Here is another one to file for future reference if you want to write or discuss media hysteria.
A day after the debate, Michael Bloomberg’s campaign sent out this video meme:
Anyone? pic.twitter.com/xqhq5qFYVk
— Mike Bloomberg (@MikeBloomberg) February 20, 2020
If you read the Twitter thread, you see people accusing Bloomberg of “manipulating,” “doctoring,” and posting “fake videos.” It was a video meme intended for humorous purposes. This has been common time immemorial in the age of multimedia. Are people that sensitive or dim?
Well, the fine folks at The Washington Post and MSNBC certainly are.
First, WaPo issued a fact-check of the video and gave the “manipulated debate video” four Pinocchios. The newspaper’s Glenn Kessler writes (emphasis ours):
The video takes that minor moment and stretches it to 22 seconds, with reaction shots that make the other candidates look troubled, embarrassed or confused. The video is silent except for cricket sounds.
…
Political ads can be fun and entertaining, but they shouldn’t be misleading. Anyone who had not seen the debate could have been easily misled into thinking the other candidates stood there in stunned silence for nearly half a minute.
We’re taking a tough line on manipulated campaign videos before viewers are flooded with so many fakes that they have trouble knowing what is true. The Bloomberg campaign should label this as a parody or else take the video down.
Oh, boy…
Second, here is a segment from MSNBC that Stephanie Ruhle looking like she is on the verge of tears and an NBC News report attempting to be serious on such a laughable topic:
NBC is freaking out about a crickets meme pic.twitter.com/Ou8dbTe6ZV
— Cricket Hunter Poso 🦗 (@JackPosobiec) February 21, 2020
This is as bad as when the media had to fact-check if President Donald Trump gave the ISIS raid dog the Presidential Medal of Freedom because of a tweet he sent out.
This is the state of journalism…
Leave a Comment