babylonsister
babylonsister's JournalCNN Public Editor: tabloid tendencies
https://www.cjr.org/public_editor/cnn-public-editor-tabloid-tendencies.phpCNN Public Editor: tabloid tendencies
By Ariana Pekary
November 22, 2021
Since last year, CNN ratings are down 73 percent. Without the daily spectacle of Donald Trump as president, cable news producers appear to be seeking other dramatic narratives. The network’s exaggerated tone and graphic content increasingly pushes it into the realm of tabloid-like material.
This trend emerged in September with the death of Gabby Petito, a young woman allegedly killed by her boyfriend. I’ve been told that producers justified that coverage due to the abundance of available Instagram material. But the accessibility of photographs doesn’t make a story newsworthy––it makes it convenient infotainment.
snip//
We may be living in an era where we’ve lost an understanding of what makes good journalism, not gossip, in TV news. As a reminder, the Society of Professional Journalists provides useful guidance: “Ethical journalism treats sources, subjects, colleagues and members of the public as human beings deserving of respect.”
SPJ states that journalists should:
– Recognize that legal access to information differs from an ethical justification to publish or broadcast.
— Avoid pandering to lurid curiosity, even if others do.
CNN should use their ample resources to report information responsibly and chase stories that actually matter to the public.
Eric Boehlert: Consumers aren't buying the media's inflation hysteria
Consumers aren't buying the media's inflation hysteria
Runaway spending
Eric Boehlert
1 hr ago
snip//
Having spent months breathlessly hyping GOP talking points about inflation and presenting it as the defining economic indicator in America — not huge job gains, record-setting GDP predictions, or raising wages — journalists now are forced to report on runaway consumer spending, as Americans gobble up a record number of electronics, jewelry, and luxury goods.
If the media were to be believed, spooked consumers scared off by rising prices should be home guarding their wallets. Instead, they’re emptying the contents at shops and online.
Retail sales jumped 1.7% in October, rising for the third month in a row. Adjusted for inflation, sales were up 0.7 percent from the previous month, and up 9.5 percent from a year earlier. Consumers overall spent a record $638 billion at stores and restaurants in October, according to the Commerce Department. That’s up 21 percent from pre-pandemic levels.
“After experiencing one of the most severe economic shocks of the past century in 2020, the U.S. economy has displayed one of the most rapid recoveries in modern history,” according to Gregory Daco, chief U.S. economist for Oxford Economics.
But a feel-good story about a red-hot economy in recovery mode is not what the press wants to emphasize. So economic coverage now revolves mostly around inflation reporting, which seems purposely over the top and lacking key context. By constantly doling out sour economic updates in the form of breathless inflation coverage, the press continues to do the GOP’s bidding.
Also, today’s inflation is a global phenomenon, caused by a global pandemic, which warped supply and demand patterns, creating a mismatch that has driven prices higher. That key point often get ignored as the press eagerly depicts the situation as a Democratic problem.
more...
https://pressrun.media/p/consumers-arent-buying-the-medias
Jewish Groups Condemn Lara Logan's Comments Comparing Dr. Anthony Fauci To Josef Mengele
Jewish Groups Condemn Lara Logan’s Comments Comparing Dr. Anthony Fauci To Josef Mengele
November 30, 2021 11:37am
A number of Jewish groups condemned Fox Nation host Lara Logan for comments she made comparing Dr. Anthony Fauci to Dr. Josef Mengele, the Nazi doctor who performed cruel medical experiments on Jewish prisoners.
The American Jewish Committee, in a statement posted on Twitter, called Logan’s comment “Utterly shameful. Josef Mengele earned his nickname by performing deadly and inhumane medical experiments on prisoners of the Holocaust, including children. @LaraLogan, there is no comparing the hell these victims went through to public health measures. An apology is needed.”
The Auschwitz Museum said in a statement, “Exploiting the tragedy of people who became victims of criminal pseudo-medical experiments in Auschwitz in a debate about vaccines, pandemic and people who fight for saving human lives is shameful. It is disrespectful to victims & a sad symptom of moral and intellectual decline.”
more...
https://deadline.com/2021/11/lara-logan-anthony-fauci-josef-mengele-1234882194/
A day in the Life of Sue Republican
https://www.facebook.com/photo?fbid=10159109079792941&set=a.196554217940Pat Handley via Project-Lincoln.com on FB...
A day in the Life of Sue Republican
Sue gets up at 6 a.m. and fills her coffeepot with water to prepare her morning coffee. The water is clean and good because some tree-hugging liberal fought for minimum water-quality standards.
With her first swallow of coffee, she takes her daily medication. Her medications are safe to take because some stupid commie liberal fought to insure their safety and that they work as advertised.
All but $10 of her medications are paid for by her employer's medical plan because some liberal union workers fought their employers for paid medical insurance - now Sue gets it too.
She prepares her morning breakfast, bacon and eggs. Sue's bacon is safe to eat because some girly-man liberal fought for laws to regulate the meat packing industry.
In the shower, Sue reaches for her shampoo. Her bottle is properly labeled with each ingredient and its amount in the total contents because some crybaby liberal fought for her right to know what she was putting on her body and how much it contained.
Sue dresses, walks outside and takes a deep breath. The air she breathes is clean because some environmentalist wacko liberal fought for laws to stop industries from polluting our air.
She walks to the subway station for her government-subsidized ride to work. It saves her considerable money in parking and transportation fees because some fancy-pants liberal fought for affordable public transportation, which gives everyone the opportunity to be a contributor.
Sue begins her work day. She has a good job with excellent pay, medical benefits, retirement, paid holidays and vacation because some lazy liberal union members fought and died for these working standards. Sue's employer pays these standards because Sue's employer doesn't want his employees to call the union.
If Sue is hurt on the job or becomes unemployed, she'll get a worker compensation or unemployment check because some stupid liberal didn't think she should lose her home because of her temporary misfortune.
Its noon and Sue needs to make a bank deposit so she can pay some bills. Sue's deposit is federally insured by the FSLIC because some godless liberal wanted to protect Sue's money from unscrupulous bankers who ruined the banking system before the Great Depression.
Sue has to pay her Fannie Mae-underwritten mortgage and her below-market federal student loan because some elitist liberal decided that Sue and the government would be better off if she was educated and earned more money over her lifetime.
Sue is home from work. She plans to visit her father this evening at his farm home in the country. She gets in her car for the drive. Her car is among the safest in the world because some America-hating liberal fought for car safety standards.
She arrives at her childhood home. Her generation was the third to live in the house financed by Farmers' Home Administration because bankers didn't want to make rural loans. The house didn't have electricity until some big-government liberal stuck his nose where it didn't belong and demanded rural electrification.
She is happy to see her father, who is now retired. Her father lives on Social Security and a union pension because some wine-drinking, cheese-eating liberal made sure he could take care of himself so Sue wouldn't have to.
Sue gets back in her car for the ride home, and turns on a radio talk show. The radio host keeps saying that liberals are bad and conservatives are good. He doesn't mention that Republicans have fought against every protection and benefit Sue enjoys throughout her day. Sue agrees: "We don't need those big-government liberals ruining our lives! After all, I'm self-made and believe everyone should take care of themselves, just like I have".
~ Kathy Joe North
Mark Meadows Sabotages Kevin McCarthy In His Own Hometown
https://www.politicususa.com/2021/11/30/mark-meadows-sabotages-kevin-mccarthy-in-his-own-hometown.htmlPosted on Tue, Nov 30th, 2021 by Jason Easley
Mark Meadows Sabotages Kevin McCarthy In His Own Hometown
Potentially soon to be criminally referred former Trump chief of staff Mark Meadows went on the air in Kevin McCarthy’s hometown to complain about House GOP leadership.
According to the Punchbowl News AM Newsletter, Meadows was on Bakersfield’s KNZR:
Maxwell said he’s a supporter of Rep. Jim Jordan (R-Ohio) or Meadows becoming speaker of the House. Maxwell reminded Meadows that the next speaker does not have to be a member of Congress. Meadows said: “I don’t see that happening. I think generally, the politics are really tilted towards somebody who’s actually serving in Congress.” Neither Maxwell nor Meadows said a word about McCarthy becoming speaker if Republicans win in 2022.
Kevin McCarthy Has Big Problems
Mark Meadows has been at war with McCarthy for years. It was Meadows and the House Freedom Caucus that blew up McCarthy’s last run for speaker.
McCarthy has an equally large problem with the sedition caucus. Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene has said that Leader McCarthy doesn’t have enough support to become speaker if Republicans win back the House in 2022. Rep. Lauren Boebert is running around calling Rep. Ilhan Omar a terrorist, and McCarthy is so weak and in need of every little bit of support that he can in the Republican caucus that he is doing nothing.
History is full of bad House Speakers, but Kevin McCarthy could find himself in the category of historic disasters.
It is impossible to see how his House majority would be functional enough to get anything done. They would investigate Biden, strip House Democrats of committee assignments, and maybe pass some meaningless bills like repealing Build Back Better or Obamacare.
Kevin McCarthy may get what he wants if Republicans win back the House, but it is also likely that getting what he wants could end his career.
Texas man who got $1.6 M in PPP loans, bought Lamborghini is sentenced to 9 years
https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/texas-man-got-16m-ppp-loans-bought-lamborghini-sentenced-9-years-rcna7011
Texas man who got $1.6 M in PPP loans, bought Lamborghini is sentenced to 9 years
Lee Price III spent money from the coronavirus relief program on a Lamborghini, a truck and a Rolex watch, officials said.
Nov. 29, 2021, 8:44 PM EST / Updated Nov. 30, 2021, 12:47 AM EST
By Phil Helsel
A Texas man who fraudulently got $1.6 million in coronavirus relief loans and then spent some of it on a Lamborghini was sentenced to more than nine years in prison Monday, federal prosecutors said.
The man, Lee Price III, 30, was sentenced to 110 months on wire fraud and money laundering counts, the Justice Department said. He pleaded guilty in September.
Price, of Houston, received $1.6 million in loans from the Paycheck Protection Program, which Congress passed in March 2020 to help businesses affected by the Covid-19 pandemic.
The purported businesses had no record of employees or payroll, and Price spent some of the money on a Lamborghini Urus, a Ford F-350 and a Rolex watch, according to court documents.
Officials have said more than $700,000 was recovered.
Editorial Calls For Investigation Of Cruz And Hawley
https://crooksandliars.com/2021/11/post-dispatch-Cruz-Hawley-ethicsEditorial Calls For Investigation Of Cruz And Hawley
The St. Louis Post-Dispatch doesn't sugarcoat it.
By John Amato — November 29, 2021
The editorial board of one of the largest papers in Missouri called for the investigation of Senator Josh Hawley and Texas Senator Ted Cruz over their illicit actions during the January 6 insurrection at the US Capitol.
Cruz and Hawley were the only two Senators to object to the election results. Both Senators did this even after the Capitol was ransacked by seditious Trump supporters.
Hawley was the one who objected first to certification which then whipped up the mob and forced a floor vote.
The editorial does not hold back:
Hawley and Cruz were the only two senators to object to certification of Joe Biden’s clear victory in the 2020 election results, citing (with zero evidence) supposed concerns about the election’s integrity. That was the same baseless, toxic nonsense then-President Donald Trump had been spewing since before the election. Such talk whipped up the mob of Trump loyalists to attack the Capitol on Jan. 6.
Both Senators are now claiming they are the victims and make-believe they were doing their elected duty, but we know it was to gain political capital from the sickest citizens in this country.
And it was those sick people that assaulted the hub of US democracy.
It's high time the U.S. Senate Ethics Panel subpoenas these creeps.
Trump Had No Intelligence Briefings After January 6
https://politicalwire.com/2021/11/30/trump-had-no-intelligence-briefings-after-january-6/Trump Had No Intelligence Briefings After January 6
November 30, 2021 at 7:56 am EST By Taegan Goddard
“The situation in the waning days of Trump’s presidency was so uncommon that it actually caused concern among some administration officials that Trump was losing touch with reality, as he was getting unhinged advice on domestic issues from Justice Department attorneys and outside counsel that openly advocated rejecting election results.”
Fighting the Inflation Profiteers
The American Prospect
Home Economic Policy
Fighting the Inflation Profiteers
Companies are raising prices well above increases in their costs. The only antidote is to finally take action against corporate power.
by David Dayen
November 24, 2021
snip//
“Executives are seizing a once in a generation opportunity to raise prices,” reads a Wall Street Journal story explaining that around two-thirds of the largest publicly traded companies are showing profit margins higher today than they did in 2019, before the pandemic. Over 100 companies show profit margins of 50 percent or more above those 2019 levels.
In other words, inflation is being enhanced by exploitation. Profiteers are using the frenzy around higher prices as an excuse to reel in much more than increased costs. President Biden has only tiptoed around calling this out and taking action. But telling a story about corporate price-gouging and sustaining a push against it is a key component to resolving the crisis—and, perhaps, reversing Biden’s slump.
Corporate executives are not hiding their handiwork; instead, they’re boasting about it in financial disclosures and earnings calls. “We have not seen any material reaction from consumers,” said the chief financial officer of Procter & Gamble, the world’s largest consumer goods company, which has hiked prices three times in the past year. “What we are very good at is pricing,” said Colgate-Palmolive’s CEO. “We find that taking several small price increases is more effective than one large price jump,” added the CFO of Unilever. Dollar Tree, a discount store which has the word “dollar” in its name, has decided to permanently set its price point at $1.25, stating specifically that the move is “not a reaction to short-term or transitory market conditions.”
There are a ton of sneaky marketing techniques to raise prices on consumers invisibly, like putting goods in “jumbo” packages that actually increase unit costs, or slowly taking away promotions and coupons. The end result is the U.S. consumer getting nickel-and-dimed, paying more for less. Talk of inflation creates those consumers’ expectations of more inflation, which retailers take advantage of to smuggle in their own inflated prices, solely for profit.
more...
https://prospect.org/economy/fighting-the-inflation-profiteers-biden-kennedy/
Eric Boehlert: A colossal flop -- fawning media can't save Chris Christie's new book
https://pressrun.media/p/fawning-media-cant-save-christies
A colossal flop — fawning media can't save Chris Christie’s new book
Just 2,000 copies sold
Eric Boehlert
1 hr ago
It’s hard to recall a former politician who was showered with more free media attention than Chris Christie this month as he peddled his new book, “Republican Rescue.” Invited to appear on a carousel of shows, Christie was all-present as journalists lined up to interview him. CNN even dedicated an entire primetime hour to him, treating the in-your-face Republican as one of the most important political voices in the country.
Consumers aren’t buying it.
A senior publishing source with access to the industry’s BookScan tabulations tells me that “Republican Rescue” sold just 2,289 copies during its first week in stores, which constitutes a colossal publishing flop. That figure does not include digital copies of the book, but based on industry sales patterns, given Christie’s weak showing in stores he likely sold only a few hundred digital ones. (On Sunday, “Republican Rescue” was ranked 15,545th at Amazon’s Kindle Store.)
snip//
So, he’s an unapologetic anti-Trumper, right? He views Fox News misinformation as a danger to our democracy, right? Nope and nope. Pressed during his media blitz, Christie said he might vote for Trump in 2024, and when appearing on MSNBC he refused to criticize Fox News, likely because he appeared on the network a few days later hawking his book by stressing to right-wing viewers how he supported Trump for so many years.
Americans see through Christie, yet the press worships him. They’ve been doing it for the better part of a decade, portraying him as an authentic Every Man, a master communicator, and that rare politician who cuts through the stagecraft and delivers hard truths.
"Chris Christie is someone who is magical in the way politicians can be magical," Time's Mark Halperin announced while appearing on “Meet The Press,” in 2013. And remember when ABC's Barbara Walters crowned Christie as one of her 10 Most Fascinating People, casting him as a “passionate and compassionate” politician who cannot lie?
Today, nobody cares about Chris Christie, except Beltway journalists.
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