Aussie College Baseball Playa Killed By Bored Teens In Ok Narrative

Would you like to argue that he wasn't a huge reason why this story blew up? Would you?

Blow's column, and Lizette Alvarez's news story both ran on March 16th, 2012. Do you think that was a coincidence?

Were people "tweeting" to Alvarez too? Or, was their a concerted effort at the Times to "break" this story into a national one?

 

It's funny too, because the "right wing" "mouth breathers" have Drudge and Rush Limbaugh to promote their narratives, but the goal is still to get the story in the New York Times.

Al Sharpton has the New York Fucking Times to promote his stories.

Does no one see a problem with that?

Al Fucking Sharpton, race baiting hustler, can hire a PR guy, and get his story in a column and news article in the New York Times on the very same day, just days after the first draft of the narrative is written.

You're all being used, and you don't realize it.

You don't realize it because if you work in Podunk, you don't see it, unless you read the articles where the PR pro is bragging about what a great job he did.

If the Ghost of Andrew Breitbart tried to pitch a story to Charles Blow, or an editor of the New York Times, they'd still be laughing long after they hung up the phone on him.

Al Sharpton can call an inside number, and they start taking notes.

Do you wonder why the mainstream media has lost credibility with its audience?

 

You're not talking to an agate clerk in Podunk. I mean, I was, but that was a long time ago. I've already talked about my crime reporting experience. And, I worked in "national media" for a few years also. That makes ME qualified to discuss this and make the points I've made.

I've never disregarded your points solely because of what you do for a living. In fact, I've often defended you for it. But, in this case, you're showing a fundamental disconnect with how newsgathering takes place, and that skews your point more than you can see. Your work on the other side of this so-called dynamic also clouds your view. I never disputed that PR forces try to drive narratives - that happens every day. I DO dispute that the media, national or otherwise, needs or even wants that narrative so badly that they'll purposely disregard the truth.

 

Thirsting for it and not turning it down when it drops in their laps are different beasts.

 

And, this is what I'm talking about. You can't separate from your work as a political operative.

 

Where, exactly, did I say anything like that at all?

I'm still waiting on The Media to investigate the claims Zimmerman molested a cousin. If he did, I think it's safe to assume he was attempting to rape Martin - which led to the fight and Martin's death. Well, just as safe as it is to assume Martin had three dudes buy him a blunt and was en route to making some fire ass lean.

 

It's not so much "purposely disregarding the truth" as much as it is "not bothering to do the digging required to see if the narrative holds up as the truth."

And there can be all kinds of legitimate reasons for not doing the digging. But it's still a fact that the digging doesn't get done.

Very old case in point:

Narrative: Magic Johnson "fired" Paul Westhead. We've all heard that, right? I still hear it, even on this board from time to time.

Cause of narrative: Westhead was fired a couple of days after Magic's postgame statement in Utah where he said he was unhappy and would ask for a trade. Put 2 and 2 together, and . . .

Truth: The decision to fire Westhead was made several days BEFORE Magic's outburst and was only delayed because Bill Sharman told Jerry Buss at that Sunday meeting, "Let's give it a week, and I'll find out who's available. I'll make some overtures."

Obviously this is not as important as a homicide. But it's just so damn easy to hear a tale over and over and over and just accept it as gospel.

 

If the NY Times has lost so much credibility, why does YF read it? Does The Blaze or Breitbart not have everything?

 

You didn't disprove anything in that post.

 

If you don't see these as essentially the same thing, I don't know what to tell you.

The major, major difference with your example is that the inaccuracy is the VERY HEART OF THE STORY. It's the only reason the story existed. It would be comparable only if The Narrative™ in this case involved the media repeating that someone other than Zimmerman killed Martin.

In this case, we've brought to light ONE inaccuracy: That Trayvon had watermelon fruit drink, not iced tea. That is not in any way, shape or form enough to disregard everything else as PR-driven spin.

 

Let me take this in another direction:

You don't trust the New York Times.

That's clear. And that's, at times, warranted.

I think that a truly informed citizen has almost a civic duty to read the New York Times. "All the News That's Fit to Print" might be sloganeering, but there's some truth to it.

I read the Times almost exclusively for my daily news fix - the Times and this site.

Essentially, my news consumption is as follows:

* The New York Times, A1, then newsy national stories, then newsy international stories, then newsy business stories.

* The New Yorker, cover to cover.

* The Chicago Tribune, for sports and a quick glance at big local stories that actually matter to me. (I do not live in Illinois.)

* The New Republic, as close to cover-to-cover as I can.

* The Atlantic, as close to cover-to-cover as I can.

* Slate's weekly political podcast.

Is this not enough? Are there too many gaps in my reading for me to truly be an informed citizen? When I've tried to expand my reading to the kind of undernews that you consume, I start to feel like I'm opening the floodgates/Pandora's Box/pick your metaphor. I start, at some point, to feel less informed.

I canceled the Wall Street Journal a few weeks ago because I rarely got to it, but I liked it.

 

Don't you see? Or are you refusing to see?

That drink proves Martin was making fire ass lean. You combine that with the security camera footage of three dudes buying blunts after Martin was in the 7/11 and the gangsta photo of Trayvon that Old Tony link and The Media Narrative is destroyed!

Refusing to admit to that proves you are a liberal media hack who doesn't care about The Truth and get your marching orders directly from Al Sharpton - who has your personal cell phone number.