Tag: mainstream media

NPR journalist blows whistle on network’s obsession with DEI and progressive diktats and reveals how stories like Hunter Biden laptop were ignored: ‘Here’s how we lost America’s trust’

A veteran NPR editor has blown the whistle on how the publicly-funded broadcaster has become an activist organization obsessed with pushing progressive ideals. 

Uri Berliner, a business editor at NPR for 25 years, has offered a glimpse into his belief that NPR has gone from a respected information source to one that can’t be trusted to honestly cover the news. 

In an essay for The Free Press, Berliner notes that while NPR has always had a liberal bent, the publication was not ‘not knee-jerk, activist, or scolding’ – something he says changed when Donald Trump entered the political arena. 

Berliner uncovers how NPR knowingly kept information from its audience during the 2016 and 2020 presidential elections. 

He says NPR editors were quick to jump on claims that Donald Trump was a Russian asset – but far more reticent to cover their subsequent debunking.

It was a similar story with the Covid lab leak theory, which NPR continues to discredit, as well as the Hunter Biden laptop, which bosses declined to cover, Berliner says.  

‘Today, those who listen to NPR or read its coverage online find something different: the distilled worldview of a very small segment of the U.S. population,’ Berliner writes.

Berliner tracks the last days of the old NPR to 2011, when he says it still had a leftist tilt, but ‘still bore bore a resemblance to America at large,’ and an audience that described themselves as 26 percent conservative, 23 percent moderate and 37 percent liberal.

But by 2023, only 11 percent of listeners described themselves as very or somewhat conservative, while 21 percent said they were ‘middle of the road,’ and 67 percent reported they were very or somewhat liberal. 

‘That wouldn’t be a problem for an openly polemical news outlet serving a niche audience. But for NPR, which purports to consider all things, it’s devastating both for its journalism and its business model,’ the veteran editor says in his essay.

Berliner explains that Trump’s 2016 candidacy for presidency changed how NPR covered politics, writing: ‘what began as tough, straightforward coverage of a belligerent, truth-impaired president veered toward efforts to damage or topple Trump’s presidency.’

NPR, Berliner writes, became obsessed with rumors about Trump colluding with Russia to defeat Hillary Clinton, repeatedly covering Representative Adam Schiff as he led the fight against Trump.

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Bizarre Reuters Article Warns Climate Change Is Hurting “Indonesian Trans Sex Workers”

Reuters has published perhaps the most bizarre article ever, warning that climate change is having a detrimental impact on the income of Indonesian transgender sex workers.

Yes, really.

The entire thing reads like an April fool’s joke, but it isn’t.

The author, Leo Galuh, complains that “Nearly 93% of respondents saw decreased income during the rainy season,” explaining “Trans women…are among the most affected by extreme weather linked to climate change, as well as suffering disproportionately when disasters strike.”

Oh no, won’t someone think of the poor Indonesian trans sex workers?

It continues, “Indonesia is particularly vulnerable to the effects of climate change, and trans women, who tend to face more stigma and marginalisation than trans men or other LGBTQ+ Indonesians, are also among those hardest hit by extreme weather.”

Why? Well, because they are “are shut out of the formal economy” and have no other choice but to become prostitutes. Duh.

But hang on, what’s this?

“Despite gender-fluid communities being historically accepted in Indonesia, a rising tide of conservative Islam in the world’s largest Muslim-majority country has fuelled anti-LGBTQ+ persecution.”

Ah, a kernel of truth among the batshit.

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Reuters Has Ulterior Motives For Reporting That Iran Tipped Russia Off Before The Crocus Attack

Reuters cited three unnamed sources to exclusively report on Monday that Iran had allegedly tipped Russia off about a then-impending major terrorist attack after learning about it from ethnic Tajik ISIS-K terrorists who were detained after the group’s early January attack in Kerman. The information lacked specific details, but the outlet editorialized that “It is harder…for Russia to dismiss intelligence from diplomatic ally Iran on the attack” than from the West, the latter of which they claim that it downplayed.

Accordingly, Reuters wrote that this “raised questions over the effectiveness of Russian security services”, thus exposing the ulterior motive behind this report. The West has done all that it can to deflect from Russia’s accusations that Ukraine was tied to this terrorist attack via the evidence that its investigation has uncovered. This includes claiming that the vague warning that the US passed along to Russia was obtained from spying on ISIS-K, not on Kiev like this analysis here compellingly argues.

By including an Iranian dimension into the emerging narrative of early warnings ahead of the Crocus terrorist attack, the West via Reuters wants to further deflect from its own and Ukraine’s involvement in what happened while simultaneously discrediting the Russian security services. This analysis here debunks the false narrative that President Putin downplayed ISIS-K threats in the run-up to the attack, yet the West is doubling down on that claim, largely in response to evidence implicating Kiev.

To be sure, there’s a chance that one or some of those ethnic Tajik ISIS-K terrorists that Iran detained in January might have heard about the group’s plans to attack Russia, but that’s altogether different than them having knowledge of the then-impending Crocus plot. Russia already knows that it’s in that group’s crosshairs after they bombed its embassy in Kabul in September 2022. Without specific information, whether from Iran or anyone else, nothing on the home front would have changed in response to that.

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Former ESPN host Sage Steele says her questions for interviewing Joe Biden were ‘scripted to the word’ and she was told not to deviate or ask follow-ups

A former ESPN host who interviewed Joe Biden in 2021 is now saying the entire interview was ‘scripted to the word’ by network executives and that she was forbidden from asking follow-ups. 

Sage Steele, who formerly hosted ESPN’s SportsCenter and worked for the network for 16 years, revealed her bosses at the time of the interview carefully crafted each of her questions. 

She claims she was handed a script by her ESPN boss and was threatened not to drift from what the executives had written for her to say. 

‘I was told, ‘You will say every word that we write out, you will not deviate from the script,” she told Fox News. 

‘To the word. Every single question was scripted, gone over dozens of times by many editors and executives,’ she continued. ‘I was on script and was told not to deviate.’

‘It was very much ‘This is what you will ask. This is how you will say it. No follow-ups.”

‘This went up to the fourth floor, as we said, where all the bosses, the top executives, the decision makers are, the president of our company, the CEO, where they all worked,’ she continued. 

Though Steele is unsure whether ESPN sent the scripted questions to the Biden administration in advance, she expressed that she was confident that’s ‘what happened.’

ESPN declined to comment.  

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MEDIA OUTLETS SUNK BY APRIL FOOL’S PRANK OF THE NAVY’S NEW “CATERPILLAR DRIVE” STEALTH SUBMARINE

In a twist that would have made novelist Tom Clancy proud, several news outlets and social media users took a deep dive into fiction this April 1st, falling for an April Fool’s prank that the U.S. Navy had discovered the “Holy Grail of naval warfare,” and the development of cutting-edge stealth submarine technology.

Naval News, a reputable source for maritime news, published a seemingly groundbreaking article claiming the U.S. Navy was outfitting its Virginia class submarines with a revolutionary magnetohydrodynamic drive, or “caterpillar drive,” that “promises to make the submarine virtually undetectable.” 

“Submarines use stealth to dominate the seas, presenting an illusive yet deadly threat,” the Naval News article reads. “Now U.S. Navy submarines will take stealth to a new level. American submarines will now be fitted with magnetohydrodynamic drive.” 

Unfortunately, several niche media sites that later circulated the story didn’t realize they were sharing a concept straight from fiction. Specifically, Tom Clancy’s Cold War thriller “The Hunt for the Red October,” where a stealth submarine equipped with a magnetohydrodynamic drive is a crucial plot element.

The prank showcased the fine line between fact and fiction and served as a stark reminder of the importance of critical media consumption in the digital age.

In fairness, given the nature of today’s technological progress, which frequently resembles science fiction, it’s understandable why some could be misled by Naval News’s seemingly credible announcement. Equally, the idea of magnetohydrodynamic drive is more than just the stuff of imagination. 

A Magnetohydrodynamic drive (MHD) is a conceptual method of propulsion that uses only electric and magnetic fields to accelerate a liquid or gas propellant using the principles of magnetohydrodynamics. 

In recent years, engineers have been exploring the potential of plasma propulsion engines using magnetohydrodynamics for space exploration. The goal is that a magnetohydrodynamic drive would offer a more continuous propulsion system than traditional chemical rockets.

Furthermore, since the 1960s, scientists and military researchers have been studying the use of magnetohydrodynamic drives for submarine propulsion. This technology leverages the magnetic properties of water to move the submarine forward, thereby eliminating the need for moving parts, such as traditional propellers. 

Another kernel of truth from the Naval News article is that the U.S. Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) is currently attempting to develop a workable magnetohydrodynamic drive under its “Principles of Undersea Magnetohydrodynamic Pumps” or “PUMP” program. 

However, the concept remains largely theoretical, and the leap from experimentation to an operational caterpillar drive , especially in the context of creating a “stealth submarine,” is a significant one.

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Groups coordinate with hundreds of media outlets to push climate ‘crisis’ in news and entertainment

Ahead of the Easter weekend, multiple media outlets reported that chocolate prices are soaring, and according to the coverage, the main culprit driving the inflating costs is climate change.

Across multiple platforms, the reports followed a similar message, using similar language to describe the problem and its causes — and the reports all came out the same week.

“Easter egg prices soar as cocoa crops are hit by climate crisis and exploitation,” the Guardian reported on Good Friday. The article blames the shortage of cocoa, which is used to make chocolate, on rising prices of fertilizers, deforestation, illegal mining practices and “extreme weather events.”

The article doesn’t provide any details on these alleged events, but it does mention El Niño, which is a warming of the ocean surface in the central and eastern tropical Pacific Ocean. It causes changes in weather patterns during the cycle. This cycle was recorded long before carbon dioxide emissions were a factor in the atmosphere.

An National Public Radio segment, which also ran on Good Friday, interviewed its business correspondent, who said “farmers there [in the Ivory Coast and Ghana] have been facing extreme weather, changing climate patterns, which have just decimated crop harvests.” NPR provided no data or sourcing for the environmental claims.

Writing in The Conversation, reporter Jack Marley’s headline suggests that climate change “may” be the culprit, and he then goes on to write that “food production globally is facing an increasingly hostile climate.”

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‘Everyone does it’: media pilfering from Air Force One prompts clampdown

A White House staffer recently met a reporter for a covert assignment by the statue of Andrew Jackson in Lafayette Square.

But the House of Cards-esque rendezvous was not staged to hand over state secrets, or leak presidential gossip, or even to spread dirt on Joe Biden’s opponents. The item handed over – an embroidered pillowcase from Air Force One – was handed back, by the reporter involved.

So said Politico, reporting an attempt to clamp down on theft of branded items from the presidential plane.

The meeting by the Jackson statue, Politico said, came about after US air force crew members alerted the White House travel office that a west coast trip in early February ended with “several [items] missing from the press cabin”.

An email went out, described by one of no less than six anonymous sources as saying: “Hey, if you inadvertently wound up taking something off the plane by mistake, we can help facilitate a quiet return.”

The reporter who took the pillowcase had done so “probably not by accident”, Politico said. And so the meeting was arranged, the item “changed hands, and that was that”.

According to Politico, the White House press pack has long seen Air Force One as a source of souvenirs.

One unnamed current White House reporter said: “On my first flight, the person next to me was like, ‘You should take that glass.’ They were like, ‘Everyone does it.’”

Several unnamed sources, meanwhile, described to Politico a “former White House correspondent for a major newspaper” hosting a dinner party using “gold-rimmed Air Force One plates, evidently taken bit by bit over the course of some time”.

“Reporters recalled coming down the back stairs after returning to Joint Base Andrews in the evening with the sounds of clinking glassware or porcelain plates in their backpacks,” the site said.

Nor is such light-fingeredness a new phenomenon.

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The Associated Press Gaslights Struggling Americans, Claims Lower Prices Would Actually Be a Bad Thing

The Associated Press (AP) is running cover for the rampant inflation experienced under Joe Biden by claiming that falling prices would actually be a bad thing.

In an article by the AP’s economics writer Paul Wiseman, he makes the case that lower prices would be worse for the economy as it is a sign of deflation:

Wouldn’t it be great if prices actually fell — what economists call deflation? Who wouldn’t want to fire up a time machine and return to the days before the economy rocketed out of the pandemic recession and sent prices soaring?

At least prices are now rising more slowly — what’s called disinflation. On Friday, for example, the government said a key price gauge rose 0.3% in February, down from a 0.4% gain in January. And compared with a year earlier, prices were up 2.5%, way down from a peak of 7.1% in mid-2022.

But those incremental improvements are hardly enough to please the public, whose discontent over prices poses a risk to President Joe Biden’s re-election bid.

Wiseman goes on to make the case that prices going back to what they were before Biden took office would have a detrimental impact:

“Most Americans are not just looking for disinflation,’’ Lisa Cook, a member of the Federal Reserve’s Board of Governors, said last year. “They’re looking for deflation. They want these prices to be back where they were before the pandemic.’’

Many economists caution, though, that consumers should be careful what they wish for. Falling prices across the economy would actually be an unhealthy sign.

“There are,’’ the Bank of England warns, “more consequences from falling prices than meets the eye.’’

Deflation is, of course, a well known phenomenon that can have serious negative economic consequences. However, what most Americans probably wish for is that inflation had never been allowed to skyrocket in the first place, instead remaining at a healthy level of between one and two percent.

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NBC REJECTS TRUMP VOICE BUT EMBRACES WAR PARTY

“YOU WOULDN’T HIRE a made man, like a mobster, to work at a DA’s office, right?” MSNBC host Rachel Maddow said this week of NBC’s decision to hire former Republican National Committee Chair Ronna McDaniel, a decision the network later reversed. “You wouldn’t hire a pickpocket to work as a TSA screener.” 

But NBC does just that with another party: its pro-war stable of retired military generals and admirals who hold forth on wars and threats to national security. A partisan voice if there ever was one, the TV generals and admirals are all the more scandalous because the network presents them as objective “analysts” as they sit on defense industry and corporate boards that profit from forever wars, including ones not being fought by the United States directly. The conflict is not just tolerated by NBC, it is also never disclosed. (NBC did not respond to a request for comment on its current conflict of interest policies.)

“The U.S. needs to get involved in a leadership role here [in Haiti] and very quickly,” retired four-star Adm. James Stavridis said on the air earlier this month, speaking of the deteriorating situation. Stavridis calls for the deployment of a U.S.-led intervention force, warning of the consequences of inaction. “In the ’90s, we had waves of migration, refugee-driven, from Haiti,” he said.

The host, NBC News’s Gabe Gutierrez, to his credit, pushed back. “Admiral, you know this better than anybody else: The history of American intervention in the Americas has not always been that great,” he said. But the network, in giving Stavridis a platform — just as they would have done with McDaniel — doesn’t bother to mention that their “analyst” profits from the use of military force. For example, Stavridis serves as partner of the investment firm Carlyle Group, owner of major defense contractors and which lists the admiral among its Global Aerospace and Government Services Team. 

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PBS Segment Claims Trump Wants To “Purge” Gay People From America

In a ludicrous paranoid segment on PBS NewsHour this week, the network’s White House correspondent Laura Barron-Lopez claimed that Donald Trump is not only planning to roll back “civil rights,” but also to “purge” LGBT people from the country.

Barron-Lopez and anchor William Brangham made the assertions while discussing Trump’s real criticism of transgender surgery and hormone therapy being carried out on children, and biological men competing in women’s sports.

“On the campaign trail, Trump has been talking about what he plans to do if elected in November, and that includes rolling back the rights of millions of LGBTQ people. It’s part of a wider playbook to undo many modern civil rights advances for minority groups,” Brangham asserted.

He then introduced Barron-Lopez, who claimed Trump “plans quick action if elected,” against LGBT people.

She then suggested that Trump and “roughly 100 right-wing organisations led by the Heritage Foundation,” have a secret plan to wipe out LGBTQ people… or something.

What does the dastardly plan consist of? Eliminating DEI (diversity, equity and inclusion) from government mandates and banning federal funding for teaching Critical Race Theory.

OK, those things are not civil rights. If anything they are in direct opposition to civil rights because they discriminate based on skin colour.

Barron-Lopez, who is also a CNN political analyst, then complained that Trump will “rescind health-care protections for transgender people and urge Congress to define gender as male and female, fixed at birth.”

Without any actual explanation or evidence she further asserted that “this plan also is trying to stop any and all acknowledgement of an acceptance of gender identity and LGBTQ people, period.”

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