More Headline News

My local newspaper, the Baltimore Sun, having been purchased by the CEO of conservative news outlet Sinclair Media, has been sliding steadily downhill ever since the sale was finalized. The about-face in editorial slant has been obvious and jarring. One of the most frequent signs has been in the headlines. These are important because when people don’t take the time to read a full article, the headline is what leaves the overall impression with the reader. The Sun is aware of this and utilizes it to its fullest. I’ll show you with a couple of stories from recent weeks.

Director’s DVD commentary: I usually post the full main page of each article, but I don’t expect you to read the whole thing. You certainly can, if you want.

This article was published after the Trump administration famously removed economic reports that showed higher-than-expected job losses and generally unfavorable news for the economy.

Has it ever been journalistic practice to put a governmental alibi right there in the headline? This article, from the Sinclair “National Desk,” has one purpose: to call data into question that the president doesn’t like, even though his own administration produced it. The problem with it was that it was an honest look at the data, not whitewashed to cover up bad economic news. So, for cover, they claim that the methodology was flawed, even though the same process has been used to produce favorable outcomes.

The thing is, even if the process had become flawed, those flaws were created from the massive changes the Administration is inflicting on the economic system, from tariffs to the crackdown on the immigrant labor force. And that is mentioned in the article, but at the Sun, the alibi is the headline, designed to leave the impression that the president is merely cutting more inefficient government waste.

This one shouldn’t even be news:

A Democratic senator endorses a Democratic candidate, and a Republican senator doesn’t like it. Seriously? This is everyday stuff. Politicians generally endorse other politicians from the same team. The thing that gets me is that the Sun constantly quotes Andy Harris, Maryland’s only Republican congressman. You’d think there weren’t any other congresspeople around. I haven’t seen my congressman, Kweisi Mfume, mentioned in months. But their guy gets the megaphone to carp about routine business, for the sole purpose of stirring up indignation at Democrats.

Mamdani is very liberal and suggests some big changes to how a big city could be run. Given the way things are in most big cities. I think that trying anything that aims to help the average city dweller is worth a shot. But, of course, the rich power brokers like things just the way they are, with the rich making sure their rich brethren stay that way. That’s Rep. Harris’s and the Baltimore Sun’s prime objective. So they tag everything he wants to do as “Socialism,” and ensure there’s a photo of him with the article, so no one can miss that he looks like a non-white, commie foreigner.

The Kimmel Show boondoggle has been resolved, but I clipped this article after spotting something chilling.

We know that the administration got ABC/Disney to pull the Kimmel show after claiming his comments on the Kirk shooting were offensive. After seeing those comments, which are included in the article above, most people could see that it was a nothing burger. What was really spurring this action was his white-hot comments about the Epstein files that preceded the Kirk quote. So they leaned on ABC, using the threat of killing an upcoming merger as leverage, and the noodle-spined executives caved. Then they caved again, only this time, to public pressure, and reinstated the show.

Well, except for the ABC stations owned by conservative Sinclair and Nexstar Media, which continued the blackout until they felt they’d learned their lesson. And they could demonstrate that by “making a meaningful donation” to the family and Turning Point, Kirk’s propaganda outlet.

This is government via shakedown, and it fits completely with this administration’s MO. “You want something from us? You gotta pay. Don’t worry, we’ll figure out how.” I can see this as the new normal. Anyone who wants a merger approved or a patent awarded will have to pay the government grifter first. Who’s going to stop them? They’re seeding MAGA judges around the country like hair plugs, and even when lower courts try to put a stop to it, there will always be an appeal until it lands with a cooperative judge, even if that’s the Supreme Court. It’s the legal Wild West out there now.

Granted, this only works with “on-air” networks. The federal government controls public “airwaves” as a public asset. This differs from cable, for which we customers elect to pay, or not. That’s why the administration can put the screws to ABC, NBC, and CBS, but a Democrat can’t meddle with Fox “News” or Newsmax. Those entities are subject to market influences and public reaction only. (Republicans can only get to MSNBC by pressuring NBC.)

We’re getting close to the inevitable government shutdown, and the Sun has already been sowing the seeds of blame:

They might more accurately provide a headline like: “Democrats fight to reverse unpopular cuts to health care.” And they mention the reason in the article. But the banner flying overhead lays all the shutdown blame on the Dems. That’s the subliminal persuasion of headline abuse. And not for nothing, the Republicans have used identical tactics, refusing to pass a clean bill so they can jam through something that would otherwise fail miserably. Republicans often create the most dire of circumstances as a result of a shutdown, knowing that Democrats, being the adults at the table, often cave to prevent the suffering of the innocent citizens. In this case, they’re having 100,000 federal workers submit their resignations, rather than furloughing everyone.

I hope the shutdown doesn’t run long, but I support the Democrats in holding out for amendments to that Big Ugly Bill and making Medicare/Medicaid whole again.

Director’s DVD Commentary: Granted, I haven’t filed for Social Security yet, so I don’t have a dog in the fight. So it’s easy for me to say, not so much for others.

And just to put a bow on the Sun’s subpar product, there’s this health report for last Sunday's Ravens/Chiefs game:

I guess they’ve laid off their copy editors as well as the rest of the journalists. Oops.