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Ridgewood NJ, Elon Musk, known for his unpredictable business moves, has stirred the pot once again. In response to speculation about MSNBC potentially being up for sale, the tech mogul took to social media Friday to ask a simple but provocative question: “How much does it cost?”
Continue reading Elon Musk Teases Interest in MSNBC Amid Comcast Restructuring News
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Ridgewood NJ, a full 18 months after the COVID crisis began, a big chunk of Americans still dramatically overestimate the risks of COVID. In a new Gallup poll, more than one third said the risk of being hospitalized if you’re not vaccinated is at least 50%. The actual number is between one and five percent!
Continue reading Democrats Are Still Far More Panic Stricken Than Republicans Over COVID
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Ridgewood NJ, a new study from Gallup and the Knight Foundation shows that a whopping 86 percent of Americans believe media outlets lean one way or another politically, with 49 percent saying there’s “a great deal” of bias while 37 percent say “a fair amount.”
the staff of the Ridgewood blog
Ridgewood NJ, according to the latest Rasmussen Reports , following the high-profile resignation of a New York Times opinion page editor, most voters are eager to find fair and balanced media coverage but think the majority of news organizations these days are politically biased.
Continue reading Only 27% of Voters Feel News Organizations Generally Remain Impartial
Here’s some fake “mainstream” news stories for you to consider:
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“The Zapruder film:” frames of video footage of JFK’s assassination were reversed, making it appear that Kennedy’s head lurched the opposite direction, spawning a million conspiracy theories about multiple gun men, the grassy knoll, etc.
“The October Surprise:” Reagan supposedly sent Bush 41 to Iran to prevent the hostages from being released until he was elected president. Bush never went to Iran, and his whereabouts on the supposed dates were very public.
“Bush 43 snorted Coke”… according to a Texas inmate whose only known encounter with Bush was when Bush refused to pardon him.
“Laura Bush had an abortion.”
“Proof Bush avoided the draft” was based on a letter publicized by Dan Rather on 60 minutes that was such an obvious forgery, TV viewers spotted fifteen proofs of forgery from their living room couches.
“Jet fuel doesn’t burn hot enough to destroy the Twin Towers” It doesn’t burn hot enough to melt steel, but it burns plenty hot enough to weaken it. Ever take metal shop, anyone?
“Mad Max Beyond Superdome” No, after Hurricane Katrina, the Louisiana stadium was not filled of desperate people resorting to cannibalism.
“Blame for Katrina” The Bush administration had attempted to use federal funds to rebuild the dykes and levees in Louisiana, but was blocked by local Democrat politicians.
“Tar balls in the Gulf coast” were an entirely natural phenomenon. If they were affected at all by the oil spill disaster it was because there were fewer oil rigs to collect natural seepage, which leak far more oil every year than the oil spillage.
Most contentiously, “Project Veritas” misled America by editing footage to make it appear that Planned Parenthood sold baby parts, PP also arranged to keep child prostitution secret, NPR negotiated with reporters undercover as Islamicists, Clinton staffers coaching on how to commit vote fraud, … except, oh, yeah… Project Veritas released the entire unedited footage with the footage that had been merely edited for time, just like every news story based on recorded footage since the dawn of man. This is contentious, because I suppose it’s partly subjective whether the fact that a PP employee went in the back room to discuss a proposal to smuggle child prostitutes with her manager for several minutes amounts to exculpatory evidence; “obviously” it demonstrates some hesitance.
And some less important, but outrageous ones:
Dateline NBC demonstrated that GM minivans were prone to burn when struck in a collision, but didn’t include “if you overfill them with gas, and you stick bottle rockets where the gas is flowing out of them.”
A Food Lion was busted with old meat in the meat fridge… moments after it was put there by the network reporter who busted them.
The Washington Post accuses dozens of “right-wing” news sites and aggregators of spreading anonymous Russian-sourced fake news stories they found on the web and failed to verify … based on some anonymous probably Ukrainian-sourced fake news stories they found on the web and failed to verify.
Google, Facebook move to restrict ads on fake news sites
Only Liberal Media Approved News
By Julia Love and Kristina Cooke | SAN FRANCISCO
Alphabet Inc’s Google (GOOGL.O) and Facebook Inc (FB.O) on Monday announced measures aimed at halting the spread of “fake news” on the internet by targeting how some purveyors of phony content make money: advertising.
Google said it is working on a policy change to prevent websites that misrepresent content from using its AdSense advertising network, while Facebook updated its advertising policies to spell out that its ban on deceptive and misleading content applies to fake news.
The shifts comes as Google, Facebook and Twitter Inc (TWTR.N) face a backlash over the role they played in the U.S. presidential election by allowing the spread of false and often malicious information that might have swayed voters toward Republican candidate Donald Trump.
The issue has provoked a fierce debate within Facebook especially, with Chief Executive Mark Zuckerberg insisting twice in recent days that the site had no role in influencing the election.
Facebook’s steps are limited to its ad policies, and do not target fake news sites shared by users on their news feeds.
“We do not integrate or display ads in apps or sites containing content that is illegal, misleading or deceptive, which includes fake news,” Facebook said in a statement, adding that it will continue to vet publishers to ensure compliance.
https://www.reuters.com/article/us-alphabet-advertising-idUSKBN1392MM
Oct. 29 2015,
Lee Fang
Over the last two presidential debates, both Democratic and Republican candidates have asserted that the television news media is biased and has done a poor job informing voters of the most pressing issues in the election.
And while their focus is on things like the type of questions asked by debate moderators, they are overlooking much clearer signs of potential conflicts of interest. Fundraising disclosures released this month and in July reveal that lobbyists for media companies are raising big money for establishment presidential candidates, particularly Hillary Clinton.
The giant media companies that shape much of the coverage of the presidential campaign have a vested stake in the outcome. From campaign finance laws that govern how money is spent on advertising to the regulators who oversee consolidation rules, the media industry has a distinct policy agenda, and with it, a political team to influence the result.
The top fundraisers for Clinton include lobbyists who serve the parent companies of CNN and MSNBC.
The National Association of Broadcasters, a trade group that represents the television station industry, has lobbyists who are fundraising for both Clinton and Republican candidate Marco Rubio.
Presidential campaigns are obligated by law to send the Federal Election Commission a list of lobbyists who serve as “bundlers,” collecting hundreds of individual checks on behalf of a candidate’s campaign.
CNN’s parent company, Time Warner, is represented on Capitol Hill by SteveElmendorf, an adviser to Clinton during her 2008 campaign, who is also known as “one of Washington’s top lobbyists.” He’s lobbied on a number of issues important for media companies like CNN, including direct-to-consumer advertising policy.
Elmendorf, according to disclosures, has raised at least $141,815 for Clinton’s 2016 bid for the presidency.
Comcast, the parent company of NBC Universal, which includes cable networks NBC, CNBC, and MSNBC, has a number of lobbyists on retainer who are working to raise cash for the Clinton campaign, including Justin Gray, Alfred Mottur, Ingrid Duran and Catherine Pino.
Much of the $5 billion expected to be spent over the course of the 2016 presidential election cycle will be on cable and network news advertisements. The election-related spending bonanza is singularly boosting the profit margins of many media companies, as we’ve reported.
“Super PACs may be bad for America, but they’re very good for CBS,” LesMoonves, president and chief executive of CBS, memorably said.
https://theintercept.com/2015/10/29/media-fundraisers-presidential/
BY PAUL SPERRY
09/29/2015 05:06 PM ET
Did you know TV news networks pay former politicians for interviews? They do, and they pay them obscenely well. Even a few now running for the White House enjoyed secret deals, which raises a host of ethical questions.
Voters get most of their political news from cable or network TV. These outlets are supposed to keep politicians honest. Increasingly, however, they are paying officials huge sums to essentially produce news for them.
In effect, politicians have become quasi-journalists, and journalists have become quasi-campaign managers.
The latest example is GOP presidential hopeful Ben Carson, whose lucrative contract with Fox News Channel was only recently disclosed as part of a Federal Election Commission filing.
According to a revised financial report filed by his campaign last month, Carson earned a whopping $492,115 in “nonemployee compensation” from Fox through November 2014, when the top-rated cable news network canceled his contract as a “contributor.”
Read More At Investor’s Business Daily: https://news.investors.com/ibd-editorials-viewpoint/092915-773260-carson-santorum-huckabee-media-contracts-raise-specter-of-checkbook-journalism.htm#ixzz3nE9MxN94
Weather Channel Morning Show Beats CNN, MSNBC
“Morning Joe” has been shedding viewers for about a year. “New Day” is shaping up to be one of television’s all-time titanic disasters. In other words, it’s not that Al Roker’s numbers are so high, it’s that CNN’s and MSNBC’s numbers are so low.
Overall, this is another sign of the slow-motion fall of left-wing cable news networks. While — thanks to great producing, on-air talent, and a willingness to cover news stories the left-wing MSM ignore — Fox News soars, there is just no reason anymore to tune into CNN or MSNBC.
With some notable exceptions, CNN’s anchors are mostly tired, left-wing, smug, or a mixture of all three; and unless it’s a poop cruise or an airliner that CNN suggests might have been abducted by aliens, the Zucker Network offers the same old-left-wing narratives presented in the same old left-wing way.
For its part, MSNBC is nothing more than left-wing talk radio with pictures.
Thanks to Fox News and the New Media available everywhere online, people now have a choice and they are not choosing CNN or MSNBC.
https://www.breitbart.com/Big-Journalism/2014/11/06/weather-channel-morning-show-beats-cnn-msnbc
Reader says MSNBC viewers are anti-business, anti-military, and pro-conspiracy
I, too, laugh at MSNBC’s ratings. However, don’t disregard the power of these seemingly low numbers of people who follow their nonsense. They absolutely rule the comments sections of the online news and blog sites with their anti-business, anti-military, and pro-conspiracy stance. I’m convinced that few of them actually work based upon their whacky beliefs and total lack of understanding of how real humans go about their lives. But, they are incredibly powerful and in this age of the Internet and having a collective voice, they cannot be dismissed as the nutters that they are
gee I wonder why the rating suck??
Leaning Forward, MSNBC Loses Ground to Rival CNN
By BILL CARTEROCT. 12, 2014
Rachel Maddow, the biggest star on the MSNBC cable network, just posted her lowest quarterly ratings results ever.
“Morning Joe,” MSNBC’s signature morning program, scored its second-lowest quarterly ratings, reaching an average of just 87,000 viewers in the key news demographic group.
And “Ronan Farrow Daily,” the network’s heavily promoted new afternoon show, which stars a 26-year-old Rhodes Scholar with a high-profile Hollywood lineage, has been largely a dud.
Though it has mostly happened quietly, which may be a comment on the cable network’s larger status in the media landscape, MSNBC has seen its ratings hit one of the deepest skids in its history, with the recently completed third quarter of 2014 generating some record lows.
Phil Griffin, the president of MSNBC, acknowledged that his network had been struggling, but put it in the context of the overall drop in cable news. “This has been a tough year all around,” he said. “All three cable news channels are drawing a smaller combined audience than they were five years ago.” He also emphasized that despite the plunge that caused it to trail CNN in the last quarter, the network remained ahead of CNN for the full year.
In the past, MSNBC’s ratings have typically fallen during times of intensely followed major news events. The current period is awash in them, with stories like ISIS and Ebola commanding a high degree of international reporting. This plays well to CNN’s strengths.
https://www.nytimes.com/2014/10/13/business/media/leaning-forward-msnbc-loses-ground-to-rival-cnn-.html?_r=0
Politico Reports MSNBC Host Al Sharpton Was Obama’s Eyes and Ears In Ferguson
By Tim Graham | August 22, 2014 | 09:53
In yet more proof that MSNBC has absolutely no sense of journalistic detachment from the Obama White House or political activism in the streets, Politico’s Glenn Thrush is reporting that Team Obama was plumbing Sharpton for information he gleaned on the streets of Ferguson, Missouri.
“Sharpton—so often criticized for being a self-promoter—finds himself in the unusual position of being too close to a White House that seems to be losing power by the day, ” Thrush wrote. But Sharpton is still boasting that it was his sincerity that bonded him with the president:
Over the years, the 59-year-old former Brooklyn protest leader turned MSNBC talk-show host has embraced a new identity, one that reflects his evolution from agitator to insider with all that implies. In Ferguson, Sharpton established himself as a de facto contact and conduit for a jittery White House seeking to negotiate a middle ground between meddling and disengagement.
“There’s a trust factor with The Rev from the Oval Office on down,” a White House official familiar with their dealings told me. “He gets it, and he’s got credibility in the community that nobody else has got. There’s really no one else out there who does what he does.”
And the White House, as the crisis following Brown’s death seemed to flare out of control, worked extensively behind the scenes to maximize The Rev’s doing what he does, using him as both a source of information and a go-between. After huddling with Brown’s family and local community leaders, Sharpton connected directly with White House adviser and First Friend Valerie Jarrett, vacationing in her condo in the exclusive Oak Bluffs section of Martha’s Vineyard, not far from where President Obama and his family were staying. Obama was “horrified” by the images he was seeing on TV, Jarrett told Sharpton, and proceeded to pepper him with questions as she collected information for the president: How bad was the violence? Was it being fueled by outside groups—and could Sharpton do anything to talk them down? What did the Brown family want the White House to do? [Italics in the original.]
If anything, the Ferguson crisis has underscored Sharpton’s role as the national black leader Obama leans on most, a remarkable personal and political transformation for a man once regarded with suspicion and disdain by many in his own party. It’s a status made all the more surprising given that Obama, America’s first black president, ran on a platform of moving beyond the country’s painful racial divisions while Sharpton is the man who once defined those divisions for many Americans.
What brought them together, according to numerous sources I’ve spoken with about this over the years, is a shared commitment to racial justice, and a hardheaded pragmatism that has fueled their success. “He realized I wasn’t as irrational or as crazy as people thought,” Sharpton told me in an interview this week, and indeed Sharpton not only visits the White House frequently, he often texts or emails with senior Obama officials such as Jarrett and Attorney General Eric Holder, the first African American to hold that job and who, like Sharpton, views the Ferguson crisis as a pivotal one in Obama’s presidency.
“I’ve known Al since he was 12 years old, and he’s arrived at the level he always wanted to arrive at, which is gratifying,” the Rev. Jesse Jackson, a colleague and sometimes rival, told me. “He’s the man who’s the liaison to the White House, he’s the one who’s talking to the Justice Department….”
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“He’s calculating … he gets the game,” Sharpton recently told an associate when asked about why he’s bonded with Obama.
“The relationship evolved over time,” Sharpton explained to me. “I realized he was just a different kind of guy. … He wasn’t going to be guided by emotions. He was not intimidated. There was no game you could play [with him]. The key for him was seeing that I wasn’t insincere, that I actually believed in the stuff I was talking about.”
Read more: https://newsbusters.org/blogs/tim-graham/2014/08/22/politico-reports-msnbc-host-al-sharpton-was-obama-s-eyes-and-ears-fergus#ixzz3BJWNaFqP
Democratic firm Public Policy Polling. : NBC, MSNBC sink to bottom of who the public trusts
By Paul Bedard | JANUARY 30, 2014 AT 4:20 PM
NBC News and sister cable network MSNBC rank at the bottom of media outlets Americans trust most for news, with Fox News leading the way, according to a new poll from the Democratic firm Public Policy Polling.
In its fifth trust poll, 35 percent said they trusted Fox news more than any other outlet, followed by PBS at 14 percent, ABC at 11 percent, CNN at 10 percent, CBS at 9 percent, 6 percent for MSNBC and Comedy Central, and just 3 percent for NBC.
https://washingtonexaminer.com/nbc-msnbc-sink-to-bottom-of-who-the-public-trusts/article/2543186
Bridgeaplooza : Reader says MSNBC should be covering this, and so should Fox.
Has anyone been watching Fox news one could say that they have a bias towards Christie. They keep comparing it to Clinton’s Benghazi problems. The difference is that New Jersey can not investigate the Benghazi problem, only what happens in New Jersey. Do you want New Jersey to act like the Federal government and ignore how New Jersey investigates Christie because things like the IRS scandal, Benghazi and the NSA are ignored? I don’t think so.
Coming to Christie’s defense is X NY Mayor Giuliani, and why is that? Look at all of the Subpenas sent out in New Jersey, and look at how many of the Christie staff involved were past Giuliani employees. Maybe this is highlighting what Giuliani was like in office and he is afraid many people will draw that conclusion. or perhaps he figures if he defends Christie and he becomes president he will have a great government gig in his administration.
Also as much as many of you may dislike the Bergen Record they have done a good job of linking Christie’s bullying behavior back to his College days. Christie has a continued history of putting his friends in place and having them do what ever he wants verses what is best for the people he serves.
The really important question is Why would Bridget Kelly order a traffic jam at the George Washington Bridge? What was her motive? Was she having a personal relationship with the Mayor of Fort Lee and got mad at him and caused the problem? Was it just for kicks that she woke up one morning and decided to create chaos for the hell of it?
Why would Wildstein just do what ever Kelly wanted without even questioning the request? Then he pleads the fifth and looks for immunity? isn’t that an admission of guilt? or is he fearful of Christie retribution?
The emails clearly showed that several of those who are in Christie’s closet circle knew what was going on. Samson knew about all of this so why wasn’t he asked to step down? Why wasn’t Drewniak fired?
Kelly and Stepien were the sacrificial lambs. Fire somebody and the public will think that the problem is solved. The big question that needs to be answered is Why it all occurred.
As for Zimmer, she is a naive small time Mayor who is now learning the hard way about politics. Remember she is only the mayor because the previous mayor was found guilty of taking bribes.
MSNBC may be covering these things because others aren’t. Just as Fox was covering Benghazi because others weren’t.
Does anyone else think its hysterical that someone from Hudson County would call anyone a crook?
Bridgeaplooza :The scandal is MSNBC
BY JENNIFER RUBIN
January 18 at 7:00 pm
The bridge scandal started out as a test for New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie (R). Now it has become a test for the media. MSNBC, which long ago stopped being a news outlet in the sense of going out to find facts and is largely indistinguishable from Democratic Party talking points, has been going 24/7 since the bridge story broke. No surprise. But then Saturday MSNBC decided to throw even the pretense of journalism overboard.
Hoboken Mayor Dawn Zimmer speaks to the media in 2009. (Mel Evans/Associated Press)
It ran with a claim from Mayor Dawn Zimmer of Hoboken claiming Christie withheld Sandy relief funds to gain approval for a business development. Christie’s office put out a quick denial of the allegations, as did the developers. MSNBC says the mayor has a personal diary that corroborates her claim — a diary that has yet to be released, reviewed or verified. Rather than, you know, investigate the story, MSNBC threw it out on the air hoping others would follow. The Hill had the good sense to note this mayor had changed her story from earlier claims that the funds were denied for not backing him for governor.
Then Saturday afternoon Christie’s team had enough. It put out a written statement:
MSNBC is a partisan network that has been openly hostile to Governor Christie and almost gleeful in their efforts attacking him, even taking the unprecedented step of producing and airing a nearly three-minute attack ad against him this week. Governor Christie and his entire administration have been helping Hoboken get the help they need after Sandy, with the city already having been approved for nearly $70 million dollars in federal aid and is targeted to get even more when the Obama Administration approves the next rounds of funding. The Governor and Mayor Zimmer have had a productive relationship, with Mayor Zimmer even recently saying she’s ‘very glad’ he’s been our Governor. It’s very clear partisan politics are at play here as Democratic mayors with a political axe to grind come out of the woodwork and try to get their faces on television.
In short, the Hoboken mayor has been all over the place, claiming different things have been for retribution. With no correspondence or other documented communication with the governor, we’re supposed to take a personal diary that could have been written at any point in time as reliable? A professional news operation must be more than simply a bulletin board for partisans.
The scandal is MSNBC
BY JENNIFER RUBIN
January 18 at 7:00 pm
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The bridge scandal started out as a test for New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie (R). Now it has become a test for the media. MSNBC, which long ago stopped being a news outlet in the sense of going out to find facts and is largely indistinguishable from Democratic Party talking points, has been going 24/7 since the bridge story broke. No surprise. But then Saturday MSNBC decided to throw even the pretense of journalism overboard.
Hoboken Mayor Dawn Zimmer speaks to the media in 2009. (Mel Evans/Associated Press)
It ran with a claim from Mayor Dawn Zimmer of Hoboken claiming Christie withheld Sandy relief funds to gain approval for a business development. Christie’s office put out a quick denial of the allegations, as did the developers. MSNBC says the mayor has a personal diary that corroborates her claim — a diary that has yet to be released, reviewed or verified. Rather than, you know, investigate the story, MSNBC threw it out on the air hoping others would follow. The Hill had the good sense to note this mayor had changed her story from earlier claims that the funds were denied for not backing him for governor.
Then Saturday afternoon Christie’s team had enough. It put out a written statement:
MSNBC is a partisan network that has been openly hostile to Governor Christie and almost gleeful in their efforts attacking him, even taking the unprecedented step of producing and airing a nearly three-minute attack ad against him this week. Governor Christie and his entire administration have been helping Hoboken get the help they need after Sandy, with the city already having been approved for nearly $70 million dollars in federal aid and is targeted to get even more when the Obama Administration approves the next rounds of funding. The Governor and Mayor Zimmer have had a productive relationship, with Mayor Zimmer even recently saying she’s ‘very glad’ he’s been our Governor. It’s very clear partisan politics are at play here as Democratic mayors with a political axe to grind come out of the woodwork and try to get their faces on television.
In short, the Hoboken mayor has been all over the place, claiming different things have been for retribution. With no correspondence or other documented communication with the governor, we’re supposed to take a personal diary that could have been written at any point in time as reliable? A professional news operation must be more than simply a bulletin board for partisans.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/right-turn/wp/2014/01/18/the-scandal-is-msnbc/