Another Russian-related lie was exposed today, this time the allegation that @nypost’s Biden coverage was “Russian disinformation,” something that every corner of the media & Democratic Party assured us was the case.
Don’t believe me? Well, take a look👇
Getting us started is @CNN, who had chief Russian conspiracist James Clapper on the program to talk about how the Post story was “classic textbook Soviet Russian tradecraft” (his words) and then did an “anatomy” of the “dubious” story.
But right behind them was @nytimes, who ran a similarly incredulous story, and whose chief political reporter @maggieNYT doubled down on the Russian disinformation angle.
But the real leader - as with all things Russian hoax related - was @MSNBC.
Perhaps the organization that looks the worst in all this is @CBSNews. One of their reporters, @BoKnowsNews, dared ask Biden about the allegations and was shot down on twitter by his own news director (and that may not even be the worst of it).
@davidcicilline may fly under the radar on it but he’s been a died in the blood Russian collusion guy, too.
But it was the bluechecks who really outdid themselves on this one. You’ll see many of the same names here as who pushed the Russian collusion hoax way back when. Here’s @Amy_Siskind
@neeratanden went full black helicopters on this one.
One of the loudest voices in all of this continues to be @brhodes, which is pretty incredible when you consider that the only reason we know his name is because he duped a media establishment that loved his boss.
As ever, the former Republicans found a way to outdo themselves on this one. Here’s @MaxBoot checking in with the four-boxer, and also bringing @CNNTonight along for the ride.
I will never forgive myself for once speaking positively of @EvanMcMullin.
There’s no way to fit all of the NeverTrumpers, so we’re bundling them together. Here we’ve also got @BillKristol, @davidfrum and @WalshFreedom
Space and patience are almost gone. Here we’ve got:
It is ENORMOUSLY dishonest for anyone to pretend that a politically inconvenient story is disinformation from a hostile foreign power.
Our entire media establishment just did this - AGAIN - along with elected officials and thought leaders.
Shameful. Just all around shameful.
We can’t live in a world where everything the left doesn’t like magically becomes “Russian disinformation.” No one even bothered to show this was disinfo - all they had to do was say it & it built the narrative on the left and in the mainstream media.
Okay, follow up. There was just too much to cram in.
You had to know that @ThePlumLineGS would be all over a good Russian conspiracy theory.
@NatashaBertrand and @politico thought it would make sense to quote **a Biden adviser** about whether or not the Russian disinformation allegations were legit.
This one is likely my longest and perhaps most savage threads. So much - too much - to tee off on.
Also @Twitter can you let me know how to flag potentially misleading tweets about the 2020 Election? I’ve got some recommendations.
Also, of course, these are the same people who shouted about the Steele dossier and the “pee tape” and everything else related to “Russian collusion” for the last four years.
I’ve got a separate thread with some of the worst offenders.
Do you remember how bad the media’s “Covid lab leak” - the hypothesis that the virus came from a lab - coverage was?
I thought I did. But it was a more dramatic example of uniform media malpractice than even I remembered.
So I revisited it. Buckle in, it’s long. ⤵️
It started in Feb 2020 when @SenTomCotton suggested looking into the CCP lab studying bats near the initial cases in Wuhan.
The media were outraged. In a since-updated piece, @washingtonpost said the idea was a “conspiracy theory that has been repeatedly debunked by experts.”
It wasn’t just WaPo. Shortly thereafter, @nytimes trotted out a similar allegation, calling the lab leak hypothesis a “fringe theory” and a “tale” designed to inflame social media.
@CNN’s @ChrisCillizza said Cotton was “playing a dangerous game” with his suggestions.
The reason I take screenshots is that I'm always paranoid that an outlet or journalist will scrap the evidence of a bad take. Maybe I should be giving folks more credit for standing by their inaccuracies.
Every so often I check back in on this, perhaps my all-time favorite headline from @NPR, only to see that it still exists in its original form, from April 2020.
I launched a newsletter, called Holden Court, about the media, what they get wrong & why it matters. The goal is to reach beyond what my 🧵s have on Twitter & to build a better recent history of media & media criticism.
You can sign up at the link in my bio. More ⤵️
At that link you can read my launch piece and get a better idea of what it is that I’m trying to do.
The piece also walks through a recent example of bad media coverage that I worry we’re already forgetting about: the start of Covid.
My general premise for the newsletter is that media criticism could be a lot better; more driven by what the media actually does and says and more set in recent context, rather than an impressionistic sense that the media is hopelessly off-track.
I’m launching something new, so naturally I figured the best explainer was a 🧵thread🧵.
Introducing Holden Court, my Substack about the media, what it gets wrong, and why it matters.
You probably know the drill, but more details & links to sign up in the tweets below. ⤵️
Holden Court aims to unpack media failures, particularly when the media misses in unison on important political topics. But I’ll also have one-off content, Q&A opportunities, a mailbag and maybe virtual (or even in person) happy hours, too.
That doesn’t mean the threads are going away. But the amount of context and nuance I can capture in a thread is limited. So the Substack will (hopefully) provide that more robust analysis, aiming ultimately at *why* the media misses the way that it does.
“15 days to slow the spread” kicked off four years ago Saturday, sending the media into perhaps its most deranged cycle of my lifetime.
I dove back into some of the worst lockdown media coverage from those early days.
Buckle in, this one’s long. ⤵️
The real worst of the coverage was when states started reopening. The media outrage was palpable. Republicans wanted people to die, we were told.
Remember @TheAtlantic’s “Georgia’s Experiment in Human Sacrifice”? You may’ve forgotten how wild the text of it was. I did.
But that wasn’t a one off sentiment. The belief four years ago among the media was that allowing people to leave their homes was tantamount to killing people.
@washingtonpost called it a “deadly error” — not in an opinion piece, mind you, but in a “health” news headline.
Another media conspiracy, this time that Trump attacked a Secret Service agent on Jan 6, imploded yesterday.
Remember when the media—in unison—reported the “bombshell” allegations as fact?
I do. And I’ve got screenshots.⤵️
You’re familiar with the story I suspect but just in case: when former aid Cassidy Hutchinson testified Trump had “lunged” for a secret service steering wheel on Jan. 6, the media rushed to print the salacious (& false) claims as true.
Here’s @NBCNews @CNN @ABC @washingtonpost
Trump was allegedly going to drive himself to the Capitol to take part in the riot.
That’s what @CBSNews @Independent @NPR @NewsHour said.