Conservatives are obsessed with hating mainstream media. Mainstream media is anything that doesn’t tow the conservative narrative that the Left is out to cancel and censor them for everything they do and say. If it’s not Fox News, Newsmax and OAN, it’s fake news. But Fox News, Newsmax, and all other conservative media is legitimate, objective, and non biased.
According to the Trump crowd, MSNBC and CNN are left-wing radical media. Despite the fact that both networks employ and feature more conservative reporters and pundits than Fox News employs liberals, it’s agenda – so says conservative wisdom – is to indoctrinate the masses in favor of socialism, as are every institution in America.
Rachel Maddow is a liberal pundit at MSNBC. To her critics, both left and right, she’s a propagandist, a mouthpiece for the mainstream, corporate media. To many of them she is considered less credible than Tucker Carlson. Recently she was described by Krystal Ball as a conspiracy theorist comparable to Alex Jones for daring to report on Russia Gate.
Why do they hate her so much? One reason is Maddow had the audacity to report on the on-going Mueller investigation as fact, rather than treating it as a manufactured hoax to attack “America’s greatest president” Donald Trump. That commentary, while at times speculative at best, was regarded as propaganda by the Trump defending media and his cult of personality, and the useful idiots on the left. The counter narrative was that the Mueller investigation was a manufactured hoax by the Democrats as an excuse for Hillary failing to win the electoral college vote, and that the real collusion took place between Russia and the Democrats.
Despite the fact that the Mueller Investigation, the FBI Crossfire Hurricane investigation, and the Republican Senate Committee Investigation, all came to the conclusion that Russia did indeed interfere in the 2016 election to the benefit of Trump – his cult of personality ( including his media lapdogs ), continued to either ignore it or pretend that it was a manufactured hoax.
During a July 2019 broadcast of her program, Maddow reported that OAN employed at the time, a correspondent, Kristian Rouz, who was also employed by Sputnik News, which triggered the outlet to file a lawsuit against MSNBC and Maddow.
From Daily Kos:
“Maddow correctly observed that…
” ‘We literally learned today that the outlet the president is promoting shares staff with the Kremlin… in this case, the most obsequiously pro-Trump right-wing news outlet in America really literally is paid Russian propaganda. The on-air U.S. politics reporter is paid by the Russian government to produce propaganda by that government.’ “
“In May 2020, the case was thrown out by a U.S. district judge who ruled that , “there was no set of facts that could support a claim of defamation based on Maddow’s statement.” In support of that opinion the judge noted that OAN never actually alleged that the facts were defamatory or that they were even in dispute. The ruling affirmed Maddow’s protection under the Constitution’s first amendment, stating that her commentary consisted of allowable opinion based on truthful and verifiable information.
“Why OAN ever sought to file the suit in the first place, is curious. They knew that their “reporter” was a Russian Sputnik stooge. They knew that Maddow merely reported that fact. And considering the torrent of falsehoods that are broadcast on OAN every day, you would think that they would be hesitant to draw attention to their unsavory relationship with Russian shills.”
Then there is Tucker Carlson, who literally engages in hyperbole, invective, slander and propaganda on a nightly basis. But he’s just an entertainer with unique opinions. So says OutKick writer and COVID truther, Bobby Burack.
“Maddow and Carlson are alike in many ways,” Burack said in a recent article titled Judge Finds Rachel Maddow Hyperbolic And Unreliable. “They both have strong beliefs and a distinctive on-air presence. They are the two most watched hosts in cable news because of – wait for it – their personalities.”
Actually, they’re not really alike in many ways. Maddow has standards and a conscience. She takes responsibility for the things she says. If she is ever wrong, she will admit it.
Carlson has no standards, or a conscience. He lies consistently and never admits when he’s full of shit. When called out on his bullshit, he doubles down on his bullshit and plays the victim. The two are nowhere near alike.
“The difference is that Carlson’s opinions are often unique, found nowhere else on TV, ” Burack says. “Maddow’s stances, by contrast, echo the opinion of most mainstream journalists and hosts.”
Calling lies and misinformation, unique opinions, is one way to frame it. But they are found elsewhere on television news – Fox, OAN and Newsmax. The reason these “unique opinions” are not found on MSNBC and CNN, is that most news outlets have standards in reporting, and fact checking criteria. And Maddow’s stances, or opinions – by contrast – are based on fact and actual news information, not conspiracy bullshit and outright lies, and set the standard for most mainstream journalists and hosts. Their news and opinion doesn’t echo the garbage and conspiracy bullshit of Fox News, OAN and Newsmax. This is why conservatives hate mainstream media.
“Of course, TV hosts won’t mention Bashant’s ruling,” Burack says. “Maddow is on their team. She calls people racist and spreads lies about Donald Trump. If the media discredit Maddow, they discredit themselves.
Maddow’s lawsuit was written about when it happened. Maddow’s suit was dropped as was Carlson’s. But the two are not the same. The judge that handled her case ruled that OAN had no real case for defamation and were ordered to pay 247,000 + after losing their appeal last year.
The two cases, as referenced by Burack as being similar, because they were both just “opinions,” is idiotic. Maddow’s “opinion” that OAN is literally paid Russian propaganda, was actually based on factual information. The difference between her and Carlson, are worlds apart. Carlson is a prolific bullshitter, who has called BLM racist, and has pushed the white national replacement conspiracy nonsense that Democrats are allowing open border policies to gain illegal votes to replace the white electorate.
Carlson has to feed the rubes tons of bullshit to get them to tune in every night. He would be nowhere near as popular if he actually reported factual information. Maddow has never had to bullshit her way through her program as Carlson has. If she did, she would suffer the consequences. Carlson has never suffered the consequences of his bullshit, his blatant lies and slander. His slander of Karen McDougal, that she had extorted 150,000 from Trump in return for her silence.
From The Courier – Herald:
“When a judge redefines slander to make it acceptable to falsely, and publicly defame someone, it tears at the foundation of our judicial system. Lies are believed while truth is ignored. Democracy is based upon an educated populous who can determine fact from fantasy. A sizable portion is under the spell of deceivers like Carlson who are relying on their followers’ ignorance to steal their money and use their support to gain power, destroying democracy in the process.
“Carlson has no conscience. It has been seared with a hot iron. Unfortunately, his viewers seem incapable of or unwilling to face the facts. They cannot be reasoned with. Carlson remains popular while he continues to lie, dividing the nation with a false narrative.”
So, the only media that actually discredited themselves in this instance, was OAN, and anyone stupid enough to defend Tucker Carlson while trashing Rachel Maddow, made themselves look like fools. That includes Fox News and Newsmax, both of which ( including OAN ) also discredited themselves by promoting the stolen election bullshit ( for which they were threatened with previous lawsuits ), that Fauci was personally responsible for the pandemic, and that the January 06 insurrection – see Carlson’s ridiculous Patriot Purge – was instigated by the Feds to discredit the Trump-loving patriots who couldn’t accept the fact that they lost an election.
Sources: OutKick, Daily Beast, Courier-Herald, Daily Kos.
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