Tag: mainstream media

NBC strategically timed Harris’ promo on ‘SNL’ to get around federal law: FCC commissioner

NBC’s apparent attempt to give Kamala Harris a last-minute boost with a cringey spot on “Saturday Night Live” — which some critics have called an “in-kind donation” — appears to have been strategically timed in order to “evade” Federal Communications Commission rules, FCC Commissioner Brendan Carr said ahead of the Nov. 2 broadcast.

Carr, in the Republican minority on the commission, noted on X ahead of Harris’ appearance, “This is a clear and blatant effort to evade the FCC’s Equal Time rule. The purpose of the rule is to avoid exactly this type of biased and partisan conduct — a licensed broadcaster using the public airwaves to exert its influence for one candidate on the eve of an election.”

While the FCC’s equal opportunities rule established by the Communications Act of 1934 does not require that networks like NBC “provide opposing candidates with programs identical to the initiating candidate,” networks generally must provide “comparable time and placement.”

Carr indicated that in recent elections, NBC at least made an effort to follow the equal time rule.

The Hollywood Reporter noted, for instance, that in 2015, then-candidate Trump appeared on “Saturday Night Live” during the Republican primary for a total of 12 minutes and five seconds. NBC subsequently offered the same amount of airtime to his opponents.

“NBC stations publicly filed Equal Opportunity notices to ensure that all other qualifying candidates could obtain Equal Time if they sought it,” wrote the commissioner. “Stations did the same thing when Clinton appeared on SNL.”

The equal time rule did not require NBC to seek out President Donald Trump and ask him if he similarly wanted to appear on “Saturday Night Live” but requires that the network entertain requests by the Republican president.

Carr suggested that the last-minute nature of Harris’ “Saturday Night Live” spot was ostensibly the liberal outlet’s way of flouting the FCC’s rule.

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Newsweek Corrected False Perceptions Of Russian Policy Towards Israel

This facilitates Russia’s involvement in any potentially forthcoming multilateral talks on resolving the latest regional war, which could in turn facilitate Russian-US talks for resolving the Ukrainian Conflict.

The Mainstream Media (MSM) and the Alt-Media Community (AMC) have hitherto pushed the same narrative about Russian policy in West Asia by misportraying it as anti-Israeli, each in advance of their own ideological interests, the first because Israel is the US’ ally and the second because it’s Iran’s enemy. That’s why it’s so surprising that Newsweek, which is one of the most globally known MSM outlets, just published a piece that corrects false perceptions of Russian policy towards Israel.

Titled “At War in Ukraine, Putin Emerges as Potential Peace Broker in Middle East”, the most important part is the first third where they quote former Israeli Deputy National Security Advisor Orna Mizrahi. She now serves as a senior researcher at the Institute of National Security Studies and can be considered an authoritative source on this subject given her impressive professional experience. Here’s what she told Newsweek regarding reported plans for a new UNSC Resolution to reduce arms flows to Hezbollah:

“We always prefer the Americans, but we understand that, because of [the Russians’] really good relations nowadays with the Iranians, maybe they can provide something that will contribute to this for the stability of any arrangement in the future.

Another point is the fact that they are part of the United Nations Security Council five and if we get to the point that we have some kind of a new resolution about the ceasefire in the United Nations Security Council, we would like that the Russians will approve it.

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Leaked NBC Election Night Rehearsal Shows Trump Winning Swing States

Footage has leaked online of an NBC News dry run of election night, and interestingly it shows president Trump winning the swing states.

The mock election night scenario is accompanied by a chyron stating “THIS IS A TEST,” and has NBC anchors covering wins for Trump in key states like Michigan and Wisconsin.

“Right now, it looks like there’s a big crack in Michigan,” one of the anchors is heard saying.

“Saginaw, Michigan, this is really big for Donald Trump. Joe Biden won it in 2020, but this time it’s going to Trump. If he does that in Michigan, it’s a good sign for him,” one of them says in the clip.

Pointing to a map showing Trump heading to victory, an anchor comments, “Kamala Harris only has a couple of ways to get there,” pointing particularly to Pennsylvania.

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NY Times Admits Polls May Be Underestimating Trump Again

The New York Times has suggested that polls in the run up to Tuesday’s election showing president Trump ahead of or level with Kamala Harris are likely to be underestimating Trump.

The Times’ Nate Cohen pointed out that the non response bias of their final polls was as bad as 2020, meaning that a trump supporters are less likely to engage in polling than Democrat supporters.

As commentator Collin Rugg notes, a highly dubious poll highlighted in the Des Moines Register is claiming that Harris has suddenly surged to a three point lead over Trump in Iowa.

The same poll had Trump up by 18 points over Biden in June. 

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Liberal Data Analyst Nate Silver Says Trump Favored to Win, Accuses Pollsters of ‘Putting Finger on the Scale’ to Make Election Seem Closer Than it is

Liberal data analyst Nate Silver believes Trump will win the election. His forecast puts Trump somewhere in the mid-50s and Harris in the mid-40s.

During a recent appearance on the Risky Business podcast, he accused pollsters of cheating and putting their fingers on the scale in order to make the race appear closer than it actually is.

He says that the race has gradually drifted to Trump over a long period of time and notes that Harris has been regularly losing ground.

The Economic Times reports:

Are pollsters playing favorites? Nate Silver says they’re ‘misleading the masses’ in 2024 Presidential race

Polling expert Nate Silver criticized other pollsters for manipulating survey results in the lead-up to the 2024 presidential election. He accused them of recycling past results to keep the race between Donald Trump and Kamala Harris appearing close. Silver, founder of FiveThirtyEight, called out pollsters for “herding” their numbers, specifically mentioning Emerson College in his criticism.

“I kind of trust pollsters less,” Silver said during an episode of his weekly podcast, Risky Business with Nate Silver and Maria Konnikova. “They all, every time a pollster [says] ‘Oh, every state is just plus-one, every single state’s a tie,’ no! You’re f–king herding! You’re cheating! You’re cheating!”

Silver’s own model shows Trump ahead of Harris, 55% to 45%, as the election nears. He expressed frustration with pollsters showing close races consistently, arguing they were trying not to stand out. He suggested, “Your numbers aren’t all going to come out at exactly one-point leads when you’re sampling 800 people over dozens of surveys. You are lying! You’re putting your f–king finger on the scale!”

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Journalist Glenn Greenwald Explains Why Liberal Media Attacks on Trump Are Not Working

Glenn Greenwald recently appeared on the Jesse Watters show and talked about the liberal media’s fading influence and why their constant attacks on Trump are not working.

He suggests that this has been a process that has been getting worse for the media for years and that only now are they beginning to realize that it’s a major problem for them.

He also points out the fact that despite all of the media slurs against Trump, he is attracting voters from all walks of life, including minorities.

Transcript via Real Clear Politics:

WATTERS: They only joke about Democrats once their careers are over. Can’t wait to see what they say about Kamala after Tuesday.

Glenn Greenwald is a Substack columnist.

So very interesting that this is obviously an anonymous TV executive, Glenn, “A Trump victory means mainstream media is dead in its current form.” Is he right?

GLENN GREENWALD, JOURNALIST: I think he’s right to the extent that it has actually been true for eight years, ever since Trump descended the elevator, the primary narrative of the corporate media has been that Trump is a fascist, Trump is a racist, Trump is a fascist Hitler type figure.

And not only did he win in 2016, let’s say he tied in 2020, there is obviously half the country about to vote for him again. And not only half the country, but a huge number of non-White voters, as the media is saying that Trump is a White supremacist, a Hitlerian Nazi figure, have been vibrating from the Democratic Party over to Trump.

And so you can see in everything that the American people are doing that nothing the media says day after day after day about him has any real effect. The only bizarre part is that it is taking them only until now to realize that their relevance has been rapidly diminishing.

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Former Obama Speechwriter Tells CNN That Biden Has Become a Liability for Harris and His Own Legacy

Former Obama speechwriter Jon Favreau has warned that Joe Biden has become a liability for Kamala Harris — and his own legacy.

Favreau discussed the issue on CNN’s “The Lead with Jake Tapper” on Saturday.

“I would look at the numbers, I would look at the race and say, I’m going to focus on being president over the next couple of days and that’s probably the best thing he can do not just for the Harris campaign, but himself and his legacy too,” Favreau said.

Biden went viral earlier this week for insulting Trump supporters and calling them “garbage” while on a video call campaigning to Hispanic voters.

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Giddy Reporter Calls Harris ‘Madam President’ During Milwaukee Press Conference

An absolutely giddy reporter referred to Vice President Kamala Harris as “Madam President” during her press conference in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, on Saturday.

Harris corrected him but added that it would be accurate in “three days.”

“Madam president, thank you for making this-” the reporter began.

Harris responded, “Vice President. Three days.”

“Vice President,” the reporter replied, with a massive smile.

“But I appreciate that,” Harris said.

The reporter noted that his gaffe would “go viral for sure.”

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How a Secluded 1984 Conference Forged Israel’s Unprecedented Influence Over US Media

As Israel’s October 1 invasion of Lebanon unfolds, the media’s complicity in shaping public perception raises urgent questions, particularly when viewed through the lens of a controversial 1984 conference where influential advertising and media figures gathered to refine Israel’s narrative strategies. This conference laid the groundwork for a sophisticated propaganda campaign—Hasbara—that sought to sanitize Israel’s actions and cast its military operations in a favorable light. Today, as Western journalists whitewash, distort, and conceal Israel’s the realities of Israel’s deadly campaign of violence, the enduring legacy of this meeting becomes alarmingly clear, revealing how narratives crafted decades ago continue to shape the coverage of a conflict that claims countless lives.

In the first week of October, Israeli forces fired 355 bullets at a car containing a five-year-old, then shot at rescue workers who rushed to save her life. A horrific crime – yet, per many Western media headlines, she was simply a “girl killed in Gaza.” The circumstances and perpetrators of her death, if mentioned at all, were invariably buried at the bottom of reports, well hidden from the 80% of the news-consuming public who only read headlines, not accompanying articles.

By contrast, on October 15, Sky News was very keen that its viewers know the names and faces of four “teenage” IDF soldiers “killed” in a “Hezbollah drone attack,” humanizing and infantilizing individuals who, by mere token of their service in Israel’s military, are by definition, guilty of genocide. In passing, the same report briskly noted: “‘23 die’ in Gaza school strike.” Their identities, ages, and photos, let alone clarity on who or what murdered them, weren’t provided.

Moreover, the inverted commas incongruously hovering around the number of Palestinians killed subtly undermined that claim’s credibility while reducing the child victims to an afterthought compared to the considerably more important quartet of deceased IDF genocidaires. MintPress News senior staff writer Alan MacLeod put it succinctly when he Tweeted, “In years to come, students in university departments around the world will be studying the propaganda embedded in this headline. It’s truly incredible how much propaganda has been packed into 16 words.”

The mainstream media’s systematic use of distancing and evasive language, omission and other duplicitous chicanery to downplay or outright justify Israel’s murder of innocent civilians while simultaneously dehumanizing their victims and delegitimizing Palestinian resistance against brutal, illegal IDF occupation is as unconscionable as it is well-documented. Amazingly though, ‘twasn’t ever thus. Once upon a time, mainstream news networks exposed Israel’s war crimes without qualification, and anchors and pundits openly condemned these actions on live TV to audiences of millions.

The story of how Western media was transformed into Israel’s doting, servile propaganda appendage is not only a fascinating and sordid hidden chronicle. It is a deeply educational lesson in how imperial power can easily subordinate supposed arbiters of truth to its will. Comprehending how we got to this point equips us with the tools to assess, identify, and deconstruct lies large and small – and effectively challenge and counter not only Israel’s falsehoods but the entire settler colonial endeavor.

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America Isn’t Free As Long As Its Press Is Subservient To The Democrat Party

For most honest Americans, truth and lie are fairly easy to differentiate. But to our nation’s propaganda media, the terms are completely subjective.

Case in point: the media’s unhinged response to Donald Trump’s Thursday critique of Liz Cheney’s obsession with military adventurism. While speaking with Tucker Carlson in Arizona, the former president rebuked Cheney for her foreign policy and the threat it poses to the U.S. and its service members.

“[Liz Cheney] always wanted to go to war with people. I didn’t want to go to war. She wanted to stay in Syria; I took them out. She wanted to stay in Iraq; I took them out. I mean, if it were up to her, we’d be in 50 different countries,” Trump said. “[N]umber one, it’s really dangerous; number two, a lot of people get killed; and number three …, it’s very, very expensive. That’s why we owe $36 trillion.”

Later in the conversation, Trump followed up with comments that have since been hijacked by corporate media: “[Cheney is] a radical war hawk. Let’s put her with a rifle, standing there with nine barrels shooting at her, okay? Let’s see how she feels about it … when the guns are trained on her face. You know, they’re all war hawks when they’re sitting in Washington in a nice building saying, ‘Gee, let’s send 10,000 troops right into the mouth of the enemy,’” he said.

It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to understand Trump’s commentary. He was clearly saying that neocons like Cheney are all for risking the lives of U.S. service members when they themselves are not the ones taking fire on the front lines.

But as is often the case with our ethically bankrupt media, anything Trump says is automatically open for interpretation and outright distortion. In this case, the propaganda press has taken Trump’s analysis and manipulated it into something far removed from its true meaning.

Within a matter of hours, a media-wide pseudo-scandal was completely fabricated out of thin air.

Countless hack-tastic headlines and lie-filled hot takes deployed by our so-called defenders of “democracy” accused Trump of calling for violence against Cheney.

While the intention of damaging Trump’s electoral prospects heading into Election Day is fairly obvious, the incident presents a perfect case study on how the media acts as a public relations firm operating on behalf of the Democrat Party, and by default, our leftist-run federal government.

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