Drew Holden Profile picture
Apr 27, 2022 13 tweets 9 min read Read on X
🧵THREAD🧵

The corporate press has gone from reporting on Florida’s parental rights legislation to advocating against it in the blink of an eye.

I break it down for @FreeBeacon, with a few callouts below.⤵️
freebeacon.com/media/watch-th…
Outlet after outlet went from using the bill’s actual name or indicating that critics called it the “don’t say gay” bill to adopting the misleading title without qualifier, parroting the language of progressive advocates.

It only took @CNN a week.
@nytimes, are you lumping yourselves in with the bill’s opponents?

Sure looks that way.
These from @NPR presented without comment.
It took less than a month for the bill to go from being “so called” to simply called for @PBS.
If you read only @CBSNews, you would be forgiven for thinking that the name simply changed along the way from the “Parental Rights in Education” bill to the “Don’t Say Gay’ bill.
Look I wasn’t holding out hope for anything better from @MSNBC.
For @ABC it was even the same author who wrote both! @kiaraalfonseca
But my favorite had to be @AlJazeera, an outlet owned by the government of Qatar, where the death penalty is still on the books for homosexuality.
Some outlets didn’t even bother to describe the bill as anything but how partisan activists named it, like @washingtonpost, @politico, @axios and @voxdotcom (go figure)
This is why so many people have lost faith in the media.

When corporate outlets can’t help but become partisan actors, why would anyone think they can be trusted to call balls and strikes on the issues?
Language matters. We’ve gotta push back against this implicit advocacy if we want to create enough space for reasonable, fact-based debate to exist in our public square.
Also, in case you missed the news, I’m now a staff writer for @FreeBeacon. So be sure to download the app and follow our socials for all my latest.

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More from @DrewHolden360

Oct 2
🧵Thread🧵

The media are melting down about former FBI director Jim Comey’s indictment, calling it Trump’s “retribution.”

But if prosecuting a political rival is such an outrage, why’d they cheer along when Biden went after Trump, Bannon & Navarro?

Some side-by-sides ⤵️
I want you to help me spot the difference in tone.

With Comey, @CNN put five — five! — reporters on the byline to declare the indictment was an “escalation” in “Trump’s effort to prosecute his political enemies.”

Where was that when Biden’s DOJ indicted Bannon? “A victory” Image
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And @CNN wasn’t any better on Peter Navarro, another Trump aide indicted under Biden.

Rather than an “effort to prosecute…political enemies,” CNN quoted the prosecutor to tell the story.

Why is the claim of the government the framing of the piece under Biden? I have a guess. Image
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Read 24 tweets
Sep 18
🧵Thread🧵

The outrage over Kimmel’s canning is incredibly stupid, but it’s also enormously rich coming from the same media outlets who have cheered the government actually censoring people, particularly during COVID.

Let me know if you can spot the difference in tone? ⤵️
This @CNN headline made me think this story needed a thread.

Kimmel’s suspension is “straight from a European strongman’s playbook,” per @CNN’s @brianstelter.

When Biden cracked down on free speech during Covid, CNN hyped up the effort. Image
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Few promoted the government’s actual attack on free speech more aggressively than the same @brianstelter now calling a comedian’s shelving evidence of autocracy, or something. Image
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Read 18 tweets
Sep 3
🧵Thread🧵

I know there’s a lot going on but we just had a media conspiracy implode that I think captures something important about the corporate press.

Did you hear about how Trump was allegedly going after John Bolton as retribution for his criticism?

Well…follow along ⤵️
We saw a week straight of media suggestions that Trump was abusing the powers of the state to deal out “retribution” to John Bolton following the news that the FBI (“Trump’s DOJ!” headlines rang out) raided his house.

We were in “unsettling” times, to hear @nytimes tell it. Image
The *Editorial Board* at @nytimes put out an even more dramatic statement, asking who Trump’s next payback victim after Bolton would be.

They dubbed the raid “revenge.”

Democracy was in truly troubled waters. Image
Read 24 tweets
Aug 26
🧵Thread🧵

A single poll has bootstrapped a media narrative that DC residents are outraged by Trump’s takeover.

I poked around the cross tabs of the poll — of 600 or so of DC’s more comfortable residents — and I think it’s pretty suspect.

How come? Follow along: ⤵️
Let’s start with the poll. The @washingtonpost talked to 604 people, of whom 90% — 90%! — self-described as living in “very good” or “good” neighborhoods.

So, fine. 80% of people who like where they live in DC are upset. Image
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But even beyond that, it’s worth asking whether this poll really captures DC’s opinion.

In the poll, only 31% describe crime as a “serious” or “very serious” problem in DC.

When @washingtonpost asked this same question in May, *50%* said it was a serious problem.

What gives? Image
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Read 26 tweets
Jul 15
🧵Thread🧵

I feel like I’m losing my mind about the Biden autopen pardons.

The former president said he made every decision. His staff says that he didn’t actually make the final call on thousands of them.

We’re supposed to treat this as normal?

I try to unpack. ⤵️
This got new life from a Biden interview w/ @nytimes.

NYT leads by repeating Biden’s claim that he made the calls…burying the admissions that 1) he really didn’t & 2) where he allegedly did, the aids sending details to the autopen weren’t in the room when the call was made… Image
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…instead, they relied on what senior staff had allegedly heard, which was then passed along.

The piece ends with the revelation that Biden’s then-chief of staff gave the final sign off.

Given what the former admin has lied about, why should we trust this reporting of events? Image
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Read 20 tweets
Jun 11
🧵Thread🧵

The coverage of the anti-ICE riots in LA is perhaps the clearest example of advocacy “journalism” in Trump’s second term.

Reading the reporting, you would never know the most significant fact: the American people support Trump’s deportations.

Follow along ⤵️
First, the facts about the riots.

You’ve seen the burning cars, looting & clashes between police & protestors.

Demonstrators blocked the freeway, attacked ICE agents, all in an effort to prevent the deportations of illegal aliens. Trump deployed troops to allow ICE to operate. Image
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As @MarkHalperin and @seanspicer discussed, the situation in LA is so tranquil that the mayor has instituted a curfew for the city.
Read 25 tweets

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