Tag: media

The Zman explains the link between the two:

It has been thrown down the memory hole, but Jordan decided the way to help black sports reporters was to give them exclusive access and deny access to honkies. Guys like Ahmad Rashad and Michael Wilbon were given special access. This made their careers, but it also ushered in the era of access journalism. Players granted access to reporters who were willing to sing their praises in their columns and on TV shows.

Something similar happened around the same time in Washington politics. The Clinton machine was ruthless in controlling the media. They would shutout reporters that did not play ball. There’s always been some of this, as people are naturally going to be nice to those who are nice to them and not so nice to people they see as adversaries. The difference was, the Clinton team turned this into a formal policy and the Washington press corp went along with it. They liked being treated like players so they acted accordingly.

The Bush people could not play the same game, as the Washington media is universally liberal, but they did a little bit of it with operations like Fox and the talk radio guys. Rich Lowry of National Review remodeled the magazine to be a GOP mouth piece for exactly this reason. It gave them access to Republicans. The Weekly Standard largely existed as a public relations vehicle for the Bush family. Much of what has gone wrong with Buckley Conservatism is due to the perils of access journalism.

This is why we see the explosion of fake news. The NBA guys want access or at least the illusion of access. To that end, they tweet out rumors and fake news in the hope of getting a reply from an agent or front office guy. That way they can then shoot down their own rumor or fake news with an actual quote from a real person. “After talking with person X, I can now report that the rumor I reported is false.” Fake news about rumors produces gossip that is eventually addressed by a real person in the news.

That seems to be what’s going on Washington with all the fake news. No one in the Washington media bothered to develop contacts in the Trump team. Instead, they mocked and harassed them through the campaign, figuring they were currying favor with the Clinton people. Now, they have no access so they create fake stories hoping to get a response from the Trump people. In lieu of real reporting, it is provocative fake reporting in the hope of gaining access to real people in the Trump White House.

This is all pretty much news to me, but it’s as explanatory as anything else I’ve heard suggested. Personally, I find it a little strange that Fake News has exploded at the very time that it has never been easier for the average individual to do a little looking around the Internet to debunk it.

Tommy Robinson is the latest to learn that it is a bad idea, even when it’s live television:

Piers Morgan blasted former English Defence League leader Tommy Robinson for being a “bigoted lunatic stirring up hatred” as he clashed with the right-wing activist this morning.

As Robinson pulled out a copy of the Koran on Good Morning Britain, Piers blasted him, saying: “Show some damn respect for people’s religious beliefs.“You’re sounding like a complete lunatic. You’re sounding like a bigoted lunatic.

“You’re stirring up hatred.

“You’re being a complete disgrace.”

Holding up the Koran, Robinson branded it a “violent and cursed book” and said: “This book is the reason we are in such a mess.”

Piers responded: “We’re in this mess because people take Islam, they are terrorists and they abuse the nature of Islam and… perpetrate evil.”

And the former EDL leader refused to accept Islam was a religion, saying: “Islam is an idea – a bad idea.” Asked if he was Islamophobic, Robinson retorted: “There’s no such word as Islamophobia. A phobia is an irrational fear, it’s not irrational to fear these things.”

I don’t know if people’s egos are simply too tempted by the thought of appearing on camera or if they truly believe they are smarter than almost every single person who has been summoned to play punching bag before them, but it’s remarkable how whether a reasonable individual is conservative, Alt-Right, Alt-Lite, or simply nationalist, they are drawn like moths to the candleflame of the hostile media’s cameras.

Tommy Robinson complained on Twitter:

Tommy Robinson @TRobinsonNewEra
Piers Morgan usual technique of not letting the person he is interviewing actually answer any questions.  Just…

Supreme Dark Lord‏  @voxday
Do you really not understand that you were there to be a punching bag? He was virtue-signaling at your expense. Don’t talk to the media! 

When you are approached by the media, be it Megyn Kelly, Piers Morgan, Wired, The New York Times, or The Atlantic, you must understand that they see you as the content du jour. And the content is always folded, spindled, and mutilated to fit their current Narrative, which is NOT the reason they will give you when they try to get you to talk to them or appear on their show.

Here is the thing. You don’t need the media. As Mike Cernovich points out, they need you. It is Piers Morgan whose name is on the headlines because Tommy Robinson was willing to make Morgan relevant today, not the other way around. Who is more relevant and has a bigger platform, Richard Spencer, who leaps to talk to the media, or Stefan Molyneux, who will not even return their emails?

And as both Mike and I have noticed, mainstream exposure doesn’t even move the needle. Not in terms of blog traffic, Twitter followers, or book sales. It is probable pain for no gain. Whereas whenever he goes on Infowars or I go on FreeDomainRadio, we see observable bumps in one or more metrics.

In light of this, I should mention that I am modifying my media policy. Previously, I had been willing to answer written questions posed to me by reporters in writing. I have now learned that they will never run those answers because they cannot use them to fit the Narrative. So, I will not be replying to any mainstream media inquiries that do not specifically, and solely, concern Castalia House books, Infogalactic, or games for which I am the lead designer.

UPDATE: had to modify that and add Infogalactic since Wired is apparently doing a story on it. I don’t know if it is a hit piece or a tech piece yet, but their questions – which I have answered in writing – were solely focused on tech-related issues. We’ll see.

Alex Jones is discovering that no matter how big your microphone is, the collective microphone of the mainstream media that can be arrayed against you is even bigger:

Megyn Kelly presented a highly critical 19-minute piece on conspiracy theorist Alex Jones on her NBC newsmagazine “Sunday Night” after a week of harsh criticism over the decision to present his views on network TV.

Jones is notorious for saying the 2012 shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Conn., was staged to promote tougher gun control laws. Twenty-six people, including 20 children, died, making it the second-deadliest mass shooting in modern U.S. history at the time.

NBC News brought on its elder statesman Tom Brokaw to join Kelly at the end of the program to say the parents of the Newtown victims “should not have to hear the cruel claim that it’s a lie.” Brokaw’s appearance was clearly an attempt to assuage the Sandy Hook families who were outraged and even threatened legal action against NBC News.

Jones, a radio host who operates the right-wing website Infowars, repeated his theory in the interview. Kelly said he never disavowed his previous statements in their conversations and noted there was no evidence to back his claims.

Kelly interviewed Newtown parent Neil Heslin, who described the devastating loss of his son. “I think he’s blessed to have his children to spend the day with, to speak to,” Heslin said. “I don’t have that.”

Kelly did have several heated exchanges with Jones, who was sweating profusely during their sit-down. She opened by pressing him on why he called the victims of the terrorist bombing at an Ariana Grande concert in Manchester, England, “liberal trendies” when many were pre-teen girls.

Jones tried to rationalize his statements in the interview but for the most part seemed frustrated by Kelly’s queries.

In a live-streamed video aired on his YouTube channel, Jones reacted angrily to the final taped “Sunday Night” piece as it aired. He lambasted Kelly and the mainstream media.

“This is a giant, evil misrepresentation,” he said. “They continue to misrepresent what I’ve said and what I’ve done.”

Still, he declared victory — popping a bottle of champagne and angrily vowing to keep up the fight against “globalism” and the lies covered up by the mainstream media.

On social media, reaction was mostly predictable.

Media colleagues and critics generally gave Kelly high marks for the toughness of the piece, which disputed nearly every theory Jones has promoted through Infowars.

Far-right commentators repeatedly called the interview a “hit piece.”

The rigor of the piece will likely take some of the sting out of critiques of Kelly, some of which suggested that her transition from Fox News to NBC News was off to a rocky start.

Washington Post media columnist Margaret Sullivan wrote on Twitter: “Bottom line on NBC’s Alex Jones piece: Strong editing gave it an edge & made him look like a kook. Still a win for him; boosts his profile.”

Jones, likely sensing that NBC was going to toughen up the segment, had already sought to undermine Kelly by leaking taped phone conversations in which she assured him it was not going to be “a hit piece.”

Now, it manifestly was a hit piece. The “far-right commentators” were correct. The Post columnist openly admits as much when she refers to “strong editing” giving the piece “an edge” and making Jones “look like a kook”. That is always the media’s objective when profiling or quoting a Narrative denier. Notice how the LA Times piece takes its own shots: “was sweating profusely”, “tried to rationalize”, “seemed frustrated”, “reacted angrily”, and so forth.

This is why the average individual should NEVER speak to the media. Jones did everything people customarily recommend – he recorded the interview, he recorded the requests for the interview, he released some of the recordings, and he showed Megyn Kelly to be a liar – and yet that didn’t prevent NBC from doing the usual hit piece or the rest of the media piling on and declaring it to be a triumphant expose of a kook.

Notice, too, the way in which the rest of the media is praising Kelly for disputing Jones’s statements. But did she request a debate or an interview with him? And what sort of honest debate format has ever permitted one disputant to edit the statements made by both sides?

Now, the additional exposure may be worth it to Jones. It’s too soon to say. Sometimes these calculated risks do work out, as Cernovich’s appearance on 60 Minutes observably did. But the average individual must understand that it is a risk, and that even those with sizable platforms such as Alex Jones and Mike Cernovich are playing underdog. And really, what is the benefit of proving, beyond any shadow of a doubt, that Megyn Kelly is a liar? Is there anyone in America who didn’t already know that?