Category: journalism

Not fake news but repetitive news
Over the past few days the “pathway to heaven photo“ has been making its rounds. It was taken by people after the scene of a car accident, there’s some hot debate whether it’s a soul going to heaven or just a glare from the windshield.

But just as a symbol of how the news media works, those with some memory may recall this photo was published before.

Despite the fact the news reports or not indicating what year it took place, they were simply saying it was taken April 25, it has been published as though just happened this year

It did not.

Here are some screenshots showing the date line October 2021 for the new a story but other screenshots showcasing that this photo was published many years ago.

It’s how the news biz works. Sometimes fake. Sometimes repetition. But most of the time misleading.
October 8, 2021
The Drudge show hits IMPEACHMENT

It is great to see Matt Drudge showcase himself again on his own website..

There is absolutely no doubt that the Drudge Report changed the world, started a media revolution.. and for better or worse paved the way for what we are dealing with today…

Drudge showed the media that a glamor job on a network wasn’t what mattered..

Just a modem and a web space. It all happened in the murky mid-90s when his gossip column reached 300,000 or so folks–a major achievement for that time! Even AOL had struggles Drudge never did.

And that magic moment. The time he was given a lead that no one else would bite one: An intern sex scandal in the White House that would change history, journalism, and the basic fabric of our nation…

And now Drudge is touting his presence in the Monica Lewinsky drama IMPEACHMENT..

DRUDGE HIMSELF MARKED THE OCCASION WITH A SERIES OF NEWS LINKS AND A NOSTALGIC IMAGE OF HIMSELF ON HIS SITE, THE DRUDGE REPORT..

Drudge linked a story by Adrienne Gafney with a headline “Memories How Drudge Changed it All” ..

She wrote,

Drudge, and his soon to be famous site Drudge Report, achieved the impossible in 1998 and stunned the world when he broke the news about President Clinton’s affair with an intern named Monica Lewinsky—a relationship that’s at the center of the new series, airing now on FX.

There is a lot more about his influence, his role … all of it.

When the HORROR REPORT first began back in the early days if the 21st century, we homaged Drudge by stealing his look and design.

Some have dismissed his site and his role in history. Other realized immediately then and still today how much of a role has had in just about every historical event since the mid 1990s….

September 22, 2021
Fairness in reporting!

CNN caves to pressure and becomes journalism again?

August 31, 2021
Vaccine efficacy hysteria: Following the science to oblivion

This post may be shadow blocked. Or deleted.. or whatever-ed. Anymore, it’s tough to say.. Yes there are people who profess against science and common sense. But there are also those who question nothing..

This post is not going to be anti-vaccine. But just anti-bad journalism and sensationalism. All of which we have seen in increasingly large amounts in the previous year or so..

If you didn’t notice over the past several weeks since the Delta Strain of COVID-19 began to circulate widely and now take center state in the summer wave, journalism has been .. just weird.

On one hand, endless news media talking heads have used the term ‘unvaccinated’ as though they want to round up Americans who didn’t get the jab and electrocute them. Some have said they are guilty of murder.. take away their children, a few decry!

Meanwhile, the same reporters are admitting that vaccinated Americans are spreading COVID with their viral loads. Perhaps not getting as sick, but potentially giving the Delta variant to the unvaccinated masses in some circles of former friends.

The CDC has admitted breakthrough cases could end up being in the tens of thousands if not more. Heck, it seems every day we hear about someone in the Yankees baseball organization developing COVID–vaccinated Yankees no less.

So these breakthrough cases are causing confusion. Mass confusion. And yes, mass debate and hysteria.

Life in America in 2021 is a little more brutal on the COVID anger front than even back in the worst year in modern history, 2020. After all, back then we only had to scream out heads off about masks and social distancing. Now the hatred and hostilities over shut down orders behind us, we have moved on to government overreach vs the follow the science corners.

Rational discussion? HA! Not only a thing of the past but perhaps it will never return again.

We have fully replaced it with click bait headlines that have articles with nothing to offer but hysterical analysis and little to no facts..

Who what when where why has been replaced by talking points and one-sided sarcasm.

Journalism ain’t anything like it once was.

If people can get passed the vitriolic hatred that both sides on the vaccine debate have towards each other and try to just research what you can, things may be a little worse.

Today’s splashing headline on Axios was about dread in the Biden White House that the Pfizer vaccine was just 42% effective against Delta.

But wait…just a few days ago local news across America reported to their audiences that Pfizer was effective against Delta!

Maybe Moderna. So anohter study concluded that Moderna is MORE effective than Pfizer! The TIMES OF ISRAEL reported that Moderna is MUCH more effective than Pfizer! Good news, right?

But a previous study said that Moderna and Pfizer were just about equal in protection against Delta.

And Johnson and Johnson!? Some have called it the Dollar general vaccine.

The New York TIMES reported on a study saying that the J&J one and done is not effective against Delta. Some of the 13 million people who got the Jannsen are worried they chose the wrong vaccine, the Washington POST reports.

But while they fret over which company they went with, yet another study of Johnson & Johnson states that it is highly effective in preventing serious illness from Delta..

So what can we learn from this leaning tower of babel?

You can take your pick on which vaccine snobbery you side with.. you can be like Burger King and have it your way with the study of your choice.. but if anyone, ANYONE in the media, is confused as to why there is vaccine hesitancy, just watch your own news and read your owner stories for a few hours.. then tell me what to think.

August 11, 2021
Modern media exceptionalism: Did you really read the ‘news’ today?

All the news making headlines… good luck finding what matters!

This post just will take a brief out from the perils of modern life.

There ARE really things in the world happening besides the COVID hangover.. besides Democrats and Republicans fighting about the latest insignificant event.

And we are told to trust the ‘trusted’ sources.. the news media! Hear them snooze!

While real events occur, they are busy posting lame headlines for click bait and talking heads on TV for ratings. Do they even get ratings anymore? Ahh.. who cares, right? YouTube pumps them to the top of the algorithm .. Twitter brands them. They are number one baby.

But despite their accredited and heralded abilities to give you headlines that matter, they so often neglect news.

Like, the real news. The things that actually happen.

Local news had to report what big networks failed to: All this summer a hazy smoke has been in the air shading the sun even more orange near nightfall. Sure, it made for cool photos.. but where did this smoke come from, you ask? Yea.. everyone asked. Because the BIG networks failed to report on the ongoing Canadian wildfires.

An last night while you slept, a massive 8.2 quake hit near Alaska, and caused tsunami warnings throughout the Pacific. Luckily they didn’t come to fruition.

Bet you didn’t know it was the biggest there in 50 years and the shaking was continuous after the quake. You wouldn’t know because the “News” this morning did not even give it a passing mention. NOT A PEEP.

Thankfully Steve Lookner woke up in his Florida apartment to go live in the early AM. He is becoming the more trusted name in news for us!

Finally, just as quickly as news trucks descended on Florida to cover the apartment building collapse in Miami, they left.. most satellites gave up their feed long before the final body was removed from the wreckage..

I guess the attention span just isn’t ready for anything longer than a few characters of text.

We are supposed to trust them.
We are supposed to listed.

The fight so often seems to be about which network to trust. Democrats have CNN and MSNBC and Republicans get FOX and whatever other startup exists on a cable platform near you.

We debate endlessly which one is more biased when in fact they all are.

Sadly what has been lost?

Real news, real information, real reporting.

It has become obnoxious beyond repair.

July 29, 2021
Whoopsie poopsie on Tank Man

SAVE THIS TANK MAN IMAGE WHILE YOU CAN! DON’T BING IT

Bing, the search engine owned by Microsoft, is not displaying image results for a search for “Tank man,” even when searching from the United States. The apparent censorship comes on the anniversary of China’s violent crackdown on protests in Tiananmen Square in 1989.

“There are no results for tank man,” the Bing website reads after searching for the term. “Tank man” relates to the infamous image of a single protester standing in front of a line of Chinese tanks during the crackdown.

Motherboard verified that the issue also impacts image searches on Yahoo and DuckDuckGo, which both use Bing.

On 32nd anniversary of the Tiananmen Square Massacre, we look to this photo was taken the day before the famous tank man photo. The Chinese regime massacred hundreds of unarmed protesters demanding democratic rule:

And this is a full image of TANK MAN, not just one tank.. no… NUMEROUS:

A Microsoft spokesperson told Motherboard in an email that “This is due to an accidental human error and we are actively working to resolve this.”..

June 5, 2021
USA Today fights subpoena aimed at readers of Florida FBI shooting story!! They want to know everyone that clicked on an article within a 35-minute window

Gannett, the publisher, contends that demand for details on who accessed article violates the First Amendment.

Newspaper publisher Gannett is fighting an effort by the FBI to try to determine who read a specific USA Today story about a deadly shooting in February near Fort Lauderdale, Fla., that left two FBI agents dead and three wounded. The subpoena, served on Gannett in April, seeks information about who accessed the news article online during a 35-minute window starting just after 8 p.m. on the day of the shootings. The demand — signed by a senior FBI agent in Maryland — does not appear to ask for the names of those who read the story, if the news outlet has such information. Instead, the subpoena seeks internet addresses and mobile phone information that could lead to the identities of the readers.

MORE..

On February 2, FBI agents Daniel Alfin and Laura Schwartzenberger were killed and three others were wounded when 55-year-old David Huber started shooting as they approached his apartment in Fort Lauderdale shortly after 6am.

He was suspected of possessing child porn, but the FBI has never revealed why. After killing the agents, he took his own life.

The FBI wants the phone numbers and IP addresses of everyone who clicked on the story during a 35-window that night, between 8.03pm and 8.38pm.

MORE..

USA Today is fighting back, saying the order violates the First Amendment.

‘A government demand for records that would identify specific individuals who read specific expressive materials, like the Subpoena at issue here, invades the First Amendment rights of both publisher and reader, and must be quashed accordingly,’ lawyers for Gannett, the company that owns USA Today, said.

They added said the subpoena’s vague reference to ‘a federal criminal investigation’ cannot ‘possibly justify such an abridgment of free speech.’

The FBI has not commented on the subpoena or on what grounds it should have the information.

June 5, 2021