Shall we take a journey into "beyond disgusting" in media malfeasance?  Ready for some great adventures in mainstream media toadying?

Here we go:

Some news in @ReliableSources: Senior White House and admin officials have been holding briefings with major newsrooms over past week as they try to reshape economic coverage. https://t.co/s3tNP28Lae pic.twitter.com/REvVzLKlXv

— Oliver Darcy (@oliverdarcy) December 7, 2021

I find it hard to believe my eyes with that tweet.  And he called it "productive"?  Productive for whom?

What we see is CNN's "senior media reporter" bragging about his news agency taking in a public relations blitz to coordinate economic coverage from the Biden administration as some kind of partner.  And rather than be outraged at this naked, North Korea–style, state-led bid to tell the public black is white, they claim themselves a badge of honor to be in on the scam as White House dupes. 

Guys. CNN is actually bragging about this pic.twitter.com/2cTF9B7T20

— Stephen L. Miller (@redsteeze) December 7, 2021

Seriously, any trained journalist worth his salt would issue a mighty middle finger at the White House for trying to "reshape" his coverage.  The only thing CNN should be concerned about is whether its reports on the supply chain mess, soaring inflation, gas prices, and other economic topics are true.  The White House can take care of the gaslighting.

These bozos choose instead to embrace the guidance (a term North Korea and red China like to use) offered by the White House about how to "reshape" what's right there in front of their own eyes as if they couldn't do it themselves by asking the locals.  They're actually coordinating propaganda with the White House but claiming it's news.

The reports about inflation, the supply chain crisis, and other matters are immensely upsetting to the White House and, of course, driving Joe Biden's and Kamala Harris's public approval ratings straight to the bottom.  Instead of changing the policies, the Bidenites seek to change the coverage, and CNN is happy to go along with it, secretly (but not so secretly) now meeting the White House officials to get their stories straight and then broadcasting the White House narrative of the day.

That's not news; that's public relations.  That's something every kid who ever went to journalism school knows is a no-no: you never crawl into bed with your sources.

It's ironic as heck that Darcy's esteemed CNN colleague Brian Stelter yesterday tweeted this as though it was some kind of outrage:

Axios AM's lead this morning: The right's echo chamber is so much bigger than merely TV and radio. "Conservatives are building their own apps, phones, cryptocurrencies and publishing houses to circumvent the mainstream tech and media ecosystem..." https://t.co/6jVV48NdGX

— Brian Stelter (@brianstelter) December 6, 2021

Gee, people not trusting the mainstream media and starting their own outlets. 

The reason for that is pretty clear, actually.  On Dec. 2 — note that date, and compare to Darcy's brag-tweet yesterday — Stelter actually put out this drivel:

One of President Biden's many fights right now is a fight against perceptions: Of economic peril, a never-ending pandemic, and his own political weakness. In recent speeches, he is issuing rebuttals and trying to change perceptions.

On Wednesday, for instance, he gently skewered the news media: "If you've watched the news recently, you might think the shelves in all our stores are empty across the country, that parents won't be able to get presents for their children... But here's the deal: For the vast majority of the country, that's not what's happening."

Biden ticked through his administration's actions "taken in partnership with business and labor" and said "shelves are going to be stocked." I felt like the entire speech was a response to recent coverage. His message, in effect, was: Don't succumb to the sky-is-falling style of news coverage that is so commonplace at the moment.

He struck a similar tone on Monday when he addressed Americans about Omicron and said it's "not a cause for panic" — a subtle pushback to some of the panicked initial reactions to the variant news.

But are his arguments getting through? That's very much debatable. On a recent episode of "Reliable Sources," I talked about news whiplash. As a viewer, it's easy to feel like the country is lurching from crisis to emergency to calamity, and by the time one is solved, the next is already stealing all the headlines[.]

Sound like someone who's been to the White House "reshape" sessions?  Draw your own conclusions.

It doesn't help that Stelter has been caught obediently toadying for his betters like the teacher's pet — and not a long time ago.  Any questions as to why his ratings are in the toilet — rock bottom at CNN?  If he wants to be a public relations man, he needs to get a public relations job.  That is how normal people do it.  He chooses instead to be a parasite, using a journalistic perch to claim probity while secretly playing P.R. man to please his masters behind the scenes.  No credible media person of any ethics would do the kind of toadying he does, and his ratings signal that it's clear the public is onto him.

Yet CNN's top media man remains clueless about how bad it looks to be openly bragging about one's White House access by tweeting about the White House's "reshape" of coverage.  All one can conclude from this is that there's not a word coming out of CNN that hasn't been subject to a "reshape" by the White House spinmeisters. 

It's as good a reason as any to flip the channel on these guys since the Stelter report alone suggests they've been caught taking orders from White House gaslighters.  Might as well pay a visit to the White House website for that kind of dreck.  CNN's new owners say they intend to make their network all about straight news.  If that's the case, they've got an Augean stable to clean out.

Image: Twitter screen shot.

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