Tag: media

She’s Far from the Only One

Peter King is an excellent football reporter. While I could do without his occasional editorial sallies into politics, which reliably offer typically retarded left-wing takes, he follows in the well-respected tradition of Paul Zimmerman. If he reports on something football-related, you can guarantee that it is honest, legitimate, and well-sourced, and it is probably true.

But he clearly has no idea how flagrantly dishonest most of the mainstream media is on a regular basis, or he wouldn’t be calling for sideline fabulist Charissa Thompson’s pretty little head:

We live in a time when the media is more distrusted than I ever remember. Thompson is a high-profile person who hosts the Thursday night pregame show on Amazon Prime, who hosts a Sunday pre-game on Fox, who co-hosts a podcast with Erin Andrews. She says on the Pardon My Take podcast that in her former role as a sideline reporter at Fox she would “make up the report sometimes.” It’s outrageous. It’s fireable. Thompson’s not covering the White House, but I don’t care if she’s covering the Chula Vista Little League. Her job is to report the truth, and she admitted she made up things. When Thompson says that, it’s fodder for media-haters to say, “See? They all lie.” Now, in these high-profile roles at Amazon and Fox, how do you trust she’s not inventing some of the things she’s saying? And where are the programming people, the bosses, particularly at Fox, where Thompson said these sideline reports occurred? The silence says one of two things: Sideline reports don’t really matter. Or the truth doesn’t really matter. Or both.

Thompson’s statement after the firestorm didn’t solve anything. Thompson didn’t say on Pardon My Take that she’d almost make it up, or use some qualifying words. She said she “would make it up.” And she repeated it: “No coach is gonna get mad if I say, ‘Hey, we need to stop hurting ourselves, we need to be better on third down, we need to stop turning the ball over and do a better job of getting off the field.’ They’re not gonna correct me on that. So I’m like, it’s fine, I’ll just make up the report.” In her Instagram statement the next day, Thompson said: “I understand how important words are and I chose the wrong words to describe the situation. I’m sorry. I have never lied about anything or been unethical during my time as a sports broadcaster.” Twice Thompson said she’d made up reporting. A day later she said she never lied or was unethical. So, what’s true? What she said on the podcast? What she said in a clear CYA statement that made things worse?

So she lied a few times. And then she lied about having lied. So what? The vast majority of reporters lie, or at the very least report things they don’t actually know to be true, on a daily basis. It’s not as if Congress is sending tens of billions of dollars to the Carolina Panthers because she gave them cause to believe they might possibly be able to win a few games.

DISCUSS ON SG

A Gatekeeper in Action

Tim Pool does NOT want to let his guest talk about the 1967 Israeli attack on the USS Liberty or its potential implications for the current US Navy presence in the Eastern Mediterranean.

GUEST: I’m concerned with having American aircraft carriers over there, like what I keep being told about the USS Liberty, that’s something with the Israeli government-

TIM POOL: You should, you should be careful about that one!

SIDEKICK: Allegedly, the Israeli Air Force, jet fighter aircraft, I mean, they did end up paying out the American government.

GUEST: So I’m concerned, like false flag operation, like a missile comes out of Gaza and hits one of our aircraft carriers, but it was actually an Israeli missile. I don’t want, we should get out of there, it doesn’t-

TIM POOL: Let me stop you there. It doesn’t matter where the missile comes from. If a missile comes out of the Middle East in any capacity and hits a US target, everyone will claim it was exactly what they want it
to be, exactly. The US military will say Iran did it, the pro-Palestinians will say Israel did it, the pro-Israel will say Hamas did it.

GUEST: Yeah, if it comes out of a foreign country other than Israel, then it’ll be hard to deny.

TIM POOL: It doesn’t matter where it comes from! The US will say Iran did it.

GUEST: Right, well, if it comes out of Tel Aviv it’s going to be hard to sell that.

TIM POOL: But prove it came out of Tel Aviv! How do you know? You read the news! You are going to get American intelligence agencies going to news organizations, saying “tell them it came out of Iran”!

GUEST: I don’t think the Americans want their carrier to be hit as a false flag. Maybe the USS Liberty thing was an accident.

SIDEKICK: That’s the controversy over it. The Israeli government claims it was an accident, but some survivors say that they don’t think it was an accident, so was it a false flag? That’s why people talk about it.

GUEST: Did America get involved in the 1967 war after that?

SIDEKICK: No, because it ended up it ended up being really short but-

TIM POOL: We are, we’re going to go to super chats so if you haven’t already would you kindly smash that Like button, and subscribe to this channel.

I’m not saying Tim Pool is wrong, although I think there is zero chance that any Israeli missiles will be launched at any American ships; the fact that the US media still avoids the subject of the USS Liberty like vampires avoiding holy water tends to indicate that the Israelis don’t have any desire to risk repeating that sort of debacle, not when the US Navy is perfectly capable of sinking its own ships without any help from friend, foe, or greatest ally. And, depending upon the captain, possibly without even intentionally trying to do so.

Also, there are no shortage of influential neocons in the US government and media who want war with Iran far worse than the Israelis do. They are both less attached to reality and more distanced from the potential consequences. Israeli military historian Martin van Creveld once said, in an ironic turn of phrase, that US neocons are willing to fight to the very last Israeli.

What is most interesting about the interview, however, is the way in which Pool tells the guest to “be careful” after he brings up the incident, and then immediately attempts to change the subject, twice. It would be very interesting to ask Mr. Pool why he believes one has to “be careful” about a minor military engagement that took place 56 years ago and is such a matter of public record that it has its own Wikipedia page.

This is what media gatekeeping looks like in action. It’s the avoidance of certain topics and the steering of the public discourse away from those topics when they are, for some reason, accidentally brought up.

DISCUSS ON SG

The Defunding and Decline of the Media

We’ve already reached the point that mainstream media organs require sugar daddies like Jeff Bezos, Carlos Slim Helú, and the US federal government just to operate on a reduced scale. And now that the era of free money is over, the decline is going to accelerate as more mainstream and mainstream-supported organizations fail.

​​Nearly 20,000 jobs have been eliminated across the media industry this year as premium outlets struggle to combat declining rates in ad revenue, according to Axios estimates. The report found that media companies can no longer rely on short-term capital to insulate them from ad declines because of “high interest rates and investor skepticism.” Thus, the cuts were industry-wide in 2023.

The Washington Post announced plans to offer voluntary buyouts in an attempt to cut 240 jobs. The Post has roughly 2.5 million subscribers, down from 3 million at the end of 2020. The Post is set to lose $100 million this year.

CNBC Digital cut around 20 editorial staffers last week. Vice Media Group laid off about 100 staffers this year and consolidated its businesses from five to two. G/O Media suspended Jezebel and laid off some 23 staffers.

Elsewhere, ad revenue for BuzzFeed declined 35% year-over-year. Ad revenue for Dow Jones, the parent company of the Wall Street Journal, decreased 3%. Linear ads for television networks like CNN parent company Warner Bros. Discovery declined “12% on average,” per the report.

And this doesn’t even begin to account for media organizations using AI to replace hack journalists and editors. The situation presents a massive opportunity for alternative media companies that operate on a subscription model, but the challenge is to figure out what subscribers actually want/need and for which products they are willing to pay. The advertising model was always fake, it simply allowed the favored organizations to subsidize all the free viewers and thereby massively expand their influence.

It was also malinformative, as it permitted those running the propped-up organizations to believe that their businesses were sound and their products were hugely popular. But, as is so often the case with Clown World, most of that “succcess” was a manufactured and debt-inflated illusion.

So, the playing field is being levelled, to some degree, but that doesn’t mean that it is necessarily wise for any alternative organization to attempt to play on it. We’re not going to do anything right now, as we have our hands sufficiently occupied with delivering on our current projects. But it doesn’t hurt to keep an eye out for future ones.

DISCUSS ON SG

In Which I Express A Heartfelt Apology

This beautiful piece by my PR agent, Pax Dickenson, appears to be disappearing from the various archive sites, which themselves appear to be disappearing as the Zero Historians attack the Internet now that racism and problematic history in statuary has been satisfactorily addressed. And we simply cannot permit that to happen to what is nothing less than a glorious work of performance art and the pinnacle of positive media relations.

A fortnight ago I was contacted by a Ms. Amanda Robb, who identified herself as a journalist. Having had a personal history of difficulty with unsavory wretches of that sort, and being a well-known proponent of a harsh criminal punishment for their un-American collectivist scribblings, I of course immediately recommended that Ms. Robb engage in a vigorous act of self-procreation.

Ms. Robb, however, would not be deterred. She (I did not ask her pronoun, regrettably, so I must assume) was earnestly seeking my comment regarding traditionalist superhero comic books and the manners and methods of aggregating funds for the production of such. The aggressively persistent Ms. Robb told me she is a journalist for the widely known (none would say ‘popular’, but it is widely known) Rolling Stone magazine; which magazine, I learned, is not actually solely published for manipulative character assassinations of washed-up entertainers and the dissemination of libelous false rape accusations against innocent frat boys, but purports to do Actual Journalism. I questioned this ambition, of course, but Ms. Robb assured me that the former incautious Rolling Stone editors responsible for the recent libelous rape fiction had been quite thoroughly sacked after the massive financial settlement and had been replaced by a new crop of editors who were assuredly much cleverer about not being found responsible for making things up in any legally actionable way.

Upon perusing Ms. Robb’s prior work at Marie Claire, The Guardian and with The Investigative Fund of The Nation Magazine, which focused on baby-killing tips, a convenient debunking of investigations of elite pedophile rings, and Ms. Robb’s personal experiences with extensive plastic surgery, I could only conclude Ms. Robb must be undoubtedly amongst the finest of politically axe-grinding journalists working in stale Boomer left-wing pop music magazines today.

I explained to Ms. Robb that I have retired to the quiet life of a simple gentleman farmer, knew and cared little about comic books, and did not seek further attention from the media-propaganda complex. I further explained that I considered her employers and her “profession” (such that it is) to be distasteful at best and criminal at worst, and that I expected she might not have the best of intentions toward me given my knowledge about how modern journalism is done and my past experiences being a subject of the yellow press. I directly and forthrightly informed Ms. Robb that I considered her to be my enemy and refused to help her. Ms. Robb, however, was not to be discouraged by any such declaration.

Ms. Robb insisted on an interview despite my pugnacious resistance and emphatically asserted that it would be helpful for her story. Worn down by her insipid pleadings, I reluctantly agreed, and set up a meeting with her in New York City for the next afternoon. I wasn’t in New York City, and in fact I was at my home over one hundred miles away from New York City. I had absolutely no ability or plans to be in New York City by that next day, but Ms. Robb was so insistent that I decided to just make the appointment with her and hope for the best.

At the appointed time, for security reasons, I texted Ms. Robb to change the location to a different one at which I hoped to somehow be, despite never having left my home, which is, as I said, over one hundred miles away. She “never got” my message until she was home, so it all worked out. Except for the small detail of actually doing an interview. I was quite comfortable with this outcome but regrettably Ms. Robb was less than satisfied.

I explained to Ms. Robb that I lived over one hundred miles away from New York City and I wasn’t planning any trips to New York City in the foreseeable future, so any interview was simply impossible. Ms. Robb immediately suggested driving the three hours to rural Pennsylvania to talk to me. I demurred, but she explained that comic books and the manners and methods of procuring funds for the production of such was of such importance, she would gladly drive over one hundred miles to talk to me despite my repeated professions of ignorance and declarations of refusal to help.

I agreed but explained that I required significant security measures for meetings with the disreputable journalist class she represented, and she would have to follow my security directives to the letter in order to get her interview.

First, I ordered her to purchase a bright red Make America Great Again hat at Trump Tower before her trip. I explained that the fashionable hat would cost $35 due to its quality American-made construction, but assured her that her paymasters at Rolling Stone magazine would certainly reimburse her. I explained that I needed her to have the hat for identification purposes later. I also sent her an address to a closed restaurant 3 hours drive from New York and told her to go to that location and await further instructions.

On the appointed date, she eventually arrived, later than the expected time as is the wont of her gender and profession, but arrived nonetheless. I directed her to the next rendezvous point, a small restaurant with outdoor seating 30 minutes drive further west. I told her that upon arrival at this location, she should sit outside and send me a ‘selfie’ with the red MAGA hat on, in order to confirm her arrival and help me identify her.

At this point, the entire endeavor had been going precisely according to plan, so I’m not sure what explains Ms. Robb’s clear expression of annoyance in the selfie I received. Perhaps she had a premonition of the unfortunate disappointment to come, via some oracular power, as some of the distaff sex have been known to possess. However, given the remainder of this tale, Ms. Robb’s psychic ability seems scant.

I directed Ms. Robb up the hill and to a pleasant location near the lake in the nearby State Park where I imagine that I might have waited, had I actually left my house, which I hadn’t. She expressed reluctance, and then seemingly became confused, sending me a picture of a park sign at the shale pit instead of the lake.

As if a knowledgeable and well-placed journalistic source like myself would imagine hanging out in a dusty shale pit. In retrospect, I suppose a state park with dozens of ambiguous signs marking half a dozen non-interconnecting entrances and extremely spotty cell phone service was not the best choice of rendezvous location. By the time Ms. Robb had arrived at the exact location where I had imagined I might be, I unfortunately was no longer imagining myself there anymore. I certainly tried my best to find Ms. Robb, despite never having left my house, which was, as I said, over a dozen miles away from the park.

Having imagined myself in a place with such spotty cell phone service, I was unable to reply to Ms. Robb’s repeated messages looking for me until quite a while later. When I was able to imagine myself in better conditions, I found that she had meandered all over the park in a futile attempt to find the place I had imagined I might be. After a distinct lack of success she then booked a nearby hotel room and informed me that she was prepared to await a more auspicious outcome on the morrow. Not wanting to disappoint, I proposed a very early 6:30 a.m. meeting at Cracker Barrel for the next morning, which Ms. Robb graciously accepted.

Unfortunately, that breakfast was to remain one cracker short of a barrel. In an unforeseen turn of events, I was hypothetically summoned at sunrise to aid a neighbor in rounding up a dozen escaped hogs.

Engaged as I was in these pretend porcine shenanigans, I quite reasonably missed the time for my breakfast meeting with Ms. Robb. I communicated my regrets to her shortly thereafter. She asked if we could instead meet that afternoon but I suggested meeting that evening after I had sufficiently recovered from my swine herding efforts.

That night I changed the time of our dinner from 7:30 p.m. to 9:00 p.m., on a whim, just to keep Ms. Robb entertained. At this time she informed me that her editors were getting irritated. The thought of the finest political editors in the Boomer Left pop music magazine business being personally irritated with my humble antics left me filled with amused pity. Later, I messaged Ms. Robb to tell her I had been delayed by a henway. She not unreasonably asked, “What’s a henway?” to which I of course replied, “About three pounds.” She didn’t understand this, and then began to rudely question my subsequent promise to arrive in a “BOFA” (Brisk Or Fast Arrival–a well-known acronym).

I finally decided that I had had enough of the rudeness of the press for that day, and let her know that the only BOFA she should be expecting was BOFA DEEZ NUTZ.

In conclusion, I’d like to say that I’m truly sorry we had such trouble arranging to meet up, Ms. Robb.

I realize that journalism depends on good faith and trust between journalists and sources, and I’d hate to see our repeated poor luck inspire unscrupulous or mischievous fellows to waste the time of well-meaning journalists like yourself. If journalists had to wonder every time they made an appointment and were required to buy a right-wing hat if this was some sort of trick to embarrass them, it’s possible that no journalism would ever get done at all. Is that the kind of world you want to live in? I don’t. I’d be worried about all the blood rushing out of my brain from the massive schadenfreude erection I would get.

P.S. Ms. Robb, shall we try once more? I’ll be at Famous Ray’s pizza in Brooklyn on Tuesday at noon. No, the other one. This time, I swear I’ll show up.

P.P.S. Wear the hat.

DISCUSS ON SG

Why EVERYONE Hates the Media

Even those whose politics are more or less in line with those of the mainstream media often find the organizations and individuals to be contemptible. Brett McMurphy, a former ex-ESPN reporter, calls out the Disney-owned sports network for its overt hypocrisy:

It’s ironic @ESPN is hammering Michigan & Jim Harbaugh for sign-stealing when ESPN continually steals & fails to credit reporters & news organizations for news ESPN didn’t break

The media never hesitates to hold everyone else to rules that it rejects for itself. And it’s always fascinating to see how the media immediately abandons all of its sacred journalistic principles the moment it, or one of its employees or executives, becomes the center of attention for one reason or another.

Although Clay Travis of Outkick suspects that in this case, there might be something more than the usual hypocrisy at work here.

Conspiracy theory: Is ESPN going hard after Michigan because they are mad they lost all the Big Ten games and want to devalue the Big Ten conference?

Either way, it would be hard to name a more hypocritical institution than the mainstream media. I’d place my trust in a crack-addicted street whore before I’d trust any mainstream journalist, much less an editor.

DISCUSS ON SG

Pseudoscience and the Stink of Sulfur

In which it is claimed that reading alternative media instead of a healthy daily dose of narrative from the mainstream media is unhealthy for your heart:

According to a pilot study led by Manchester Metropolitan University, those who do not read legacy mainstream media and opt for alternative sources of information demonstrate unhealthy symptoms of physical and mental stress, which can lead to heart attacks.

The research study used so-called “sophisticated techniques” to monitor how people use media websites to measure their reactions to online information.

The researchers claimed people with a low ID have a flawed ‘threat’ response when presented with misleading information in a stressful situation, which they say brings on cardiac responses and erratic reading behavior.

The study also found that participants with low IDs also lacked self-confidence.

It also claimed that reading alternative media from “unverified” sources (i.e., not reading CNN, MSNBC, BBC, ect) could negatively affect a person’s health and well-being.

Ah yes, that fine and well-learned institution of Manchester Metropolitan University, whatever that is. Motto: Credimus omnia nobis erant.

As always, the inversion of the wicked is a reliable guide toward the truth. If you read the mainstream news, you were not only frightened and stressed out by the non-danger of Covid 19, but you probably got vaxxed and boosted, which inflicted material damage to your heart and increased your risk of strokes and turbo cancers.

The sum total of this is considerably worse than the “unhealthy symptoms of physical and mental stress” caused by reading sites like this which tend to make it clear over time how blitheringly credulous and easily led to their doom many of your acquaintances, friends, and family are.

A happy subject receiving her daily dose of Narrative.

DISCUSS ON SG

China Disappears Israel

China has literally wiped the name of Israel off its mapping software.

Chinese tech giants Baidu and Alibaba no longer display the name of Israel on their maps, The Wall Street Journal reported on Monday – a move they said reflected ‘Beijing’s vague diplomacy in the region.’

The online maps show Israel’s borders and cities, the paper said.

But the country itself is not named – in contrast to other neighboring countries.

Social media users shared maps they said confirmed the WSJ’s point.

I don’t think Beijing’s Middle East diplomacy has been even remotely vague; it’s apparent that the mainstream media doesn’t want to let the public know how massive the weight of world opinion against Israel is now.

It’s fascinating to see how the media appeals to world opinion when it’s attacking Russia, then tries to pretend it doesn’t exist and doesn’t matter when it’s defending Israel. And amping up the propaganda not only isn’t working, it’s counterproductive when literally no one except neocons and Boomercons believe it.

Meanwhile, the Chinese are observably unimpressed with the media theatrics.

The current ground operations have evidently resulted in excessive casualties, and with the situation in Gaza deteriorating further, a humanitarian disaster in the Gaza Strip is poised to escalate. Continuous casualties will only breed more hatred. Strategically, this is not merely a military test for Israel but also a test of wisdom. Excessive actions will cause Israel to lose the sympathy gained due to Hamas’ attacks. 

The criticism of Israel’s excessive use of force in Chinese public opinion is primarily based on morality. However, some Western media outlets have labeled the Chinese internet discourse as “antisemitic,” which is clearly an unjust accusation. There is absolutely no foundation for the formation of “antisemitism” as an ideology in China. China prioritizes regional peace and opposes the slaughter of civilians by a state apparatus. The mainstream voices on Chinese internet platforms echo this sentiment.

US and Israel should approach international criticism rationally, GLOBAL TIMES, 30 October 2023

DISCUSS ON SG

The Official Story is Always Fake

Despite all the outrage, the riots, and even the reported criminal convictions, as we always knew, the Minneapolis police didn’t kill George Floyd.

During her deposition, Sweasy also discussed a revealing conversation she said she had the day after Floyd’s death when she asked Hennepin County Medical Examiner Dr. Andrew Baker about the autopsy.

“I called Dr. Baker early that morning to tell him about the case and to ask him if he would perform the autopsy on Mr. Floyd,” she explained. “He called me later in the day on that Tuesday and he told me that there were no medical findings that showed any injury to the vital structures of Mr. Floyd’s neck. There were no medical indications of asphyxia or strangulation,” Sweasy said, according to the transcript.

“He said to me, ‘Amy, what happens when the actual evidence doesn’t match up with the public narrative that everyone’s already decided on?’ And then he said, ‘This is the kind of case that ends careers.’”

Minneapolis’s prosecutors always knew George Floyd died of natural causes, 21 October 2023

The extent to which the news media is corrupted, and to which the official stories they report should be distrusted, cannot be exaggerated. It is much, much safer to assume that everything they say, and every narrative that they sustain, is essentially false, than to take any of it at face value.

We see this again and again and again. Remember, Clown World is intrinsically inversive, so everything they say is closer to the opposite of the truth than to the truth itself.

DISCUSS ON SG

Sir, This is a Wendy’s

Question: Take a guess what media outlet this quote is taken from:

People attending a Thursday performance from Dave Chappelle reportedly were very upset with comments the comedian made about Israel.

The Israelis are currently engaged in a massive war against Hamas following the horrific slaughter of more than 1,400 men, women and children in Israel. So far, the war has been mostly an air campaign, but all signs indicate a ground invasion could come in the near future.

The topic has dominated the news, and for good reason. Hamas terrorists murdered innocent people, and Israel is now responding. That’s called war and retaliation.

Dave Chappelle thinks going to war with Hamas in Gaza is a war crime committed by Israel.

DAVE CHAPPELLE REPORTEDLY ACCUSES ISRAEL OF WAR CRIMES DURING SHOW, COMPLETELY MISSES THE MARK, 22 October 2023

Answer: It’s from Outkick the Coverage. Now how, pray tell, is this sports-related news of any kind?

Clay Travis really needs to tell his writers to stay in their freaking lanes.

And I know when I want an opinion on geopolitics and war, the first person I turn to is a comedian.

DISCUSS ON SG

Propaganda is the Priority

Israel has drafted hundreds of military reservists to produce PR content claiming that Palestinian militants were responsible for the strike on the Al-Ahli Baptist Hospital in Gaza, IDF spokesman Rear Adm. Daniel Hagari said.

If hundreds of reservists are being drafted for the purpose of writing press releases, one might be inclined to not unreasonably conclude that the ground offensive has been called off despite social media rumors that Joe Biden has “privately” given the Netanyahu government the green light for it. On the other hand, staffing up the propaganda arm could mean that they know they’re going to need a lot more PR in the near future. A LOT.

But regardless, I absolutely think it’s entirely possible that Israel is, in fact, innocent of dropping a JDAM on the Baptist Hospital in Gaza.

It might have been the US Navy instead.

The challenge to the “Hamas did it” crowd is to address the obvious and inescapable question: if Hamas possesses weapons capable of that level of destruction, why isn’t it using them against Israel?

UPDATE: US President Joe Biden on Wednesday argued that the Hamas attack on Israel was worse than the 2001 terrorist attacks on New York and Washington, and vowed that America would “forever” stand with the Jewish state.

DISCUSS ON SG