For the past week there was basically one topic that dominated the news cycle – the media. With excerpts released from the Jake Tapper-Alex Thompson book on the decline of Joe Biden and the impact on the election, the press has been in a cyclone of spin and reassessments of their own behavior. Given that this book promises to be a rewriting of journalism history, it is to be expected that revisionism would be the prevailing effort.
Even though other topics managed to seep into the narrative – like the economy, Trump’s visit to the Middle East, and the furor over a Qatari jet – most of that was drowned out by the Biden breakdown discussion. After all, what more important topic could the press cover than themselves?! Let’s start mucking around in the media swamps and see who took top (bottom) honors this week.
THE CONTENDERS
Politico – Jonathan Martin tried denying he had admitted to knowing about Joe Biden’s condition for years, so we reminded him. Sebastian Gorka exposed the outlet on stage at their own event. They featured a reverend who was “arrested for praying” under the Trump administration, when he had been protesting inside the Capitol Rotunda.
MSNBC – Jonathan Lemire struggled to figure out why people on the right are not fans of former FBI Director James Comey. Not surprisingly, the outlet turned racist in declaring that white asylum seekers from South Africa should be barred from entry. There was a desperate spin on the Letitia James lawsuit, straining to make it all about MAGA.
ABC News – Jonathan Karl lit the industry on fire during the early part of the week with his BREAKING report that Qatar was giving President Trump a new Air Force One. Small matter that there were more nuanced details behind this arrangement, not to mention that the Wall Street Journal had fully reported on this more than a week earlier. Martha Raddatz sat with a prominent Cardinal to discuss the new Pope, and made it all about Donald Trump. When the April inflation figure came in at just 0.2 percent, the outlet struggled to come up with a negative spin. The network was mad when NOAA announced it will stop tracking climate change damage costs.
Axios – In defending Jake from a video montage showing his hypocritical positions on Joe Biden, his co-author Alex Thompson resorted to the same cheap-fakes video defense that Tapper himself decried. In trying to rationalize how tariffs have not had a huge impact on prices, they struggled to figure out why there have been recession fears – fears that were completely generated in the press.
THE WINNER
CNN / JAKE TAPPER
The publisher teased out portions of Tapper’s “Original Sin” and this had the media complex falling over themselves to excuse their behavior.
Initially the focus was on George Clooney’s involvement, but that proved problematic.
While touting his book on CNN, Tapper slammed the White House narrative about cheap fake videos, and had to ignore his own network selling that fraudulent excuse.
Tapper later interviewed two Wall Street Journal reporters for their heroic coverage of Biden’s decline; Jake had scorn for those who criticized their initial report… which included himself at the time it was released.
To help him be more likable on his book tour, Tapper has reportedly hired a notorious crisis PR spin expert.
Along with Jake, the network had a sterling week of fractured economic news. After telling us tariffs would spike car prices and hurt the economy, we were told that car prices did not spike – and this hurt the economy.
Overall, the outlet saw that food prices had come down, and of course THIS was said to be bad news.
While reporting that egg prices had come down, as Trump had stated, they claim he was initially incorrect, but he’s correct now.
Lastly, Abby Phillip hosted a former Biden official who declared that the South Africans should be shipped out to Germany, where they belong.
Way to go, media.
