recent years.

Criminal Family Album – ROLLING STONE

  • Maybe Mr. Penny just hated the song “Smooth Criminal”?

Joining in on the news outlets avoiding Jordan Neely’s multiple problems and his criminal past was Rolling Stone. Not only do they prop up Neely as an innocent who was wrongfully attacked, but we have to be told that he was known as a Michael Jackson street performer – not a public nuisance who chalked up 42 arrests with numerous violent charges in a seven-year period.

Reporting on the Mirror – AXIOS / MSNBC

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  • Bear in mind, these are the same people defending Biden’s age while saying Trump is too old.

On “Morning Joe,” they brought on Axios co-founders Jim VandeHei and Mike Allen to discuss their recent piece about the fracturing news consumer audience. In a piece at their outlet, the duo covered what they labeled as the 12 new categories of news consumers.

The categories they concocted were rather notable in that they had rather dismissive labels for any conservatives (“MAGA Mind-melders” is one example), while those on the left were venerated – “liberal warriors” was one, and Axios described its own audience as the “Elite Power-consumers.”

Looking into the matter, the hosts were not adroit enough to figure that bringing up audience details at a time when their network has seen approximately 50% of its audience run off since the election was a bad idea, so there was Scar-Joe leaning into the ridicule. His bride, Mika, also chimed in with her insulting conclusion, as she referenced one of the categories:

I was at an appointment the other day, and a woman was talking about her parents. I think they are in the right-wing grandpa category. And they are convinced, from what they have been reading, that hurricanes were brought here by our enemies. And convinced, absolutely convinced. 

Understand, these are the people who spent the past year declaring Trump is Hitler, a fascist, and will be arresting their on-air hosts as he is going to dismantle our democracy – but they are worried those old cronies watching Fox News are getting misinformation.

Of course, what these deep elite thinkers did not tell their audience is that MSNBC viewers tend to be older than those watching their competition:

CNN’s median age was 67 this year, up from 60 in 2017. That figure is still lower than the median age of the Fox News (68) and MSNBC (71) audiences.

News Avoidance Syndrome – AXIOS

The other story the press is contorting themselves over this week is the assassination of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson. With news coming out that the suspect, Luigi Mangione, was arrested at a McDonald’s restaurant in Pennsylvania, Axios sprung into action.

Apparently, that location is now receiving fraudulent online reviews as a result of the arrest, and…really, this is what we are doing now?

Body Checking the Fact-Checkers – REUTERS

  • Sooo…you understand what is happening, yet still go through with it…?

Kyle Mann of The Babylon Bee shared a correspondence he received from Reuters. It was from the fact-checking department. They wanted to fact-check a recent entry from the satirical site.

Now, the “reporter” acknowledges that the piece they are fact-checking is satire, yet they are still going forward with the fact-check because they – as stated in the message – “curb the circulation of misinformation.”

They are fact-checking humor and jokes, folks. For our protection.

Artisanally-Crafted Narratives – THE NEW YORK TIMES

  • Apparently, the president-elect is choosing the right people for his agenda, and that is wrong.

And yet another item that has the press tied up in a knot involves Trump’s Cabinet selections, and it is reaching comedically desperate levels. The latest comes from The Times, which found a problem in his choice of people.

It turns out that when seeking out names for his Cabinet, Trump is looking for people who will be on board with his intended agenda (Enter GASP → Here):

Previous administrations, of course, have also been interested in whether new hires were aligned with the president’s agenda. But the distinction between Mr. Trump’s process and past ones is that the interest goes well beyond alignment on policy. The Trump transition team appears to be trying to figure out whether prospective hires have ever shown a hint of daylight between themselves and Mr. Trump on specific issues, particularly as he tried to revise the history of his final weeks in office and its aftermath.

Considering the pushback, leaks, and other forms of combative behavior Trump experienced during his first term, it stands to reason they would become more selective for this go-round, but at The Times this is regarded as problematic.