Tell the Truth 2024

Across the dial the network evening network newscasts, using the same talking points, pumped the Senate-White House border deal, and knocked Republicans opposing the deal. And in so doing, they left out some pretty important details.

Today in federal court, the source of a major story involving stolen tax information was sentenced to a five-year prison term. Given how the story was covered, you’d expect at least minimal coverage across the major evening newscasts. But, alas, this wasn’t the case across the board.

Today’s interview of Senator James Lankford (R-OK) illustrates the very reason why the late, great Rush Limbaugh coined the term “drive-by media”. CBS Face the Nation moderator Margaret Brennan attempted to pull a fast one and manufacture a quote from Sen. Lankford that he never uttered.

ABC News This Week host Martha Raddatz had a sit-down with the new Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Gen. C.Q. Brown. What was a biographical get-to-know-you interview mixed with talk about current events in the Middle East was marred by an unnecessary dive into politics.

The network evening newscasts were split as to their coverage of the growth in the nation’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP) for the 4th quarter of 2023, a stout 3.3%. Coverage, to our surprise, ranged from regime cheerleading to brutal reality. 

As everything looks like a nail to the hammer, so does everything look like racism to the racial demagogue. The racial demagogue in this instance, is of course, MSNBC’s Joy Reid, who performed a segment in which she compared calls to secure the southern border to Southern segregation during the ‘60s.

Every once in a while, you get to see the contempt that the Acela Media has for regular people- for voters who live normal lives and who might not think like them. Such was the case when NBC’s Garrett Haake interviewed a voter at the Trump victory party in New Hampshire.

MSNBC’s coverage of the New Hampshire primary has been weird to watch, to say the least. With no large number of white evangelical voters to malign, the network’s coverage quickly shifted to general election mode, which at MSNBC means shilling for President Joe Biden.

We are at the stage of the electoral cycle wherein drive-bys openly express their dissatisfaction at the insufficiency of an attack levied against a Republican- in this case, former President Donald Trump.

As the 2024 campaign heats up, a network’s evening newscast deems it appropriate to cover the president’s cognitive decline. Not the sitting president, though, but his predecessor.

Univision’s reputation, historically, has been that of a network fueled primarily but uncontrolled immigration. But what happens when some of the beneficiaries of Biden’s uncontrolled border aren’t able to tune in? Things get very interesting.

Some of our major networks made an editorial decision not to cover the upcoming hearing, ordered by the judge overseeing the Trump trial in Atlanta, regarding misconduct allegations against Fulton County prosecutor Fani Willis. We are thus reminded of that great Iowahawk quote: “Journalism is about covering important stories, With a pillow. Until they stop moving.”

On MSNBC’s Alex Wagner Tonight, viewers were subjected to several painful minutes of self-indulgent whining over the purchase of The Baltimore Sun by David Smith, executive chairman of Sinclair Broadcasting Group. Media don’t especially appreciate losing control of an outlet.

The Cable News Network, in an apparent desire to torture its viewers, decided that a one-hour candidate town hall required a two-hour post-show analysis. Which, in this case, was about one hour and 40 minutes too many.