Save some thoughts for national journalists because they are going through a tough time. After failing in their attempt to defeat Republicans in the 2024 elections, press outlets are now faced with a reality they don’t like: the inability to control the narrative.
How do they react? By melting it down, of course.
Axios published a hand wringing piece On Friday morning he denounced the death of the so-called “fact check” while calling for the press to transform itself into “reality checkers.”
Fact-checking suddenly seems inadequate and virtually irrelevant. Entire realities – the alleged culprits for the Los Angeles fires, a novel MAGA world map, a child abuse scandal in Britain – are now spreading across the Internet overnight.
We don’t need fact checkers anymore. We need reality checkers.
– Axios (@axios) January 10, 2025
Fact-checking suddenly seems old-fashioned, inadequate and virtually irrelevant.
- Quite realities – the alleged culprits for the LA inferno, a novel MAGA world map, a child abuse scandal (“Nursing gangs“) in the UK – are now sweeping the internet overnight.
- We don’t need fact checkers anymore. We need reality checkers.
There is much more to this article, but let me translate the introduction for you: “We want to be able to control the flow of information and curate it to fit our preferred narratives so that we can express our preferred political ones “Be able to dictate results.”
It’s not more complicated. The press will try to package all of this into seemingly complicated arguments about “misinformation” and distorting reality, but at the end of the day they want control. The Internet, fueled by Elon Musk’s purchase of Twitter, has taken that control away from them. Furthermore, Donald Trump’s re-election has made it clear that they no longer have viable power. The press did everything it could to stop him, going further than anyone else in American history, and still failed. Their credibility with the American people is in tatters and they are lashing out difficult.
1. When flames burst through Pacific Palisades on Tuesday, X became a cesspool of misinformation and anti-DEI attacks against the mayor of LA Karen Bass and LAFD Chief Kristin Crowley, who is first woman and LGBT person at work.
- It became impossible to get to the truth: Musk’s vaunted Community Notes system was like a band-aid for a bullet hole as reports of water shortages – some real, a phony – exploded in partisan blame.
- Trump was quick to exploit the crisis, accusing Gov. Gavin Newsom (D) of refusing to sign the “Water Restoration Declaration” issued by the governor’s office rejected as “pure fiction.” As the fires rage and grow, Trump posted on Truth Social: “Gavin Newscum should resign. This is all his fault!!!” Musk quickly tweeted Agreement.
It’s pretty nice to see a press office complaining about the “partisan blame game” when they are the main drivers of it (and always in one direction). There was and that will continue to be the case Water shortages for those battling wildfires in Los Angeles County. That’s not in dispute, as firefighters on the scene repeatedly told reporters that the fire hydrants weren’t working. Here is just an example.
This is amazing.
A left-wing anchor tries to “fact-check” Rick Caruso by saying the firefighters didn’t say they were running out of water.
They then cut to their reporter on the ground, who repeatedly explains that they are completely out of water.
Destructive. pic.twitter.com/rm7aXK6sFv
— Bonchie (@bonchieredstate) January 9, 2025
As for Trump’s alleged “exploitation” of the crisis, have his journalists ever accused a Democrat of blaming “gun control” in the immediate aftermath of a mass shooting? Of course they didn’t. Again, it is simply a fact that Donald Trump signed a water restoration declaration that would have diverted more water from the Bay Delta to drier parts of the state. He was sued by the State of Californiawhich last I checked is led by Gov. Gavin Newsom.
SEE: The press and Democrats mocked Donald Trump over the wildfires, now the revenue is huge
Note, however, that the supposed arbiters of truth did not bother to mention this context. Instead, they simply reported Newsom’s denial and left it at that. What kind of “reality check” is this? If you want to cry over misinformation, don’t produce it through targeted orders.
Reality check: The unprecedented fires are a natural disaster caused by high winds and some of the driest conditions since records began in early January. probably worsened through climate change.
- Bass is faced with real criticism for taking part in one diplomatic mission in Ghana at the beginning of the crisis. And the water policy was hotly debated in California. However, there is no evidence that diversity programs hinder the response.
- The Lack of sufficient water Putting out the fires wasn’t as uncomplicated as a few stupid decisions by incompetent people. It is exceptionally elaborate: Municipal water systems are not designed to handle so many fires that require so much water from so many hydrants. If superfires do indeed become the novel normal, fixing this would be a domestic Manhattan Project.
- Certainly mistakes were made. However, knowing the exact errors in real time is unlikely.
The excerpt above is simply incredible. First, they say the fires were “likely exacerbated by climate change,” but just a few sentences later they claim it is “implausible to know” what mistakes were made that could have made the fires worse. Let me make this clear. Axois knows that nebulous “climate change” was a factor, but the rest of us can’t say, for example, that Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass bears some responsibility for her city’s crumbling, ineffective infrastructure, which is leading to water shortages ? This is an incredibly stupid statement.
Likewise, Axios claims there is “no evidence” that DEI programs have played a role in reducing the Los Angeles Fire Department’s readiness. But is that true? Because I would say a department that has suffered so many budget cuts that it was necessary stop Fire hydrant testing in overdue 2024 was likely marred by the fire chief wasting millions on a DEI office. This criticism also applies to recruiting. The LAFD has a staffing shortage and DEI has been the focus of its recruiting efforts.
But the rest of us must not point out that these efforts have not solved the problem and may have further damaged recruiting. That’s why no one trusts or likes the press. They make sweeping, often unsupported statements to advance a narrative, only to turn around and be hopelessly pedantic when others look at the situation with some common sense.
Axios continued by taking a shot at Musk and suggesting that he invented the outrage over smuggling gangs in the UK.
2. Musk overthrew Britain got into crisis last week – and is in crisis now Conspiracy to repress Center-left Prime Minister Keir Starmer – after reviving and weaponizing a decade-old child abuse scandal involving British-Pakistani grooming gangs.
Was it Musk who “plunged the UK into crisis, or was it the fact that British politicians downplayed the mass rape of innocent children to protect their immigration policies?” “It’s a pretty strange way to distract from such a blatant series of crimes. Axios doesn’t even try to pretend they didn’t happen. Instead, they just seem upset about it.”
Here’s my favorite part, though.
There is no evidence that the Labor government – what was Last July there was a landslide election after 15 years of conservative rule – deliberately blocked investigations for political reasons.
No evidence, right? Keep in mind that the article quoted above was published on January 10th. On January 8, Labor Party members voted overwhelmingly in favor stop a nationwide investigation into foster care gangs. However, according to Axios, there is “no evidence” that the investigation was intentionally blocked. You can’t make this up.
Breaking news: Keir Starmer’s far-left Labor Party votes against launching an inquiry into child rape gangs
The vote was 364 to 111. pic.twitter.com/S89e67bqLA
— Ryan Saavedra (@RealSaavedra) January 8, 2025
Is it any wonder no one trusts the national press? They have burned themselves to the ground and lost all ability to control the narrative. No amount of finger-wagging with “reality testing” will change that.
