Below is my column in The Hill on the recent “disinformation conference” held by leading democrats and media figures. It was a confab of the liberal politicians and journalists over how to deal with problems like Republicans, Fox News, roughly half of the voters and most television viewers. The solution for some seemed to be reeducation led by the media through even greater advocacy journalism and censorship.
This weekend MSNBC analyst John Heilemann and Rep. Madeleine Dean (D-Pa) added their own suggestion for such reeducation. Dean agreed with Heilemann that Democrats “have to scare the crap out of [the Democratic base] and get them to come out. They can’t motivate them on the basis of hope or their pocketbooks or any of these accomplishments. They have to scare the crap out of them.”
Here is the column:
Tennessee Williams once lamented, “If I got rid of my demons, I’d lose my angels.” That fear came to mind this week when former President Barack Obama called upon “our better angels” at the ironically named “Disinformation and the Erosion of Democracy” conference at the University of Chicago.
The conference was a confab of media and political elite, gathered to discuss how to defeat their common demons: Republicans, Fox News, and apparently half of the electorate and most television viewers. In fact, the conference offered a chilling display of not just disinformation but delusion in dealing with current controversies.
It proved fascinating as the media and political elite openly worked through intractable problems like the backlash over burying the Hunter Biden scandal before the election. For that reason, it was particularly ironic that the conference was sponsored by The Atlantic magazine, which has been a source of some of the most criticized coverage.
One of the figures in special counsel John Durham’s ongoing investigation is Atlantic staff writer Franklin Foer, who has been identified as “Reporter-2″ in Durham’s investigation of former Clinton campaign lawyer Michael Sussmann. Foer allegedly sent an early draft of the article for review by operatives working with the Clinton campaign, according to Durham, and the campaign later used the article to spread a false story involving Russia’s Alfa Bank and the Trump campaign.
Atlantic’s editor-in-chief, Jeffrey Goldberg, declared this week that “only one party in the American system has currently given itself over so comprehensively to fantasists.” He further denounced “social media-Big Data” for not censoring such views. Apparently, the extensive censorship of conservatives by Big Tech is not sufficient because any access to such forums “makes it easier and easier to inject falsehoods into political discourse.”
The Chicago conference resembled a mainstream-media version of a car show, featuring new political-narrative models for eager buyers. One came from Atlantic writer Anne Applebaum, who joined CNN figures in denouncing conservative media. That’s when University of Chicago student Daniel Schmidt delivered a haymaker question:
“A poll, later after that, found that if voters knew about the content of the [Hunter Biden] laptop, 16 percent of Joe Biden voters would have acted differently. Do you think the media acted inappropriately when they instantly dismissed Hunter Biden’s laptop as Russian disinformation, and what can we learn from that in ensuring that what we label as disinformation is truly disinformation, and not reality?”
Applebaum responded by saying that she really did not care if the laptop was legitimate because she did not find it “interesting”: “My problem with Hunter Biden’s laptop is I think it’s totally irrelevant. I mean, it’s not whether it’s disinformation … I didn’t think Hunter Biden’s business relationships have anything to do with who should be president of the United States.”
It appears that laptop is no longer Russian disinformation. It is now just uninteresting or irrelevant, even though the president’s son may soon be indicted on this evidence.
Applebaum was one of those pushing the Russian disinformation claims in calling for censorship by Big Tech of conservatives. Back then, the Hunter Biden scandal was “relevant” as Russian disinformation. For example, in a column titled “The Science of Making Americans Hurt Their Own Country,” Applebaum praised the killing of the Hunter Biden “saga” and encouraged even greater efforts to control information for voters. She criticized those who “argue … that these 2020 efforts don’t need to be taken so seriously, because they failed.”
CNN media correspondent Brian Stelter also was confronted by a student, Christopher Phillips, who listed false stories run by CNN, from the Russia collusion stories to the Jesse Smollett case. Phillips then asked: “All the mistakes of the mainstream media and CNN, in particular, seem to magically all go in one direction. Are we expected to believe that this is all just some sort of random coincidence, or is there something else behind it?” Stelter responded dismissively that it was all just “a popular right-wing narrative” before returning to the narrative of the true demons on the right. Stelter has previously embraced censorship as part of a “harm reduction model” for media.
The conference was more about the demons than the angels of the mainstream media. The sense of frustration was palpable.
While pushing for greater private censorship, the conference adopted an almost clinical tenor of conservatives and Fox News-watchers being brainwashed or cognitively challenged. Yet, despite years of such attacks, Fox remains the most popular cable news network; it not only often doubles the viewership of its rivals, but more Democrats watch Fox than CNN. (For the record, I work as a Fox legal analyst. I previously worked for NBC, CBS and the BBC.)
Obama denounced “anger-based journalism” while promoting an advocacy-journalism model in which the media shape the news for citizens who supposedly need help to properly frame ideas. He and many other speakers highlighted a much-touted study by political scientists David Broockman and Joshua Kalla. The study has been featured by the Washington Post and many of these same outlets for its conclusion that Fox News viewers change their views when exposed to “good” news sources like CNN.
Obama declared the study as hopeful since it showed “how easy it is to shift people’s views on issues by changing their media diet.”
But the study itself is a study in bias. The researchers at Berkeley and Yale only subjected Fox viewers to this type of re-educational viewing; they paid Fox viewers to watch CNN but did not do the opposite to see how CNN viewers changed their views after being exposed to Fox. Moreover, the study assumed as fact what would be viewed as a contested viewpoint. For example, they assert that “Fox News largely did not inform viewers of Trump’s failure to protect the U.S. from the COVID-19 outbreak, whereas CNN extensively did so. This is concerning for democratic accountability.”
In the end, the study found the change was often slight, with less than 10 percent shifts on most questions and short-lived results, as viewers returned to their original viewing preferences.
The “hopeful” message — that we just have to change what people watch in order to save democracy — is hardly a new idea. Just last year, some Democratic members of Congress sought to pressure cable companies to take Fox off the air.
There is another possibility: As Obama summons the “better angels” of the left, they might consider promoting free speech. After all, we once believed good ideas can prevail over bad ones in an open marketplace of ideas. Instead, this crusade to rid liberals of their demons would kill the most angelic part of who we are as a people.
Jonathan Turley is the Shapiro Professor of Public Interest Law at George Washington University. Follow him on Twitter @JonathanTurley.
Former President Obama begins with a faulty premise: Democrats have long abandoned angels for demons. There is no such thing as a “good demon” – let alone a “better” one.
It sounds like the conference discussed important media issues and there was an opportunity for questions. If Fox and it’s conservative partners want to hold a similar conference or if they want to have a weekly show that discusses media issues like Seltzer’s show, I would welcome it. If JT wants to take questions here or in another venue, I would welcome that as well.
Howard Kurtz’s “Media Buzz” on Sunday am Fox News at 8am comes close to what you are asking for.
Conerned You are not concerned enough to change that cranial- anal posituion so When a group foregoes Biblical principles, no angels are forth coming to save your arse. Only if one Repents and COFESSES AND YOU/I DO NOT SEE THAT occurring. So you reap the repercussions. Selah.
Concerned Citizen, your idea of having Proffesor Turley answering questions is a good one. He has answered many questions before Congress. However, there would be a difference if the Proffesor was asked questions. He would actually answer questions instead of blowing them off like Brian Stelzer. Stelzer is always very adept at responding with his favorite answer. “Let’s move on to a question of my choosing.” Whispering aside (who let those people in here.)
Concerned Citizen,
Turley won’t take questions! Why? Do you think he wants to be confronted publicly with despicable statements made by his Fox colleagues and asked whether he endorses them? Do you think he wants to be put on the spot to choose between his loyalty to his employer or maintaining his academic integrity?
Not a chance. This is why he refuses to entertain questions which will risk humiliating him.
Ralph says:
“His [Gutfield’s] mocking of Fat Boy Stelter”
Turley does not mock Stelter as “Fat Boy” or “Humpty Dumbty” as does Hannity.
Do you wish he would?
Do you know why he won’t?
Sammy says:
“This article is straight out of Republican talking points.”
The most telling admission in Turley’s article was:
“(For the record, I work as a Fox legal analyst. I previously worked for NBC, CBS and the BBC.)”
Do you expect Turley to take this conference lying down? He is implicitly defending his decision to be in the employ of what is generally considered by the vast majority of his intellectual peers to be a disreputable cable network. Though he will criticize mistakes at competing networks, notice that he NEVER mentions- much less defends- the omissions and false narratives of Carlson, Hannity, Ingraham or Levin. His hypocrisy is there for all to see.
Make no mistake about it, Turley knows that he will be disgraced professionally if Fox is likened to Newsmax or OAN. He has no choice but to pushback, for his reputation as an honest and fair-minded legal analyst is at stake.
I think with JT’s mentioning his former networks points to the fact that the msm has seriously took a left turn 5 years ago, and JT didn’t feel comfortable with such concocted narratives, bias falsehoods, and lies.
Milton says:
“I think with JT’s mentioning his former networks points to the fact that the msm has seriously took a left turn 5 years ago, and JT didn’t feel comfortable with such concocted narratives, bias falsehoods, and lies.”
Perhaps. It’s also possible that Fox made him a much more lucrative offer to break away from these other networks. Turley, as a liberal, is *extremely* valuable to Fox to dispute accusations that Fox is partisan. If a Liberal like Turley endorses some of its views, it can’t be said that only Conservatives do.
I DO NOT object to Turley criticizing the mistakes of the media competitors of his network. That is his job. I fault him for refusing to EVER bite the hand that feeds him- Fox.
I can’t deal with this awful blog software used here, so will be removing the site RSS feed. No need to read something that I can’t comment in or use effectively. Buh bye.
James asserts:
“They are going to learn, as did the global aristocracy centuries ago, that money and privilege ain’t everything.”
When I was young, I used to think that money WAS everything, now that I am older, I know it is!
Obama sycophant and anti-American, African loyalist, Joke Biden, is useful as a clear demonstration of the deleterious effect of human intervention in things humans know nothing of, and have no potential to produce a positive and accretive effect on, namely the economy.
No human being in his right mind would so much as attempt to best Mr. Market – Mr. Market being freedom, free enterprise and free markets.
Since Joke Biden took office, America has diminished rapidly.
The very same effect was administered by Franklin Delano Roosevelt who foolishly intervened in markets believing himself all-knowing and superior.
Mr. Market whipped Roosevelt so profoundly, that Western economies did not recover until thirteen years of economic depression had passed with disastrous effect.
All Roosevelt had to do was leave the economy alone, and leave ambitious Americans to their own devices in freedom; markets would have rebounded rapidly.
Roosevelt and Biden, two intellectually superior, know-it-all communists (i.e. Alger Hiss) who fatuously and severely damaged America.
The American Founders relived Americans of the dictatorship of the monarchy.
The “dictatorship of the proletariat” is back with a vengeance.
You can please some of the parasites all of the time, and all of the parasites some of the time, but you can’t please all of the parasites all of the time.
General Hospital: Night Shift [The Cover-Up Continues – She’s the ‘Tools of the Trade’]
President Joe Biden’s first press secretary, Jen Psaki, plans to leave her position in the White House soon for a shiny new gig at MSNBC, but her duties as the administration’s primary spin chief won’t change much even after she switches jobs.
Psaki Transfers To MSNBC Bureau Of The Biden Comms Team
https://thefederalist.com/2022/04/01/jen-psaki-transfers-to-msnbc-bureau-of-the-biden-white-house-comms-team/
Scare the crap outa them ? Surely that would be more effective than any ‘ intellectually- based ‘ argument ?
Biden Scares America, Media Sweats Elon Musk
The former may well get us nuked but we can’t take the chance that the latter will defend free speech.
https://spectator.org/biden-scares-america-media-sweats-elon-musk/
I switched from CNN and MSNBC to Fox during the Russia collusion hysteria. There is considerably more objectivity and viewpoint diversity on Fox than the other two, and Fox’s opinion commentators such as Tucker Carlson and to a lesser extent Laura Ingraham and Steve Hilton are far more interesting.
OT
IF A RIGHT TO COUNSEL IS PROVIDED, ALL PROFESSIONAL PRIVILEGE IS PROVIDED
_______________________________________________________________________
Privilege for Hillary, and privilege for past administrations, but no privilege for Trump?
__________________________________________________________________
“That dudn’t make any sense.”
– George W. Bush
_______________
“Durham asks judge to review Clinton campaign claims of attorney-client privilege.”
– Washington Examiner
__________________
“A three-judge panel for the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals unanimously rejected Trump’s lawyers’ arguments that the former president could wield claims of executive privilege to prevent the current administration from sharing the documents with Congress.”
– The Hill
_______
What the —- is the judicial branch, emphasis on the Supreme Court, doing; how corrupt is it exactly?
“Privilege” is innate in the constitutional right “…to have the assistance of counsel for his defense.”
There exists no doctor, attorney or other professional relationship without constitutional “privilege.”
Foreign treaties will not be negotiated in the absence of “privilege.”
The whimsical, dictatorial tyranny of the communists (liberals, progressives, socialists, democrats, RINOs) in America must be terminated with extreme prejudice.
“how corrupt is it exactly? ”
Contemplate – You must take into consideration that the Courts are “corrupt” .
I’ve been meaning to ask: When do we legally change our name to “Venezuela”?
ILLEGITIMATE OBAMA – LINCOLN AS PUTIN – TYRANNY BY VIOLENCE
_________________________________________________________
On January 1, 1863, upon the issuance of the unconstitutional Emancipation Proclamation, the Naturalization Act of 1802 was in full force and effect requiring that citizens be “…free white person(s).”
It is virtually impossible to ratify a proposed amendment to the Constitution; Lincoln improperly ratified three amendments under the duress of brutal post-war military occupation and they remain illegitimate.
_________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
The Constitution requires the president to be, not merely a “citizen,” but a “natural born citizen,” a qualification higher and differentiated from the “citizen” requirement for Congress and the Senate.
Obama did not meet the requirements of the Founders and Framers, and the requirements of the Constitution.
Obama was an illicit and illegitimate officeholder and there is no rationale for taking any heed of his antithetical, anti-American and anti- and unconstitutional utterances.
Obama should not be in the United States of America.
America is a society of laws.
Obama was born in Hawaii while it was a territory. He was a citizen from birth and thus eligible to be president.
Obama is the ideal person to wipe Democrats out of political existence. Keep dancing, Barry.
The Vanishing Legacy of Barack Obama: On the road from stirring symbol of hope and change to the Fat Elvis of neoliberalism, birthday-partying Barack Obama sold us all out
Matt Taibbi
Aug 13, 2021
https://taibbi.substack.com/p/the-vanishing-legacy-of-barack-obama
A former president flying half the world’s celebrities to spend three days in a maskless ring-kissing romp at a $12 million Martha’s Vineyard mansion, at a moment when only a federal eviction ban prevented the outbreak of a national homelessness crisis, was already an all-time “F*** the Optics” news event, and that was before the curveball. Because of what even the New York Times called “growing concerns” over how gross the mega-party looked, not least for the Joe Biden administration burdened with asking the nation for sober sacrifice while his ex-boss raised the roof with movie stars in tropical shirts, advisers prevailed upon the 44th president to reconsider the bacchanal. But characteristically, hilariously, Obama didn’t cancel his party, he merely uninvited those he considered less important, who happened to be almost entirely his most trusted former aides.
He extended middle fingers in all directions: to his Vineyard neighbors, the rest of America, Biden, the hanger-on ex-staffers who’d stacked years of hundred-hour work weeks to build his ballyhooed career, the not quite A-listers bounced at the last minute for being not famous enough (sorry, Larry David and Conan O’Brien!), and so on. It’d be hard not to laugh imagining Axelrod reading that even “Real Housewife of Atlanta” Kim Fields got on the party list over him, except that Obama giving the shove-off to his most devoted (if also scummy and greedy) aides is also such a perfect metaphor for the way he slammed the door in the faces of the millions of ordinary voters who once so desperately believed in him.
Obviously, getting rich and not giving a sh|t anymore is the birthright of every American. But this wasn’t supposed to be in the script for Obama, whose remarkable heel turn has been obscured by the Trump years, which incidentally were at least partly his fault. The history books and the still-starstruck press will let him skate on this, but they shouldn’t.
Obama was set up to be the greatest of American heroes, but proved to be a common swindler and one of the great political liars of all time — he fooled us all.
Sammy, how did he pay for Occidental college? What kind of scholarship did he get?
The president must be a “natural born citizen.”
The president cannot be a “citizen.”
Only Congressmen and Senators may be mere “citizens.”
The Founders and Framers adhered to the definition of Natural Born Citizen in the Law of Nations, 1758, the legal text and reference of the era, the same Law of Nations referenced in Article 1, Section 8.
Obama did not have “…parents who are citizens…” and, most importantly, his father was not a citizen.
The point of the exercise was to avoid potential foreign allegiances by the commander-in-chief.
Which type of patriotic citizen with allegiances to America would want to “fundamentally transform the United States of America?” Answer: One with foreign allegiances, in Obama’s case, communist allegiances.
__________
Law of Nations, 1758
Book 1, Chpt 19
§ 212. Citizens and natives.
The citizens are the members of the civil society; bound to this society by certain duties, and subject to its authority, they equally participate in its advantages. The natives, or natural-born citizens, are those born in the country, of parents who are citizens. As the society cannot exist and perpetuate itself otherwise than by the children of the citizens, those children naturally follow the condition of their fathers, and succeed to all their rights. The society is supposed to desire this, in consequence of what it owes to its own preservation; and it is presumed, as matter of course, that each citizen, on entering into society, reserves to his children the right of becoming members of it. The country of the fathers is therefore that of the children; and these become true citizens merely by their tacit consent. We shall soon see whether, on their coming to the years of discretion, they may renounce their right, and what they owe to the society in which they were born. I say, that, in order to be of the country, it is necessary that a person be born of a father who is a citizen; for, if he is born there of a foreigner, it will be only the place of his birth, and not his country.
Progressive prices. Progressive conflicts. Think of the “burdens”! An American Spring in the series? #HateLovesAbortion
Barack Obama cannot handle a hard question, nor can he answer a question without filibustering while saying absolutely nothing.
Steltzer cannot take a challenging question. Applebaum cannot take a direct question. Joe Biden gets all uppity ‘how dare you’ attitude and calls reporters names just for asking directly relevant questions. “What are you a wise guy?”
These Democrat “elites” are absolutley nothing more than entitled, coddled, narcissists, sociopaths, liars, and frauds who hate America and American values.
“entitled, coddled, narcissists, sociopaths, liars, and frauds”
*and Communists.
Not Democratic socialists, or any other such nonsense. They are Communists.
This battle for the ‘Soul of America’ is about collectivism and control vs individual freedom.
Freedom is on the ballot this November. And as Biden says, this is “not a joke.”
Jonathan: It was toward the end of this column you informed us you are a paid “legal analyst” for Fox News. That disclosure in the interest of transparency was unnecessary. We all know the extent to which you tailor your columns to reflect whatever talking point Rupert Murdock may be pushing on any given day. You know who signs your paycheck. So when Obama and leading Dems and media figures gather to criticize the GOP and Fox you dutifully follow with your own criticism of the “disinformation conference”. Talk about bias in your own coverage. Pavlov’s dog only begins to describe your role at Fox.
And putting addicted Fox viewers through re-education camps will probably have little long term impact. Once hooked on Fox’s daily diet of conspiracy theories and other disinformation it’s hard to get “clean”. The recidivism rate must be quite high among frequent Fox viewers. They are always in need of their next “fix”. For four years Fox was the propaganda arm of the Trump administration–providing Trump with policy advice and talking points. It is a sad commentary that someone who is a mild mannered law professor in the morning can go to work at night as a paid propagandist for Fox. For those who still think Turley is a “never Trumper” think again.
What’s the difference between a CNN conspiracy theory and the truth?
About 6 months.
Boom!
+1,000,000
Dennis,
I agree with your take by and large, but the fact that Turley prostitutes himself to defend his employer does not entail that he is a Trumpist. How many times must I remind you that he dismissed Trump long ago as an “absurd reality television star” and castigated his participation as a moderator in a presidential debate as “obscene.” Such disparaging comments are not those of a Trump supporter. They are indicative of a NeverTrumper.
“Imagine Had the Tobacco Industry Been Immune to Prostitute Being Sued – Come On!” – Joe Biden
The reeducation of the American public started in 1928 with Educator Dewey.
I love watching CNN….on Gutfeld’s Show….where he skewers them with the truth.
His mocking of Fat Boy Stelter and the Junior Cuomo has been so very well done.
It is ironic that the largest group of disinformation spreaders had a conference on disinformation and the erosion of democracy.
Barack and his sociopath pals consider themselves to be Citizens of the World. The only thing standing in their way for a One World Government is America and our gun toting, Bible thumping, freedom loving, smelly Walmart shopping, Fox News watching deplorables. BHO, the Democrat Party of today, the media, Bill Gates, Hollywood, etc: they LOATHE us.
“Barack and his sociopath pals consider themselves to be Citizens of the World. The only thing standing in their way”……
is us. Period. Full stop.
They are as detached from reality and the common citizen like Vladimir Putin is detached from Russians. Americans saw the shallow, hypocrite, grifter than Barack and Michelle are …in spite of the leftists covering for them. Obama was a nobody and had a nominal net worth before being a US Senator. Now he owns a climate change, global warming era mansion with views of the Atlantic Ocean.
“Former President Barack Obama and his family have completed the purchase of a $11.75 million waterfront house situated on nearly 30 acres on Martha’s Vineyard – an affluent island located south of Cape Cod in Massachusetts. And it is stunning. The expansive 6,892-square-foot house sits on nearly 30 secluded acres fronting the Edgartown Great Pond between Slough Cove and Turkeyland Cove, with views of the Atlantic ocean.”
disgusting.
How many vacation mansions does Obama need? He is building a new ocean front estate in Hawaii. They still own their mansion in Washington DC. And their mansion in Chicago. In addition to a massive ‘All Glory to Obama Monument Park’ he is building on prime property near the Michigan lake front.
Obama the slacker is on his way to becoming a billionaire living lifestyles of the rich and famous — yet we the taxpayers are paying his post presidency Perk and Benefits package for the rest of his life.
But, Climate Change! Buy Large Mansions! Fraud Alert.