Little StarFeb 9, 2023
Jay Rosen

Clown car hearings exploit a weakness in mainstream journalism's source code, which gives no clear instructions for how to report truthfully on events that are themselves false, meaning they spring from a propagandistic intent and taking them seriously only furthers the scam.

And yet: They can't be ignored because they show what the Republican party does with its power.

https://www.reuters.com/world/us/republican-led-us-house-panel-probes-twitter-block-hunter-biden-story-2023-02-08/

#uspolitics #uspol #journalism

Former Twitter execs tell Republicans they erred on Hunter Biden laptop story

Former Twitter executives told a Republican-led U.S. House committee on Wednesday that they made a mistake by blocking tweets about a laptop said to belong to President Joe Biden's son Hunter but said government officials were not involved.

Reuters
Feb 9, 2023 at 3:15pmWeb
Show threadhannah westphallFeb 9, 2023
@jayrosen_nyu well said. it’s the catch-22 that’s gonna bring us all down.
Show threadmarktaylorFeb 9, 2023

@jayrosen_nyu Hey media. If it looks like a clown car, it probably is. So report it as a clown car.

With clowns in.

@CNN @donieosullivan @mehdihasan

Show threadDan AnconaFeb 9, 2023
@jayrosen_nyu that is an absolutely WILD headline to take away from that shitshow. Way to make your readers more stupid.
Show threadJay RosenFeb 9, 2023

@danancona

Yes, it is...

Show threadSpicewallaFeb 9, 2023

@danancona @jayrosen_nyu

Its basically the way CBS covered it this morning too. If anything, CBS was even more propaganda-friendly by reporting all the accusations first and then only reporting the rebuttals.

CBS didn't even mention the hypocrisy of maga demanding the removal of tweets that hurt the crybaby-in-chiefs feelings.

Show threadDan AnconaFeb 9, 2023
@Spicewalla @jayrosen_nyu Horrifying. One of the projects I’m working on in the background is a news source for people who aren’t on twitter/masto and don’t want to be to know what’s going on anyway. Hard nut to crack but we need to start running some experiments.
Show threadMatt LFeb 9, 2023

@jayrosen_nyu which is why republicans do them constantly...and the po-faced, faux-responsible establishment Democrat position over the past few years...to not rake over every aspect of what Trump and his minions did in public hearings, because they

"didn't want to divide us further"

and

"were looking forward not back"

etc..was such a catastrophe. News, and especially TV news, are addicted to hearings and court cases and you try to generate as much of both as possible.

Show threadThe Febrile MuseFeb 9, 2023
@jayrosen_nyu Show, don't tell. Show the fools for who they are.
Show threadCarrie KFeb 9, 2023
@jayrosen_nyu Yes! I've been struggling with the WaPo headlines particularly the last couple of weeks.
Show threadShawnFeb 9, 2023
@jayrosen_nyu and I think the point of covering them without opining too much about what they mean is supposed to show us what the GOP voters in our own lives support, which requires us to act.
Every GOP voter in the country has, through their representation, shown us that they want games and trolling instead of governing and managing.
They are free to speak up and say “hey! We demand that you accomplish something. Don’t just massage trumps wounded ego.”
But they won’t.
Show threadMichael MarkmanFeb 9, 2023
@jayrosen_nyu At least the Democrats came well-prepared. If the media cover these hearings fairly, GOP "propagandistic intent" should be evident. Based on yesterday's hearing, the GOP was hoist on their own petard.
Show threadAlice MarshallFeb 9, 2023
@jayrosen_nyu they should go back in their files and look how soviet show trials were covered and cover them in the same way. except the billionaire owners of the press are fine with Republican clown car antics.
Show threadMaria BustillosFeb 9, 2023

@jayrosen_nyu

well said

Show threadClinical RawlsianFeb 9, 2023
@jayrosen_nyu IDK, the Democratic party uses its power mostly to try and help people (though frequently imperfectly and halfheartedly) and the MSM does a pretty good job of ignoring that.
Show threadClinical RawlsianFeb 9, 2023
@jayrosen_nyu I think journalists reluctance to both ignore bullshit like this or accurately reported as bullshit comes as much from several decades of the right successfully working the refs whining about liberal media bias as it arises from any inherent contradictions in journalistic ethics and practice.
Show threadIke Rosen 🏳️‍🌈🕎🗽✡️♿️Feb 9, 2023
@jayrosen_nyu
My full name is Ira Jay Rosen
Uke is a family nickname
Show threadHockey-Eeyore 🏒🇸🇪🇺🇲Feb 9, 2023
@jayrosen_nyu These #HunterBidensPenisCommittee hearings will be a lot of fun.
Show threadFrances_LarinaFeb 9, 2023

@jayrosen_nyu

"And yet: They can't be ignored because they show what the Republican party does with its power."

I'm okay with that - so long as news media frames it as such. Too often they simply report it as fact or a neutral observation, the end product of "fair and balanced" reporting.

Show threadShar_sharFeb 10, 2023
@[email protected] "how to report" is certainly a conundrum but you can be darn sure no good comes from "what about'isms" Journalists need to just report falsehhods as false, fakes as fakes and lies not untruths,but as lies. No more euphemisms, no pussyfootin" call it as it is!
Show threadBrianKrebsFeb 10, 2023
@jayrosen_nyu My heart goes out to the reporters who had to watch these hearings so I don't have to.
Show threadMike Masnick ✅Feb 10, 2023
@briankrebs @jayrosen_nyu as I noted in my own writeup, I watched it after it was over at 3x speed.
Show threadJohn MinnihanFeb 10, 2023
@mmasnick @briankrebs @jayrosen_nyu 4x + i dubbed in the chipmunks xmas album. i'm no masochist
Show threadBrandonFeb 10, 2023
@mmasnick @briankrebs @jayrosen_nyu I refuse to watch any of these shit shows unless @lawfare puts out a No Bull episode.
Show threadRae HodgeFeb 10, 2023

@jayrosen_nyu This question of how to cover the circus has been stuck in my craw for a month.

But I don't think it's just a source-code thing. Or, if it is, the source code can be fixed by heightened ethics: outlets need to include in their basic editorial standards a transparent effort to acknowledge the impact of their coverage and wield it responsibly.

That sounds like naive, high-view banter but it's made practical in basic ways like...

Show threadRae HodgeFeb 10, 2023

@jayrosen_nyu
1. No boilerplate "everything that happened in cmte" stories, no false-balance. A news article's premise ≠ a congressman's claim.

2. "Heightened scrutiny" for lawmakers' on-camera time. Find the line between broadcasting a performance and documenting a scene.

etc.

The corps are spread thin, and trust is low. Neither of those problems are helped by assigning bleeds-leads garbage.

Show threadPirateRoFeb 10, 2023

@jayrosen_nyu but journalism does know what to do with people reporting false information as true. That’s part of its mission and part of its core. Say, rather that journalism has been prevented from functioning by systemic failures brought about by corporate ownership diluting its brand, compromising the integrity of the process in a manner complicit to increase confusion and weaken the base by poisoning the well.

Call it what it is. Complicity for purposes of control.

Show threadStatmonkey 🙊Feb 10, 2023
@jayrosen_nyu That tweet is straight-up misinformation. There is no dilemma there, that is misrepresentation of the truth.
Show threadvolkrisFeb 10, 2023

@jayrosen_nyu

Well no, there’s an obvious way to report truthfully on events that are themselves false: report truthfully what happened.

Ignoring the events isn’t a political error, but it allows falsehoods to fly under the radar and unchallenged where they grow.