Full Baron, Baquet: The State Of Mainstream Media In Today’s Era Of Misinformation | Meet The Press

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Full Baron, Baquet: The State Of Mainstream Media In Today’s Era Of Misinformation | Meet The Press

[robertdoneright]

The sound is so low - @NBC doesn't want people to hear this.

[pkloehe]

"If i utter a fact on TV on purpose, I get fired." ??? Slow down, Chuck. Your words are getting ahead of your brain. I think he meant to say that if a journalist uttered misinformation on TV on purpose, he'd get fired. Oh, wait, that wouldn't be true either. Nevermind.

[floydschneider]

WashPost's Media Blogger Hits Rachel Maddow for 'Rooting' for Dubious Dossier
By Tim Graham | December 29, 2019 7:03 AM EST
Washington Post media blogger Erik Wemple has been a fierce critic of Fox News in the Trump era. So it’s notable that he’s done six pieces on the collapse of the discredited Christopher Steele dossier, and no article drew more notice than this one on Thursday: “Rachel Maddow rooted for the Steele dossier to be true. Then it fell apart.”

Wemple laid out a timeline of Maddow boosting the credibility of the dossier repeatedly in 2017 and 2018, even after the Mueller report found no collusion between Russia and the Trump campaign. On October 5, 2017, she said that Steele had “a lot” of the dossier “dead to rights.”

On December 8, 2017, she aired a "special report" on the dossier (and MSNBC re-ran it on December 29, 2017). She said “Above all else, we know this about the now famous dossier: Christopher Steele had this story before the rest of America did. And he got it from Russian sources.”

Two years later, on the day Justice Department inspector general Michael Horowitz “released his punishing report — with all its assertions about the dossier’s dubiety — Maddow chose not to focus on the integrity of the document that she’d once claimed was accumulating credibility on a nearly daily basis.” Instead, she hit the liberal talking point that he “debunked” the notion of political bias in launching the Russia investigation. “Since that Dec. 9 mention, the dossier has gone in hiding from The Rachel Maddow Show.”

The case for Maddow is that her dossier coverage stemmed from public documents, congressional proceedings and published reports from outlets with solid investigative histories. She included warnings about the unverified assertions and didn’t use the dossier as a source for wild claims. There is something fishy, furthermore, about that Mueller footnote regarding the “tapes.” In their recent book on the dossier, Crime in Progress, the Fusion GPS co-founders wrote that Steele believes the document is 70-percent accurate.

The case against Maddow is far stronger. When small bits of news arose in favor of the dossier, the franchise MSNBC host pumped air into them. At least some of her many fans surely came away from her broadcasts thinking the dossier was a serious piece of investigative research, not the flimflam, quick-twitch game of telephone outlined in the Horowitz report. She seemed to be rooting for the document.

And when large bits of news arose against the dossier, Maddow found other topics more compelling.

She was there for the bunkings, absent for the debunkings — a pattern of misleading and dishonest asymmetry.

But what really makes your jaw drop about Maddow's dishonesty is the podcast interview she granted to Michael Isikoff of Yahoo News (who also was a participant in reporting/promoting the dossier):

ISIKOFF: Do you accept that there are times that you overstated what the evidence was and you made claims and suggestions that Trump was totally in Vladimir Putin’s pocket and they had something on him and that he was perhaps a Russian asset and we can’t really conclude that?

MADDOW: What have I claimed that’s been disproven?

ISIKOFF: Well, you’ve given a lot of credence to the Steele dossier.

MADDOW: I have?

ISIKOFF: Well, you’ve talked about it quite a bit, I mean, you’ve suggested it.

MADDOW: I feel like you’re arguing about impressions of me, rather than actually basing this on something you’ve seen or heard me do.

After some back and forth about the Mueller report, Maddow complained: “You’re trying to litigate the Steele dossier through me as if I am the embodiment of the Steele dossier, which I think is creepy, and I think it’s unwarranted."

[mofo]

Very few Americans trust the mainstream media

[madboyreadynow]

Chuck says around here I say “Don’t Round the Edges simply say what you see”??? Chick should use his own advice.

[BestCosmologist]

Corporate media is so embarrassing. Everything they say is so cringy.

[jade]

Facts and the truth are two separate things. Facts are objective, the truth can be subjective, especially if political or social. And even known facts aren't much good if people are being too selective about it. There's nothing worse than some of the facts. The people want the whole story, context and a good sense of proportion. Which is something that the msm doesn't provide. What we see here is establishment media members whining about not being the only source of news and information.

There are multiple sources of news in the U.S. that are all saying the same thing because they are controlled by a small group of billionaires who have the same agenda on most fronts. We have a two party system of government that is a duopoly serving the same masters. We do not have real democracy in America. We should have a real multi-party system of government, and there should be many independent news sources. Which there are, online, and the controlled press is attacking it.

I resent this Russophobic McCarthyism from the msm that's says or implies that any and all dissenting views are from Russian trolls, or that American citizens like myself are more loyal to a foreign leader than to my country. At the same time the people see all the politicians in Washington sucking up to AIPAC, and/or the war lobby... There, I just expressed a dissenting point of view, so I must be a Russian agent, right? Or I'm just ignorant, which is more insulting... What they're really advocating for is more censorship.

[josephwhisnant]

The Russian misinformation has got nothing on Chuck Todd. They probably watch it and take notes on Meet the Press.

[nancymesek]

NYTimes, the ones that helped fuel the Iraq war calling others fake news?

[floydschneider]

Rachel Maddow’s Reckoning

By JIM GERAGHTY
December 27, 2019 11:31 AM


You may recall that back in March 2017, MSNBC host Rachel Maddow shocked the world by declaring “we’ve got Trump’s tax returns!” Then she later clarified she had obtained Donald Trump’s 1040 form from … 2005. Those who tuned in to her program that evening had to watch a meandering 19-minute soliloquy and a commercial break before Maddow showed anything from the tax return, which wasn’t much. Her guest, David Cay Johnson, speculated that Trump may have also leaked nude photos of Melania.

That night was a massive letdown for those who believed Maddow’s initial announcement, but it previewed what we could expect from Maddow for the next three years, as the Washington Post’s Erik Wemple lays out in exhaustive detail in a review of Maddow’s reporting and discussion of the Steele dossier. His assessment is scathing:

When small bits of news arose in favor of the dossier, the franchise MSNBC host pumped air into them. At least some of her many fans surely came away from her broadcasts thinking the dossier was a serious piece of investigative research, not the flimflam, quick-twitch game of telephone outlined in the Horowitz report. She seemed to be rooting for the document.

And when large bits of news arose against the dossier, Maddow found other topics more compelling.

She was there for the bunkings, absent for the debunkings — a pattern of misleading and dishonest asymmetry.

Justice Department Inspector General Michael Horowitz issued his report earlier this month and concluded, “much of the material in the Steele election reports, including allegations about Donald Trump and members of the Trump campaign relied upon in the Carter Page FISA applications, could not be corroborated; that certain allegations were inaccurate or inconsistent with information gathered by the Crossfire Hurricane team; and that the limited information that was corroborated related to time, location and title information, much of which was publicly available.”

Like other prime-time cable news hosts who receive much more criticism, Maddow shows up every weeknight and tells a devoted audience, “the world is as you want it to be.” Trump is the worst, he’s committed many terrible crimes, a reckoning is coming, we will be vindicated. Her audience is not interested in hearing the host or guests declare: “While we are vehemently opposed to Trump, but there is no evidence he’s being blackmailed or controlled by the Russian government.” Her program includes bits of news and other substances that appear to be like news, but are not — fervent speculation, conjecture, assumptions, theories. If it is too harsh to call it “fake news, ” then it is news with artificial flavors and sweeteners, designed to make it more exciting and appealing than it really is.

Return to The Corner

[tbwhitney]

Propagandists talking about the control of truth.
The Ministry of Truth?

[jodyramsay]

They can't push the narrative anymore. I love it!

[guy]

Your JOB is to report facts and let people JUDGE them...not to interpret what you think we should think!

[tajaicalip]

If there was proof of anything against me in my case way in August of 2010 that's when the prior Owners should have been asking questions. Not when the prior Owners wanted to ask questions and not properly serve in November of 2010. Why has the NewsCasts not received anything. I did specifically let the prior Owners know that was a resource that they could have easily given their proof to since the Courts, Police, and the Hearing Officers has no proof of complying in the correct month way back in August in 2010. Then way back in 2015 Hearing. How could the prior Owners NOT know that they left their problems at my home. The Police was called over and over again to remove the prior Owners problems. The prior Owners did not come over at least once to confirm making sure that their prior Tenants or whoever the Trespassers were leave the property. The prior Owners used to come over all the time. Supposedly the prior Owners did not place a false name on my home until way in 2015. There is not any way that the Federal Government, Courts, and other Governments can delay my life like that. The Police was being very immature without knowing me saying dumb things like, " They were investigation." No One has any power to investigate Trespassers and Suspects at Someone else's homes for years. These Governments have life confused in the real World. The Police definitely have Attorney John Russo message confused. The Attorney clearly stated that the Police are to service the People. The Police knew without any doubts that they do not debate us without evidence. Do not leave Trespassers and Suspects at my home knowing the Inspectors were coming to my home to service the sanctions and fines that are clearly written in my order. The Police does not try to get the Inspectors to be ignorant like they were and not service the order. The Inspectors kept coming out doing their job. The only Treason interrupters in this order was the Oakland Police. They need to be held liable. The City Attorney John Russo knew the City Of Oakland was under Federal Investigation in the first place for corrupted Police Officers. The misfits of society type of Police that were coming to my home being disrespectful by debating me without knowing me. They knew that they needed to make the necessary arrests. Who does that. Not too many competent People for sure. What kind of armed Men and Women play this game with a Family that they do NOT know. What kind of President then starts tweeting in such a serious and urgent case that I do not know. I have been arrested six or more times for being illegally held outside of my home against my will by the Government and given a record. I did not have any record until I was attacked. What kind of President starts playing with a grown Woman that he definitely does not know after the facts were obvious. Not a sane President.

[Td]

I wonder why meet the press never discusses jobs or the economy is it not important anymore to voters

[Leon-qcfe]

This reminds me of a NASCAR race-NBC does not want the viewers to hear the audio.

[jgvn]

I have some some advice for them. Speak the truth and The truth shall set you free.

[casting]

I lost my Trust in Liar - Chuck long time ago.

[andante]

May I add my take here? The fact of the matter, is that the zero idea what life is like in Red Country, and vice versa. Each side's cocooned existence explains opinions that are so misinformed. On both sides. The divide is extraordinary, and ominous to say the least.

[Dan-udhz]

“Before mass leaders seize the power to fit reality to their lies, their propaganda is marked by its extreme contempt for facts as such, for in their opinion fact depends entirely on the power of man who can fabricate it.”

- Hannah Arendt, The Origins of Totalitarianism
"It is important that any effort to influence or effect the American public that is not in the public interest be killed by the light of pitiless publicity and analysis."
- Edward Bernays, Propaganda