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from https://nypost.com/2024/12/27/opinion/2024-was-a-year-of-gaslighting-here-are-the-worst-media-lies/

2024 was a year of gaslighting — here are the worst media lies
By Joe Concha
Published Dec. 27, 2024, 9:50 a.m. ET

1.1K
Let’s be blunt: 2024 was the worst year ever for legacy media, and it
ain’t even close.

Journalism morphed into blatant activism before our eyes.

We were told things we all witnessed or heard didn’t actually happen.

But Americans knew better, and the gaslighting got increasingly
hysterical as the year went on.

Amid the relentless madness, some egregious examples deserve special
mention.

And if we staged an annual tournament of media malfeasance and
meltdowns, my bracket would peg these as the Final Four of 2024.

President Joe Biden leaves San Domenico Golf Club, following a parachute
drop demonstration by Italian Army, during the first day of the G7
meeting at Borgo Egnazia resort, on June 13, 2024 in Fasano, Italy.
Biden leaves San Domenico Golf Club, following a parachute drop
demonstration by Italian Army, during the first day of the G7 meeting at
Borgo Egnazia resort, on June 13, 2024 in Fasano, Italy.
Corbis via Getty Images
No. 4, “Cheap fakes”:
When President Biden wandered off from a group photo shoot with other
world leaders in June during the G-7 summit in Italy, the clip
understandably went viral.

The worrisome walkabout followed several instances of Biden shaking
hands with the air, sharing conversations he had with long-deceased
world leaders and forgetting the names of his own Cabinet members.

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Failed smears of Trump’s cabinet picks proves biased media’s irrelevance People walking to a migrant shelter at Floyd Bennett Field in Brooklyn
on Dec. 11, 2204.
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But the media insultingly told us all these videos were actually “cheap fakes.”

“Some of us are watching long, complete speeches by the president.
Others just watching short, out of context clips on social media,”
claimed Brian Stelter, CNN’s chief media correspondent at the time.

“Two audiences are seeing two very different reflections.”

The Washington Post pontificated that the “deceptively edited videos”
that “misrepresent events simply by manipulating video or audio, or by leaving out context” were “staples of Republican attacks against Biden.”

Two weeks later, when Biden’s brain turned to applesauce (again) during
his debate with Donald Trump, the narrative collapsed.

No. 3, Policy flip-flops are irrelevant:
Sure, Kamala Harris was on video in 2019 saying she opposed fracking and
wanted to ban all offshore drilling.

Sure, she compared ICE agents to the KKK while calling former President
Donald Trump’s border wall “medieval.”

And sure, she supported US taxpayer dollars for imprisoned illegal
migrants’ sex-change procedures.

These are all profoundly unpopular positions, so Harris flip-flopped on
every one.

Italian parachutists explain their job after a demonstration to G7
leaders, (L-R) Justin Trudeau, Prime Minister of Canada, German
Chancellor Olaf Scholz (SPD), Ursula von der Leyen, President of the
European Commission, Charles Michel, President of the European Council, Emmanuel Macron, President of France, Rishi Sunak, Prime Minister of the
United Kingdom, US President Joe Biden, Giorgia Meloni, Prime Minister
of Italy, and Fumio Kishida, Prime Minister of Japan, at San Donenico
Golf Club during the first day of the G7 meeting at Borgo Egnazia
resort, on June 13, 2024 in Fasano, Italy.
G7 leaders Justin Trudeau, Olaf Scholz, Ursula von der Leyen, Charles
Michel, Emmanuel Macron, Rishi Sunak, Joe Biden, Giorgia Meloni, and
Fumio Kishida, listening to Italian parachutists on a field after a demonstration in Italy.
Corbis via Getty Images

But our media insisted that defeating Trump was far more important than questioning or even noting it.

“In the 2024 election, policy details matter even less than they usually do,” asserted “conservative” Tom Nichols in The Atlantic.

Harris and her running mate Tim Walz “seem to have figured this out.”

Over at ABC News, Ana Navarro argued that Harris had absolved herself of conflict via limited interviews with ultra-friendly outfits.

“She’s doing ‘The View’ live … She’s doing ‘The Late Show with Stephen
Colbert. She’s doing ‘The Howard Stern Show.’ She did ‘60 Minutes’ … She
did ‘Call Her Daddy’!” Navarro exclaimed with a straight face.

“What more do you all want?!”

None of the above attempts to explain her new policy positions swayed
voters, though.

No. 2, Madison Square Garden rally was an ode to Nazis:
Trump’s October rally at the world’s most famous arena should have been covered as a condensed sequel to the Republican National Convention.

The standing-room-only crowd heard from Trump, J.D. Vance, Elon Musk and
a bipartisan cast of supporters.

But the usual suspects in the press maintained its true message was an
appeal to Nazism — because Nazis held a rally at MSG 85 years ago.

No, really.

The Washington Post headlined it thus: “Another night at the Garden: How Trump’s rally echoed one in 1939; The Trump campaign’s rally in New York mirrored one in the 1930s that was openly supportive of Adolf Hitler —
with two dangerous differences.”

MSNBC anchor Jonathan Capehart rolled footage from that long-ago event
as part of his coverage of Trump’s perfectly ordinary campaign appearance.

“That jamboree happening right now, in that place, is particularly
chilling, because in 1939, more than 20,000 supporters of a different
fascist leader — Adolf Hitler — packed the Garden for a so-called ‘pro-America rally,’” Capehart intoned.

Considering Trump’s staunch support of Israel and Democrats’ four-time
use of the Garden for their own national conventions, these takes were
simply pathetic.

No. 1, Sexism and racism caused Kamala’s loss:
Former Obama strategist David Axelrod on CNN: “There is racial bias in
this country, and there is sexism in this country, and anybody who
thinks that that did not in any way impact on the outcome of this race
is wrong.”

Sunny Hostin on “The View”: “It’s very difficult for people to believe racism and misogyny, they’re just alive and well. My lived experience
tells me that it does still exist … The facts support that.”

What’s weird about this argument is this: If sexism and racism led to Harris’ loss, why was she roundly rejected by Democratic voters in 2019?
Were they racist and sexist too?

All these examples, and many others from throughout 2024, are the reason
why trusting the legacy media today is as popular as gas-station sushi: Americans just don’t buy it.

It will only continue to get worse until the industry makes wholesale
changes that put journalism ahead of activism.

Joe Concha is the author of “Progressively Worse: Why Today’s Democrats Ain’t Your Daddy’s Donkeys.”

Filed under 2024 Presidential Debates 2024 presidential election
donald trump kamala harris Media media bias 12/27/24

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