> Ubiquitous wrote:
> : The following is an edited transcript of an interview between
Morning
> : Wire host Georgia Howe and Daily Wire culture reporter Megan
Basham
> : on a New Year's Day edition of Morning Wire.
> > 2024 saw Americans' trust in the legacy media sink to all-time
lows, > contributing to massive layoffs and loss of audience among some of
the > biggest news outlets. These were the media's failures over the last
year that > likely played a role in this lack of trust. > > GEORGIA: Daily Wire culture reporter Megan Basham joins us now to
look back > at the year's biggest media fails that are contributing to the
public's > record-low trust. But Megan, before we get to that, can you give us
a quick > overview of where the industry stands now? Along with a lot of
controversies > and corrections, there was also a lot of contraction for an
election year > when you typically see news departments expanding.
> > MEGAN: Yeah, the media landscape looks bad. Really bad. If you
remember, > Georgia, right before the start of the year we saw substantial
layoffs at The > Washington Post, The New York Times, and NPR. And as you said,
that's not > what you expect to see heading into a major campaign year, when
media > revenues tend to increase.
> > Then in January, the Los Angeles Times cut more than 20% of its
newsroom. > Time Magazine cut 15%. And that bad news just continued throughout
2024. In > the summer, CNN laid off 100 people. And they're now reportedly
planning to > lay off hundreds more. Comcast may sell MSNBC.
> > And neither of those developments is surprising when you look at
some of the > cable news ratings. They're a dumpster fire. According to Nielsen
data, MSNBC > is still down by more than half of what it was averaging up to
election > night, and CNN is down by slightly less than half, though it didn't
have as > far to fall because it was already at the bottom of the pack.
> > Fox News ratings are way up this year. They're now beating the
ratings of the > other cable news outlets combined, suggesting a lot of former CNN
and MSNBC > viewers are flocking there.
> > GEORGIA: Well let's talk about some of the coverage that's likely
driving a > lot of the legacy media's poor performance. When you look back over
the year, > what are the biggest standouts to you?
> > MEGAN: For me, the biggest one wasn't an issue where there was
clear > deception or inaccuracy, but just appallingly callous coverage of
the most > momentous moment of the campaign. And that was the response to the
attempt on > President-elect Donald Trump's life at a rally in Butler,
Pennsylvania on > July 13th. > > That very same night, ABC viewers heard George Stephanopoulos and
Martha > Raddatz, in part, blaming the victim. > > These mainstream media hacks are SICK. They're already blaming
Trump > for someone trying to assassinate him.
> > Stephanopolous: "President Trump and his supporters have
contributed > to this violent rhetoric as well"
> > Raddatz: "Don't forget January 6th!"
> pic.twitter.com/FroBTzDAqc
> > - Nick Sortor (@nicksortor) July 14, 2024
> > And then on the print front, the day after Butler, The Atlantic ran
a piece > that said that the "bloodshed Trump has done so much to incite
against others > has touched him as well."
> > In September when there was a second assassination attempt at
Trump's golf > course, you heard similar rhetoric from major media. Almost
immediately after > news of that second assassination attempt broke, MSNBC anchor Alex
Witt asked > political analyst Elise Jordan this: > > During the first attempt on @realDonaldTrump's life, CNN and the > Atlantic blamed HIM. Now MSNBC is blaming him for a second attempt
> to kill him. These are hate-filled people. They are everything
they > accuse others of being.
> > pic.twitter.com/Wp0mcCf73E
https://t.co/LctjmrWLBF > > - Megan Basham (@megbasham) September 15, 2024
> > Also that same night, we had this from NBC anchor Lester Holt:
> > Lester Holt is basically saying Trump "deserved to be
shot" and > "brought this on himself. He should be FIRED immediately! > pic.twitter.com/DSvUMC8cXn
> > - Graham Allen (@GrahamAllen_1) September 15, 2024
> > We need to remember that we're talking about the first Republican
candidate > to win the popular vote in 20 years. So you can imagine how this
struck at > least half the country. And I have to imagine there were probably
people > watching who didn't vote for Trump but nonetheless found this kind
of > commentary troubling.
> > And it's the kind of thing that is very hard to come back from.
It's not a > mistake, it's a level of bias that's much more off-putting.
> > GEORGIA: Yes, that brings to mind some of the media commentary
we've heard in > just the last couple of weeks surrounding the murder of
UnitedHealthcare CEO > Brian Thompson, with some minimizing the horrific crime or even
making light > of it. So what's your second biggest media fail of 2024? > > MEGAN: Well, I almost made this number one because it was such a
systemic > failure and involved such obvious deception. And that was the
media's > insistence throughout the spring and much of the summer that
President Biden > was not suffering from any mental infirmity when it was obvious to
the > American people that he was.
> > So let's look at MSNBC. In June, anchor Nicole Wallace blamed the
Biden > appearances that were alarming the public on selectively edited
clips.
> > As more and more Democratic lawmakers call for Biden to step
aside, > remember that this was MSNBC's Nicole Wallace barely a month ago, > denouncing "a growing and insidious trend in right-wing media
. to > take highly misleading and selectively edited videos of President > Biden . and. pic.twitter.com/7vrYTYiHU6
> > - Peter J. Hasson (@peterjhasson) July 19, 2024
> > Interesting there that Wallace tried to claim Trump was having the
same > lapses, but those claims have disappeared now that the election is
over. > Wallace's colleague, Joe Scarborough, also sought to assure viewers
that > Biden was fine.
> > Joe Scarborough in March: "And F you if you can't handle the
truth. > This version of Biden, intellectually, analytically, is the best > Biden ever. if it weren't the truth, I wouldn't say it."
> pic.twitter.com/hdnx1IpZC2
> > - Peter J. Hasson (@peterjhasson) July 5, 2024
> > I mean the list of legacy outlets that dismissed the videos of
Biden seeming > lost and confused that Americans could see with their own eyes is a
really > long one. The New York Times, The Washington Post, CNN, the AP, and
NBC all > called these videos "cheap fakes," meaning misleading
edits of real video.
> > And when Karine Jeane-Pierre leaned into that narrative during
White House > press briefings, it looked like a collaborative effort between the
media and > the Biden administration.
> > Karine Jeane-Pierre looked you in the eye and said Biden is fine > and that the videos you saw where he is experiencing cognitive > decline were 'cheap fakes'. pic.twitter.com/DVEqPX62J7
> > - American Debunk (@AmericanDebunk) December 10, 2024
> > Well, Biden's disastrous debate performance at the end of June made
it > impossible to deny his mental state and made it clear he had no
chance of > winning. Then, the coverage changed immediately and many media
outlets began > calling for him to step aside. Just one example, on June 21st, The
New York > Times ran a story which reported that any claims that Biden was
suffering > from diminished faculties were because of these cheap fakes.
> > Two weeks later, the day after the debate, they ran an editorial
calling on > him to step down due to his mental lapses. And this was really the
pattern > you saw with the legacy outlets across the board.
> > GEORGIA: Okay how about number three?
> > MEGAN: Well, I still don't think we can get away from the election
yet > because the most glaring were the fact checks. Especially during
the debates.
> > For instance, at the ABC debate between Trump and Harris,
moderators David > Muir and Linsey Davis fact-checked numerous times, including when
Trump was > generally correct. Like when he said, "Hard to believe, they
have some states > passing legislation where you can execute the baby after
birth." Davis broke > in:
> > Top 5 lies that the ABC News moderators refused to fact-check or > falsely fact-checked during the debate:
> > 1. Mandatory Firearm Buybacks:
> > Kamala Harris told Trump to "stop lying" about her
wanting to > confiscate firearms. Harris has previously stated multiple times > that she wants. > pic.twitter.com/6aXznDnq7O
> > - Collin Rugg (@CollinRugg) September 11, 2024
> > Now this is a pretty semantic fact-check, because Harris' own
running mate, > Minnesota Governor Tim Walz, helped repeal a state law that
required doctors > to render medical aid to a baby that survives an abortion. So in
Minnesota, > doctors can let born babies die. And that has happened in at least
eight > cases in that state. New York and Illinois also repealed laws that
require > medical care for babies that survive abortion.
> > By the same token, ABC never fact-checked Harris despite the fact
that Harris > made a number of false claims, like saying that there are no
members of the > U.S. military on active duty in a combat zone anywhere around the
world. In > fact, there are 3,000.
> > After the same debate, Time Magazine wrote that Trump's claim that
Harris > supported funding sex changes for illegal immigrants was false. It
wasn't, > and Time later had to issue a correction.
> > So that looked to a lot of people like glaring bias. And we saw
something > similar with NBC and the vice presidential debate. Moderator
Margaret Brennan > interrupted JD Vance as he was referencing undocumented immigrants
in > Springfield, Ohio.
> >
https://youtu.be/ipxF918BjWQ > > So again, a lot of viewers detected bias in that exchange.
> > Then there are the ethical issues in the media's favorable
treatment of > Harris. MSNBC host Al Sharpton, for instance, did not disclose that
the > Harris campaign made a $500,000 donation to his nonprofit right
before he > conducted a softball interview with the candidate.
> > Meanwhile, 60 Minutes was caught having edited their interview with
Harris to > make what were some pretty meandering, confusing answers to
questions more > comprehensible. CBS then ignored widespread calls to release the
full > transcript of the interview. > > GEORGIA: So were most of these fails related to the election?
> > MEGAN: Definitely, because that dominated the news cycle for the
year, but it > wasn't exclusively election moments. When it came to the war in
Gaza, major > outlets had major egg on their faces when it was revealed that
they'd been > using inaccurate statistics provided by Hamas, which has of course
been > designated a terrorist group by the U.S. State Department.
> > Outlets like The New York Times, The Washington Post, The Guardian,
CNN, the > BBC, Reuters, and AP took data disseminated by the Gaza Ministry of
Health, > which is controlled by Hamas, at face value and passed it along to
their > audiences. For instance, they reported fatality numbers for
Palestinian women > and children that a later study found were mathematically
impossible. So in > essence, they aided Hamas' PR campaign.
> > This kind of credulity when it comes to war coverage led to a
really > embarrassing incident for CNN just recently. > > On December 11th, the network ran a story from foreign
correspondent Clarissa > Ward in which she encountered a man in an empty Syrian prison. He
told her > he'd been detained by the Assad regime for months.
> > "Syria is free."
> > Extraordinary moment as @clarissaward and her team witness a
Syrian > prisoner freed from a secret prison in Damascus.
> > Left alone for days without food, water or light, the man was > unaware Bashar al-Assad's regime had fallen. > pic.twitter.com/ZAnGiBlLON
> > - CNN International PR (@cnnipr) December 11, 2024
> > Well, when CNN posted the video to social media, users immediately
pointed > out how inauthentic the man's appearance and behavior seemed. Like
something > out of a low-budget movie. > > Sure enough, within days, a Syrian fact-checking site revealed that
the man > was really a former intelligence officer for the Assad government.
And plenty > of people rightly questioned why CNN didn't take more time
verifying the > man's identity before they rushed the story to air.
> > GEORGIA: Have we seen any admission from legacy outlets that these
kinds of > mistakes and biases have cost them? > > MEGAN: Not so much from the journalistic class, though Chris
Cilizza, > formerly of CNN, did issue a mea culpa a few days ago. > > In 2021, he said Republicans trying to "make Biden's mental
capacity an > issue" were engaging in "lowest common denominator
politics." > > But on December 19th, he said this. > >
https://youtu.be/_WQKveT8Bzo > > And a couple of their owners have. Jeff Bezos, who owns the
Washington Post, > has promised that his paper will strive for more balanced coverage
going > forward. So has the owner of the Los Angeles Times.
> > But when it comes to those actually telling the stories, their mea
culpas > have mostly been forced. Sunny Hostin, co-host on ABC's "The
View," had to > read a similar disclaimer only a few weeks later after comments she
made > about Trump's nominee for Secretary of Defense, Pete Hegseth.
> > And I'll leave you with one more media fail, Georgia. If it's not
the biggest > of the year, it's certainly the most expensive.
> > Back in March, during an interview with South Carolina
Congresswoman Nancy > Mace, ABC Anchor George Stephanopoulos made this claim about Donald
Trump > multiple times.
> > Nancy Mace just ended George Stephanopoulos' career, the
never-Trump > media has absolutely no class! pic.twitter.com/wqEwmdn69S
> > - Brigitte Gabriel (@ACTBrigitte) March 10, 2024
> > Except, that was not true. And reportedly, Stephanopoulos' producer
warned > him repeatedly, including in writing, not to make that claim on the
air. > Stephanopoulos did it anyway, Trump sued, and just a few days ago,
ABC agreed > to pay $16 million dollars to settle. ABC and Stephanopoulos issued
a joint > statement saying they "regret" the anchor's statements
regarding President > Donald J. Trump. > > GEORGIA: Well, it will be interesting to see if all the bad press
causes the > media to turn over a new leaf. Thanks, Megan.
> > MEGAN: Anytime. > > --
> Let's go Brandon!
When stories are being censored and the
media is like "Do not say Palestinians say Hamas" do we
really care? Guy get fired for saying and speaking the truth.
This is a response to the post seen at:
http://www.jlaforums.com/viewtopic.php?p=681335744#681335744
Re: The Biggest Media Fails Of 2024