A Good Monday Morning

This week, A Long-Predicted Collapse Hit Digital Media

The old arrangement, where if you wanted your ads to reach Rolling Stone‘s prosperous young readers you had no choice but to subsidize Hunter Thompson calling the White House a den of thieves, did not survive the digital revolution...." 

It's Remarkable what happens when you label half the electorate as evil and deplorable. This week, a long-predicted collapse seemed to hit digital media. The journalists’ Twitter timelines filled up with the names of the newly unemployed—wow, they let him go? the whole opinion team?—and the usual ominous comments on the precarity of the industry. “Precarity” might be underselling it at this point: As CNN reported, “the media industry lost about 1,000 jobs nationwide this week.” The national economy, meantime, is operating at close to full employment. 

The hard-news bloodbath was particularly acute at the pack of lying vermin at BuzzFeed, which lost not only its health team and national news desk, but also the diggers behind a lot of the site’s increasingly questionable national security coverage. What became clear this week is that if the digital natives do survive, it might not have much to do with news gathering, which both investors and advertisers have recently discovered an allergy to. News for a time was a respectable, and respected, subsidized by everything else. Now that price is too high. And the news to fake.

(CJR)
H/T Ann Althouse

The Left's Futile Atempt to Eliminate the Phrase ‘Fake News’

One thing the left has been extremely successful in doing is redefining the language. Academia and the media have given us phases like "Womens Reproductive Rights" to legitimize their evil, and have recently redefined words like "Diversity " to push an agenda and mask their hate. The left originally coined the term "Fake News" to describe right-leaning news sources like Breitbart and RedState. But during the contentious campaign of 2016, the actions of the media, with their unabashed bias, lies and cheer-leading, Donald J. Trump turned the tables. Since then much crying a gnashing of teeth have followed. 

"The term has become entirely applied to the left-leaning media as a derogatory epithet for mainstream news sites whose political coverage found to be flawed or biased,” complains Slate magazine. It is now “a handy cudgel for people who want to criticize the media for a wide range of failings. The speed with which the term became polarized and in fact a rhetorical weapon illustrates how efficient the conservative media machine has become.”

John Lloyd, a senior research fellow at the Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism at the University of Oxford, laments its use. It portrays the mainstream media "as the tool of an arrogant, out-of-touch elite." There is much truth in that statement Mr. Lloyd, as well as it dripping with sweet irony you fail to see from the ivory towers. 

The left sees the damage the phrase is causing. They want people to stop using it. DJT calls The Washington Post fake news more than almost any other news outlet. Fighting back, Margaret Sullivan declared, “It’s Time to Retire the Tainted Term ‘Fake News.'” She complains that people use the phrase to describe left-leaning political views.

Hossein Derakhshan and Claire Wardle want to “Ban the Term ‘Fake News.'” The phrase, they say, has “become weaponized by politicians who use it to undermine independent journalism in an effort to reach the public directly through their own channels.” And that is a bad thing??

Ask someone what ‘fake news’ means today, and depending on their political orientation, they may be more likely to mention CNN or the New York Times, and for good reason.  In an attempt to discredit the phrase, The New York Times published an article listing dictators and other disreputable world leaders who have used the phrase “fake news.” Although there are plenty of democratic world leaders who have used the phrase, The Times focused only on the unpopular leaders.  The left is also frustrated that mere mistakes as they call them when they are caught red-handed, are being labeled fake news along with biased journalism.  Innocent gaffes, you know, like when the Media framed photos of the crowd at Trump’s inauguration in such a way to minimize the size.

There is one way the left could succeed in reducing the conservative use of the phrase. The AP Stylebook will eventually discourage its use. That would be in keeping with its left-leaning rules. The stylebook has often discouraged the use of words and phrases conservatives prefer, such as banning “illegal immigrants” as just one example.

(Poynter) 
(Stream)
(Slate)

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Popular Dating Site Says Avoiding Anyone With Different Political Views Is Now More Important Than Not Having Cooties

Never used an online dating site, and never would. From what I know of them, the whole thought to me is scary.  But I found this little story kinda interesting, and a microcosm of our time.

“Great sex” has been the widely favored reply since dating app OkCupid first started asking its users this question in 2003 ― until now. For the first time in the app’s 15-year history, users in major cities like New York, San Francisco and Los Angeles have tipped the scale in favor of compatible politics, OkCupid told HuffPost. 

The overall number of women prioritizing politics over sex doubled from 2016 to 2018, and the percentage increased from 27 percent to 42 percent across the country. Over the same period, the app has seen a 1,000 percent increase in political terms on people’s profiles ― reflecting a major shift in values that its executives have been watching closely since Donald Trump’s election. 

Summers Eve Finkelman - OKCupid User

“It’s truly, truly unprecedented the change in how people are using politics as a signal in dating,” said Melissa Hobley, chief marketing officer of OkCupid and a professional matchmaker. “Without a doubt, the recent presidential election and current administration have driven young women in particular, but millennials of both genders, to say, ‘Swipe left if you support Trump,’ or ‘I don’t even want to see you as a match if you don’t vote.’ 

The sudden rise in dating political divides OkCupid has witnessed, particularly over the past two years, reflects the polarization of politics under Trump and the growing rage of his opponents ― particularly women. OkCupid is in a unique position to track that trend, as it is one of the few dating apps that requires its users to answer at least 15 questions about sex, politics and other values....."

I'm sorry, but I personally can't stop equating online dating sites with sleazy used car lots.

~ Thank You MJA@IOTWReport for the Linkage! ~

DJT Delays State of the Union Address Until Shutdown Ends

Speaker Pelosi and Her Puppet Chuck On Capital Hill 

According to the Associated Press, the president said late Wednesday night he is postponing his State of the Union address until the government shutdown ends, following a high-stakes game of dare and double-dar.  DJT conceded that "no venue can compete with the history, tradition and importance of the House Chamber" and that he was not looking for an alternate option after Pelosi served notice earlier Wednesday that he won't be allowed to deliver the address to a joint session of Congress next week. Pelosi had taken the step after Trump said he planned to show up in spite of Democratic objections to the speech taking place with large swaths of the government shut down.

The president cannot speak in front of a joint session of Congress without both chambers' explicit permission. A resolution needs to be approved by both chambers specifying the date and time for receiving an address from the president. The Constitution states only that the president "shall from time to time give to the Congress Information of the State of the Union," meaning the president can speak anywhere he chooses or give his update in writing.

The address has been delayed before. Ronald Reagan's 1986 State of the Union address was postponed after the Challenger space shuttle disaster on Jan. 28 of that year. But there is no precedent for a State of the Union invitation being rescinded. Harry Truman, Dwight Eisenhower and Jimmy Carter all issued their final messages in print.

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