Blaska Policy Werkes

David Blaska, going out of his way to provoke progressives in Madison WI to make America safe for democracy!


What else can the news screw up?

Why Americans don’t trust the news media!

Mark Twain once said if you don’t read the newspapers you are uninformed. If you DO read the newspapers, you are mis-informed.

Anti-Trump New York Times columnist Ross Douthat on the kind of news media bias regularly found in his own publication:

Because the [Wuhan coronavirus] lab leak theory was associated early on with Republican China hawks like Senator Tom Cotton of Arkansas, given prominence by conservative publications … and eventually picked up by the Trump administration, there was self-reinforcing pressure — among journalists who covered the story and Twitter experts who opined on it — to put the possibility in the QAnon box and leave it there.

I will leave it to the reader to consider how a similar pressure might manifest itself in other areas, from the 2020-21 murder spike to the recent rise in anti-Semitic violence, where journalists might wish to avoid making concessions to conservative interpretations of reality.

fake-news

Progressive ‘splaining

Ross Douthat continues:

But let me offer a narrower addition to the media critique. One key change to mainstream journalism in the Trump era was the impulse to tell the reader exactly what to think, lest by leaving anything ambiguous you gave an inch to right-wing demagogy. It was not enough to simply report, “Republican politician X said conspiratorial-sounding thing Y.” You also had to specifically describe the conspiratorial thing as false or debunked misinformation, in a way that once would have been considered editorializing, so as to leave no doubt in the vulnerable reader’s mind.

Blaska’s Bottom LineCompare Douthat’s critique of today’s journalism “telling the reader exactly what to think” with Ann of Althouse’s deconstruction of the Times’ news story on the significant increase in gun sales, especially to women. (Discussed here.) Which the Times labels as a “spree” fueld by “protests” — not riots — and “fear,” not reasonable precaution. And absurdly attributes co-agency with the coronavirus pandemic, not crime.

No wonder so many believe the 2020 election was stolen. Wrong about one thing, why not wrong about the other?

What news source do YOU trust?

16 responses to “What else can the news screw up?”

  1. […] See our companion piece on news media bias “What else can the news media screw […]

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  2. sentient7

    IMO, your view about the ‘independent’ journalists who axiomatically think that everything from Trump or DeSantis or Cotton must be false, regardless empirical data, MIRROR’S your analysis of the Jan. 6 “insurrection” without weapons. The rationale mirror’s your denial that there were major election issues in at least 4 states. Simply consider the Zuckerberg influence in Wisconsin. But, you can’t consider uncomfortable facts.

    The Wuhan story? They simply mis-spoke and mis-wrote. Hunter is geniu-class manager. Consider how many folks he continues to fool at CNBS; Consider how his hard drive blinded the press. Or, consider their victory laps of adulation for the patron saint of womyn, King Andrew.

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    1. Mark Lemberger

      To be accurate, one guy at the Jan. 6 affray had a pointy hat and a spear.

      Liked by 1 person

      1. sentient7

        Yes, a hat and spear. No firearms, to my knowledge. Seems there are more than 10,000 hours of tape that are not available for defense teams of the accused. Why not public?
        An insurrection without firearms???? Sounds like a cartoon.

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        1. Mark Lemberger

          Or a panty raid.

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  3. georgessson

    Sen-7, Things are not as simple anymore as you think, as evidenced by this NYT excerpt, AND Dave’s past posts. Would that it were. Lotsa nuance applied to lotsa different news stories and Op-Eds. So I can accept your erratic conflation. The main is that all that you or I may read needs a lot more open-minded research, as well as contextual references. Jes’ sayin’..

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  4. Bill

    Oh there’s no bias at all in the news that you read or listen to or even watch. Nope, none at all!

    That is why we have indoctrination sessions brought to you by news media outlets right here in good ole Madison Wisconsin like Channel 3000 “State of Hate” series. https://www.channel3000.com/state-of-hate-in-wisconsin-a-panel/

    That is why you did not hear anything about Hunter Biden and his shady dealings, possibly involving his father, Joe, until after the election.

    They say that “hate has no fury like a woman scorned.” I would like to add to that statement that “Hate has no fury like a marxist who has a country to overthrow.”

    That is what we are dealing with in this country today. Marxism!

    This is what Joe and his handlers want. Marxism! Confiscate from those who have and give to those lemmings who they know will vote for them.

    Here it is, Memorial Day. And what is one of bylines on Channel 3000? “Looking back on one year of protests in Madison following George Floyd’s murder.” Read the Google News, do you see any stories about Memorial Day? WHY DO I NOT SEE ANYTHING WHAT SO EVER ABOUT MEMORIAL DAY! Did serving our country and the the sacrifice of being wounded or even killed in combat that all those brave men and women make mean nothing at all?

    Your children are being brainwashed in the public schools that you and I are paying for. Critical Race Theory is just another form of Marxist ideology that has no place in our schools and yet is being taught in our schools. It is a direct slap in the face of Dr. Martin Luther King who said that people should be judged by the content of their character rather than the color of their skin.

    This transgender bullshit is just that. Bullshit! Why can’t someone say they are a girl and that they are 65+ years of age when their actual age is 23, and they where born a boy, and participate in the Senior olympics?

    Why not?

    Why can’t I say that I am going to, as Captan, fly the next Delta 767 flight out of Dane County Regional Airport. After all, I have had hours and hours of training watching You Tube Video’s of pilots flying the 767 so I’m considering myself an expert on how to fly one. BTW- my first officer will also come from the “You Tube School of Flight Training” and will gladly assist me in mine and his “Real First Flight”.

    After all, if Delta tells me that I’m not qualified to be a pilot, I’m going to sue them for discrimination as my feelings will have been hurt!

    President, Sleepy Joe, and Governator, Tony the taxman will continue to spend money that they don’t have like a couple of drunks down on skid row until the money they have is considered by one and all to be worthless.

    Get ready for here it comes. It’s on it’s way.

    Oh, it’s coming baby, it’s on it’s way. Just get ready for here it comes!

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  5. Bill

    Oh and more thoughts on this subject for all of you, especially those of you who voted against Scott Walker and wanted to dump Donald Trump.

    Who are you going to blame when the economy goes right to shit? It will, it is already going in that direction. Why am I paying over $2.00 a gallon for gas under Biden when I was paying a WHOLE lot less for a gallon under Trump? Why has the price of lumber gone up so much that the average price of a new home has gone up some $30-40,000 dollars just to reflect the increased price of lumber?

    Recall Walker? Dump Trump? Already done. Who are you going to blame? And as David has so aptly pointed out, crime is up, WAY UP in our Democrat run cities.

    Want to defund the Police? Why not; defund them. Next time you are being assaulted or robbed, go ahead, make my day, call 911 and see just what happens.

    Watcha going to do when the bad boys come for you?

    Oh and let’s not forget to take every firearm off the hands of law abiding Americans so that the thugs don’t have to worry about getting shot at while coming after you. Either that or they will come up with a ammunition shortage so that your guns will be worthless even if you have one.

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    1. jimydandy

      Lumber was way up under Tramp. Both have sold us to be slaves. I’ve accepted this for 20 years.

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  6. A Voice in the Wilderness

    What news source do I trust?

    “The wind that blows is all that anybody knows.”
    Henry David Thoreau

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  7. Kevin S Wymore

    The Wall Street Journal’s editorial page offers some good analysis. The National Review offers some good news coverage, such as their exposition of the Florida state employee “whistleblower” whose CNN pronouncements were found to be less than trustworthy.

    Liked by 1 person

  8. Bill

    I think that everyone should read this article from a publication called “The Objective Standard”
    https://theobjectivestandard.com/2021/05/a-woke-new-world/

    The author, Michael Dahlen wrote an article called “A woke new world.”

    Great article.

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  9. Dahlen opened his self-indulgently TL:DR article with the usual crapola rehashing that St. George Floyd was killed by the cops. Sorry, original coroners report indicated 3x ordinarily lethal dose of Fentanyl in Floyd’s bloodstream, plus additional fentanyl metabolites, plus methedrine, cocaine, and cannabinoid residues. Also Floyd tested positive for COVID! Autopsy further showed Floyd’s lungs to weigh 3x normal amount because of being filled with fluid and exudates typically indicative of death due to fentanyl OD. Coroner further reported no visible indications of death from asphyxiation or crushed airways under Chauvin’s knee. Why is that raging a*shoe Rep Maxine Waters not being prosecuted for de facto jury tampering?

    Liked by 1 person

    1. georgessson

      Alan, I like this, it’s a bit more comprehensive than others I’ve seen. Link please?

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      1. Thanks George for the response, but you could have Googled up the ref’s yourself as easiliy as could I.

        I first heard of the fentanyl levels on Scott Adams blog, only a day or two after the release of Dr. Baker’s findings (below) Here’s a link to the full original coroners report, which was conducted 26 May 2020, before the extreme politicization of this sorry episode, and the likely intimidation of any public servants who were not with the program…

        https://kstp.com/news/george-floyd-autopsy-report-shows-george-floyd-died-from-cardiopulmonary-arrest-was-positive-for-covid-19/5750262/

        Here’s the Wiki entry on fentanyl…

        https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fentanyl

        It says that the “LD50 for humans is unknown”, but in other references, the combined levels in Floyd’s bloodstream of fentanyl and norfentanyl (its metabolite) was 18 Ng/liter. Floyd eiether did or did not admit (depends on how you interpret the pre-Chauvin body camera videos held closely for months by MN BLM/Black Muslim/Islamocrazy Atty General) that he had hooped, i.e., inserted anally, his remaining stash of fentanyl to avoid wordsening his legal woes following the arrest. Whether anal diffusion into Floyd’s bloodstream would have continued after his heart stopped was apparently never addressed. Also left unaddressed in the Chauvin kangaroo trial was an earlier clinical rescuscitation of Floyd from an apparent fentanyl OD.

        Here’s another article in the medico-scientific literature to look through…

        https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/9695458/

        The 31 yr old man who OD’d had a blood level of 17.2 Ng/l.

        Liked by 1 person

        1. Batman

          All really good stuff (biochemistry) Alan but it’s not the kind of science radical Left proglibots are interested in nor would they be able to comprehend because they went to indoctrination camps not those archaic readin, writin, and rithmetic, type schools.
          However, proglibots are very good at *peaceful* protests and effectively wielding their intimidation tactics so there’s that.

          Liked by 1 person