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In every campaign cycle, right around this time of year, Republican-aligned media rolls out a closing argument against the Democrats. In 2014: Ebola. 2016: "Her emails." 2018: The "caravan." This year, it's an echo of 2016 – it's about HIS emails...
Fox News is a key player in this rollout every two years. In my essay on today's @ReliableSources, I quoted from this recent @emilyvdw piece, "How Fox News molds reality into a serialized TV drama" https://www.vox.com/culture/21503196/fox-news-tv-drama-serialized-lost
Pro-Trump media outlets careen from conspiracy to conspiracy. Newest example: On the same morning that the @washingtonpost front page said "'Unmasking' probe concludes without charges," the @NYPost front page promised "BIDEN SECRET EMAILS." On to the next!
"The strategy is to deflect attention, to attack the opponent, and the same propaganda pipeline is there all the time," Yochai Benkler said on today's show https://www.cnn.com/videos/business/2020/10/18/benkler-newest-right-wing-email-story-seems-like-a-rerun.cnn/video/playlists/reliable-sources-highlights/
Whataboutism is like a glue that holds the base together. Ask about the Trump family's swampiness, and they say "what about Hunter Biden?" Raise Trump's legal exposure, and they say "what about Obamagate?" Suggest that Trump is compromised, and they say Biden is compromised.
Whataboutism is also a key ingredient for hours and hours of right-wing TV drama. Stay mad and stay tuned!
So on today's @ReliableSources, we offered an anatomy of the "Biden secret emails" story... emphasis on the word story... https://www.cnn.com/videos/business/2020/10/18/sketchy-origins-of-the-ny-posts-hunter-biden-story.cnn/video/playlists/reliable-sources-highlights/
So on today's @ReliableSources, we offered an anatomy of the "Biden secret emails" story... emphasis on the word story... https://www.cnn.com/videos/business/2020/10/18/sketchy-origins-of-the-ny-posts-hunter-biden-story.cnn/video/playlists/reliable-sources-highlights/
In 280 characters: A tip from Steve Bannon and a hard drive dump from Rudy Giuliani led a former producer for Sean Hannity's show to write a cover story for the NYPost. Fox hyped it for days, helping out Trump, who calls this "the second biggest political scandal in our history"
But: "Unlike previous 'closing argument' stories, the media world has largely ignored the Post's Hunter Biden story," @apbenven wrote.
A key reason: "US authorities are investigating whether the emails are part of an ongoing Russian disinfo effort." https://www.cnn.com/2020/10/18/media/new-york-post-hunter-biden-reliable/index.html
A key reason: "US authorities are investigating whether the emails are part of an ongoing Russian disinfo effort." https://www.cnn.com/2020/10/18/media/new-york-post-hunter-biden-reliable/index.html
Last word goes to @anneapplebaum: "Nothing that Hunter Biden is accused of doing, fraudulently, is worse than what the Trump family themselves do." She assumes the focus on Hunter is meant to distract from the Trump family's "own misuse & abuse of office." https://www.cnn.com/videos/business/2020/10/18/benkler-newest-right-wing-email-story-seems-like-a-rerun.cnn/video/playlists/reliable-sources-highlights/
