Media Bias

[L'Emmerdeur]

As our erstwhile colleague from the provinces used to say, "Fact-checking only favours the Democrats." Guess that makes Mr Putin a Democrat then.

It's one of many ludicrous memes of the right. In the US they've been forced to become windvanes, tuned only to the eructations of Trump and whatever pet loudmouth he currently favors. The truth is malleable because it has to be if you're following a lifelong confidence man. Kellyanne Conway was only acknowledging that with her 'alternative facts.'

Those who rudely insist on verifiable facts contrary to the rancid snake oil peddled by their idol are anathema, suffering from Trump Derangement Syndrome. It's not new with Trump, it's only blossomed in the manner of Amorphophallus titanum.

So while the left and the right tend to reject facts that don't align with their views, the right (in the US at least) has rejected any allegiance to facts in the first place. Tax cuts pay for themselves and nobody is going to lose their access to medical care. Immigrants are an invading army and therefore a national security issue: civil rights are an unacceptable impediment to the defense of the nation. Patriotism demands they build concentration camps to facilitate the purification of the population.

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Meanwhile on Fox News--don't say it's racism or sexism, it's just political ...

U.S. Rep. Jasmine Crockett (D-TX) is widely seen as a top contender to challenge Republican Senator John Cornyn in a high-stakes race that could determine control of the U.S. Senate. Early polling shows her leading the Democratic field.

Fox News hosts in recent weeks have targeted the outspoken Texas Democrat, an attorney, and in one particularly caustic segment on Thursday, they denigrated her intelligence and capabilities.

“Her incompetence is beastly,” declared Fox News co-host Lisa “Kennedy” Montgomery. “I mean, she certainly is a mental deficient.”

“If you listen to any of her statements, and she is callous. She’s also, you know, she’s a dumb-dumb, and you can’t take her seriously,” Kennedy continued. “She doesn’t have solid policy positions, and, uh, you know, she is a recalcitrant piece of garbage.”

Kennedy concluded that “all she cares about is making her profile more massive, and she’s massively incompetent.”

...

In response to Crockett denouncing President Donald Trump’s “racist and wrong” remarks about the President of Liberia, White House spokesperson Harrison Fields on Thursday attacked the Texas Democratic Congresswoman.

“Jasmine Crockett has the brain capacity of a jellyfish and is the last person on Earth to critique anyone’s mental acuity, let alone intelligence,” Fields said, as The Hill reported. “The Democrats’ rising star has done more to cement the party’s demise than the President she breathlessly supported, the decrepit and feeble Joe Biden.”

[source]

[L'Emmerdeur]

Horrible fake news, a disservice to the country!

Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem launched a furious tirade against CNN Thursday after the network reported she delayed potentially life-saving federal aid during catastrophic Texas flooding that has killed at least 120 people.

...

While Texas communities begged for help as floodwaters rose Friday, Noem didn't sign off on deploying rescue teams until Monday. Meanwhile she was asking her Instagram followers to choose between three paintings of herself on horseback for her official gubernatorial portrait.

Noem branded CNN's factual reporting as "fake news" and "absolute trash," parroting her boss President Donald Trump's frequent attacks on the network. "CNN continuing to be political and push out fake information and false information and lies is not shocking, but it's a disservice to the country," she said.

[source]

[Brian Peacock]

There's so much projection from these people. Projection upon confabulation. And then there's just the bare-faced lying. And then they claim their virtue is not being quite as bad as the other guy.

[Woodbutcher]

I do not watch American news channels. I watch Canadian CTV and CBC that seem to be less biased.

[L'Emmerdeur]

From days ago, but should be noted here.

'Fox Host’s "What Up, My Nazi?" Rant Slammed by Civil Rights Icon'

One of the nation’s most prominent civil rights attorneys is denouncing Fox News co-host Greg Gutfeld’s attempt to normalize the word “Nazi,” diminish its horrific meaning, and strip it of the weight it carries. And she’s asking why so few seem outraged by his remarks.

“This is why the criticism doesn’t matter to us when you call us Nazis. ‘Nazi this,’ and ‘Nazi that,’ Gutfeld declared on Tuesday (video below) during the cable network’s show, “The Five,” in a segment where the chyron read: “Dems Smear ICE With Nazi Comparisons.”

“You know what? I’ve said this before,” he continued. “We need to learn from the Blacks — the way they were able to remove the power from the N word by using it. So, from now on, it’s, ‘What up my Nazi?’ ‘Hey, hey, what up, my Nazi?’ ‘Hey, what’s hanging my Nazi?'”

Sherrilyn Ifill, the civil rights attorney, Professor of Law, and former president and director-counsel of the NAACP Legal Defense Fund, wondered where Americans’ outrage had gone.

“Just loathsome,” Ifill wrote. “I know it’s old school, but is there no demand that Fox fire him? Losing his microphone should be the minimum.”

Others also responded.

Progressive media outlet The Tennessee Holler called Gutfeld’s remarks “One of the most tone deaf and problematic 30 seconds of TV in our history right here. This will be tough to beat.”

The Lincoln Project responded, “So they’re just fully comfortable calling themselves Nazis now. Got it.”

The House Homeland Security Committee Democrats weighed in, writing: “Greg Gutfeld is an unwatchable racist clown.”

Mehdi Hasan, editor-in-chief and CEO of Zeteo News, wrote: “These quotes, even if said in jest, would destroy the careers of any other journalist on any other mainstream national media platform. But Fox doesn’t employ journalists and doesn’t have any journalistic (or decency) standards.”

[Brian Peacock]

Shit journalism there. Pitching outraged progressives against the remarks ofc, but still making it out to be a sport only played between two opposing teams. The only merit in the article is the reporting of the fact of the remarks being broadcast.

[L'Emmerdeur]

Lazy approach yes. One of the linked items, a tweet, goes into the issues a bit. I think that since the site is unequivocally leftist the writers may take some things for granted on the part of their readers.

[L'Emmerdeur]

Of course MAGA doesn't like the new Superman film. They're working to make America more xenophobic and authoritarian -- the film's narrative doesn't jibe with their wet dreams.

At this point, the right-wing grift is predictable to the point of tedium. Every time there’s a pop cultural phenomenon — a blockbuster movie, a chart-topping single, a hot new fashion trend — conservative media and MAGA influencers rush to denounce it as anti-American, anti-family or even demonic. Labubu dolls are Satanic. The “Barbie” movie is anti-male. Conservative men are being traumatized by rap songs informing them that women can experience sexual arousal. (Not that said conservative men are willing to believe it.)

...

My initial reaction when I saw right-wing media conduct its all-too-predictable tantrum over the new “Superman” movie was that it’s just more of the same: Claim it’s “woke” propaganda, work the audience into a tizzy of boycott threats and reap the reward of alienating their base further from the rest of society so that the MAGA cult is all they have left. Which, to be fair, is bad enough. But the actual content of the complaints made this whole exercise even more sinister. The attacks on “Superman” are part of a larger effort by the right to completely rewrite history, so they can pretend that being a patriotic American means embracing authoritarian values.

The furor, for those lucky enough to have missed it, had nothing to do with the actual plot of the movie, which was about Clark Kent learning to love his poorly-behaved dog Krypto. (There was also some stuff about fighting Lex Luthor and saving the world, but let’s face it, the dog made the movie.) The MAGA talking heads are big mad that director James Gunn said that Superman is an immigrant. “Superman is the story of America,” Gunn told The Times of London. “An immigrant that came from other places and populated the country.” They were also furious that Gunn said Superman stands for “human kindness.”

Immigrants and kindness are both canceled in Donald Trump’s America, so the right was outraged. Jesse Watters of Fox News “joked” that Superman should have “MS-13” on his cape. Co-host Kellyanne Conway agreed, wondering if the movie would fail on the assumption that American audiences also hate kindness and immigrants. Dean Cain, who played Superman on TV before finding a job better suited to his acting talents — right-wing punditry — was also mad. “How woke is Hollywood going to make this character?” I don’t remember Cain’s version of Superman, so maybe he did go around kicking dogs and sexually harassing women like a proper MAGA superhero. But honestly, I doubt the studio would have allowed that.

This is all very dumb, but what was striking was how brazenly dishonest it was. If there is one thing that everybody knows about Superman, it’s that he’s an alien who was smuggled to Earth. Being a refugee is as central to the character as the cheek dimples and the broad chest. It would be one thing if the Fox hosts were disputing the values of the movie. In the age of Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi “Puppy Killer” Noem, we get that “be nice to dogs” is an ideology that MAGA loathes. No, what makes this next-level evil is they were denying a centerpiece of the character’s history as well-known as the date of Independence Day and the colors of the American flag.

Cain tried to hedge by admitting that Clark Kent is an immigrant, but he attempted to spin it anyway nonetheless, saying, “but there are rules,” and “there have to be limits, because we can’t have everybody in the United States.” If he’s trying to make this about legal vs. illegal immigration, well, we all also know Superman didn’t apply for a visa before crashing into the planet’s surface. This leads me to think Cain is hinting that the limits are about skin color, not paperwork. After all, in the same rant, he went off on how terrible it would be if the United States were “more like Somalia.”

[source]

[Brian Peacock]

Jeez. Strikes me that Trump Derangement Syndrome is an actual thing, and these guys have been exposed to mega dose.

[L'Emmerdeur]

^^^ Yeah, whatever is going on, it appears to be inherently pathological.

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Our intrepid reporter on the scene Cucker Tarlson, desperate for attention, will get to the bottom of this story.

'Tucker Carlson Wants to Grill Pete Buttigieg on Gay Sex'

Former Fox News host Tucker Carlson accused Democratic politician Pete Buttigieg of being “a fake gay guy” and said he wanted to ask “very specific questions about gay sex” as a result.

The alt-right podcaster made the bizarre comments Wednesday during a conversation with conservative commentator Michael Knowles on his podcast The Tucker Carlson Show.

Carlson, 56, made the accusation when Knowles brought up Buttigieg, 43, as an example of liberal attitudes in politics being a response to cultural “incentives.”

“I’ll give you Pete Buttigieg,” Knowles began, before Carlson jumped in with “The fake gay guy?”

“I have a friend who thinks he’s a fake gay,” Knowles added.

“My gay producer was always like ‘he’s not gay.’ He was with a girl like 20 minutes ago and like he wants to be the Democratic nominee, it’s like ‘Time for a gay guy!’” Carlson said.

[pErvinalia]

like... like...

[Brian Peacock]

... like a gay conspiracy thing(?) because in Carlson's mind being gay (or black/brown/yellow, disabled, female, trans, etc) bestows a massive amount of undue privilege.

[L'Emmerdeur]

... like a gay conspiracy thing(?) because in Carlson's mind being gay (or black/brown/yellow, disabled, female, trans, etc) bestows a massive amount of undue privilege.

It's been a theme with him for years. The linked article points out that it's a trope that's been used by a particular sort of American propagandist for well over a century.

[Brian Peacock]

Yeah. We're seeing the exact same 'white victimhood' playbook from Farage at the moment, focusing on migrants and asylum seekers arriving by irregular means -- often referred to as 'foreign men of military age' -- who are framed as foot-soldiers in a woke conspiracy to dilute British Culture etc.

[Brian Peacock]

'New Media' bias...

Joe Rogan claims study shows Earth cooling – but report’s authors say he’s wrong

For months now, the popular comedian and podcaster Joe Rogan has been telling his vast audience of a study that shows Earth is cooling – even though this research states the complete opposite.

Rogan’s false claim about the climate crisis, which he has repeatedly aired on the Joe Rogan Experience, one of the world’s most popular podcasts, has exasperated the scientists who authored the research.

It has also highlighted the tide of climate misinformation that regularly emanates from some of the biggest podcasts in the US – outlets where many Americans, particularly younger people, now get their news.

“Joe is speaking to his audience and they want it to be entertaining, I get it, but it concerns me because he isn’t giving the right message,” said Jessica Tierney, a paleoclimatologist at the University of Arizona and co-author of the research frequently mentioned by Rogan.

“I’ve watched his clips and gone: ‘Oh jeez.’ I can only laugh sometimes. But it is a bummer that these podcasts with large audiences are spewing this old-school denier nonsense. It’s not helpful. In the US, people are in silos now and climate scientists can’t easily reach people who aren’t sure how climate change works. It’s not a healthy situation.”

Last year, Tierney was part of a group that published an ambitious paper in the Science journal that reconstructed a timeline of Earth’s temperature over the past 485m years. The research, which took two years to compile, was drawn from 150,000 data points, including fossil records and climate models.

The study shows monumental shifts in the world’s climate over the eons, including periods that are far hotter than now, such as when an asteroid crashed to Earth and wiped out the dinosaurs around 66m years ago, and another era, about 250m years ago, when a mass extinction event killed off more than 90% of all species on the planet.

The current period of rapid global heating, caused by the burning of fossil fuels and deforestation in just the last century, is shown on this vast timeline as a comparatively small upward tick at the end of the graph, following a span of relative planetary cooling that followed the demise of dinosaurs.

Rogan has seized upon this temperature graph, as shown in a Washington Post article, to claim big swings in previous temperatures demonstrate concerns over current climate change are overblown.

“There’s a lot of horseshit that’s involved in climate change, I’ve studied that,” Rogan told actor Mel Gibson on the Joe Rogan Experience in January. “The temperature on Earth is plummeting. Look at the drop at the end, that’s where we are. That’s the reality.”

To agreement from Gibson – whose house burned down by fires in Los Angeles on the day the podcast was recorded, a disaster scientists say was worsened by global heating – Rogan added that the world’s temperature has always fluctuated. “This idea that the whole thing is based on carbon emissions from humans is total bullshit, it’s not true,” he said.

Since this conversation, Rogan has raised the topic of the temperature graph on five further episodes, including to his guest Bernie Sanders in June. “Essentially they found that we’re in a cooling period,” Rogan said to the US senator of the researchers’ work. “This was, like, a very inconvenient discovery. But they had to report the data and kudos to them for doing that.”

Rogan’s repeated references to the Washington Post piece elides most of the actual article, which mentions the swift rate Earth is currently heating up and how this is being driven by human-caused emissions. Scientists are unequivocal that the climate crisis is being caused entirely by the emission of greenhouse gases, at a rate not seen during human history.

“It’s almost impressive how incorrect he’s able to be about an article he’s looking directly at,” said Rollie Willams, a climate science and policy expert who presents Climate Town, a YouTube show that tracked Rogan’s mention of the graph.

“It’s also an incredible example of how climate misinformation sneaks into extremely popular media and then gets absorbed into the brains of millions of Americans.”