Thread by @FixMediaNow

Daily reminder: Corporate media has as its prime directive distribution of a maximally palatable “news product” to expand/maintain its financial/influence value.

Today @washingtonpost perversely normalizes racism & neofascism
A thread … @nhannahjones @ruthbenghiat @Sulliview

Gov #DeSantis is a neofascist. He has weaponized his powers to attack education, public health voting rights etc..

His assaults on public education, book banning are racist & transphobic.

Journalistic failure by fraudulent euphemisms:
“Cultural issues”
“Pushes to right”

A healthy Fourth Estate would speak out against fascism and not leave it to “Democratic govs SEE a need”
@danbalz (author) fills his piece with “view from nowhere” musings.

Question: Are the dangerous anti-American policies of DeSantis a bad thing Dan?
Cc: @jayrosen_nyu

Dan is emblematic of the “savvy style” of pro-Republican analysis that Republican WaPo publisher Fred Ryan pays for.

Dan’s style is systemic and embedded in the editorial frames and language of WaPo.

@airbagmoments @MMBrussell @iTweetyNerd

If you forgot Fred Ryan is still on the Ronald Reagan Presidential Foundation…

Oh.. he’s also Chairman of the Board.

All WaPo editors report to and are accountable to Republican Fred Ryan.

@protecttruth_ @Will_Bunch @susanbordson

Now Dan’s piece.

Whitewashes the asymmetry of the source of toxicity in Congress.

This covers for chaos anti-government Republicans. We’d call this smokescreen “both sides-ing”.

Willful omission of facts we all see - debases confidence in journalism.

Not sure why Dan chose “Biden’s version of America First” when Biden’s agenda is his own. Pretty sure Biden is not an “American First” kinda guy but an “American worker first” but hey WaPo you do you.

Here we go… “vanguard on the right” is WaPo fraudulent euphemism for neofascist extremism.

“Cultural issues” euphemism for Right Wing reaction attacks on Americans freedom and liberalism.

BONUS “both sides” hostility @froomkin

Attacking the education system based on lies and racism is not a DEBATE @danbalz it’s an affront to all Americans and a threat to America.

Book banning = book burning

Why did you not interview teachers and experts in authoritarianism such as @ruthbenghiat @rweingarten

In the honorable names of your Journalism teachers (long gone by) @danbalz what the hell is “tip of conservative spear in pushing these conservative boundaries”?
Is fascism and anti-democratic assaults your definition of “conservative” now?
@joshtpm @MollyJongFast @MarkJacob16

Oh! DeSantis pressed (or at least explicitly pressed) the College Board to erase American history for millions of Floridians. Do the changes made about Black History register to Dan as significant?

In WaPo erasure of Black History (American history) is just a “revamp”.

Don’t worry @washingtonpost reader. This is all just good ol’ “education debates” who doesn’t love a good debate?

Democracy dies in NEUTRALITY @SallyBuzbee

@DougJBalloon please franchise yourself to WaPo it’s fertile territory.

@MediaBusters6

There’s plenty of company for Dan at WaPo for normalization and whitewashing of racism and neofascism.

Tag team. @KnowlesHannah and @laurameckler (Psst you two are writing about fascism but cover it like football. That’s bad)

“Neutrality theatre” to excess.
@tzimmer_history

You missed the memo and fail your readers. The GOP has been at war with public education for decades and uses disinfo to attack it. You swallow and normalize the “parents rights” frame and regurgitate it to readers.

DeSantis has done a LOT more than “limit discussion of race and gender” he’s an authoritarian breaking public education, terrorizing teachers with threats of arrest FFS.

Have you spoken to any families with trans kids?

The frame of this entire piece is perverse normalization.

Oh. The requisite “challenge for Trump” conundrum.

Based on past 7 years do you think America could survive another Trump presidency?

Did you go to J-school to “speak truth to power” ?

Perhaps “speak truth to fascism”.

Using “” around a lie is NOT sufficient.
Do you understand that Republicans have hijacked “parents rights” as weaponized disinformation?

Stenography of a lie is not journalism.

Did ChatGPT write this? It’s devoid of essential context that these are assaults based on racism.

They “say” and what do you think? Is this a true statement? It’s not so why print it ?

So book burning without smoke?

This is fascism. Weaponizing the state.

So @washingtonpost Tell me (without telling me) you don’t understand that racism is the lifeblood of the Republican Party.

@kazweida @rweingarten @nhannahjones @BlackPressUSA @iTweetyNerd @MarkJacob16 @jeffjarvis @soledadobrien