WTF MSM!? President Obama was right: 'Words' matter

Words matter …

Reuters changed just one word … In an interview with Reuters on North Korea yesterday President Donald Trump correctly blamed his three immediate predecessors for not stopping the North Koreans from obtaining nuclear weapons. Trump then used these words: “I guess they all realized they were going to have to leave it to a president that scored the highest on tests.” That was a reference to the cognitive test given to him by his doctor. The original version of the story attributed Trump’s words with “he said.” The story was changed after publication. The new version has the words “he joked.” One word changed from “said” to “joked” conveys a whole different meaning. Twitter user Ben McDonald showed how that one word change means the difference between two narratives gaining traction in social media. Other media outlets, like The Hill, picked up the original version of the article.

Oh, Joy … Yesterday MSNBC’s Joy Reid — in a since-deleted tweet (Free Beacon article with text of tweet) — accused National Review’s David French of saying — of a North Korean nuclear attack — “don't worry, it will only kill Democrats and minorities.” That is, of course, not what he said. Writer Julia Galef explained how Joy’s take was the end result of a game of “hyperbolic telephone.” To make things worse, Reid backtracked without apologizing and admitted she never actually read French’s article, but only Raw Story’s portrayal of it.

What on earth happened to Newsweek … The once venerable weekly news magazine, Newsweek, has transformed into a caricature of left-wing thought. Up today is a piece on how “Hillary Clinton could still become president if Russia probe finds conspiracy evidence.” Today’s article is a rehash of an argument Harvard Law Professor Lawrence Lessig made back in October. Apparently Newsweek still really wants this to be true. If you don’t want to click through to the Newsweek articles, take a look at The Atlantic’s McKay Coppins’ summary of the absurd argument. Both Lessig and the Newsweek writers watch way too much “House of Cards.”

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Priorities …

Kimmel and the kids … ABC late-night host Jimmy Kimmel has been on a health care tear recently. He has been vociferously supporting the Children’s Health Insurance Program, or CHIP. Last night he got into a back-and-forth with Paul Ryan staffers about the continuing resolution and its inclusion of CHIP funding. It didn’t go well for Jimmy. CRTV’s Dan Bongino wrecked him on Twitter.

Something different from the NY Times … In a stunning move, the New York Times is not running an editorial today. Instead, the paper published letters from Trump supporters to fill the entire editorial page. At first glance it is a welcome move, but it highlights a glaring problem in the paper. If a newspaper claims that it is unbiased, shouldn’t the opinion pages have more balance? Printing opposing views once a year, or sporadically, doesn’t address the underlying issue. Maybe the Times would be served by following the USA Today model, where an opposing view to the editorial is published daily.

Deval’s delivery was better … About today’s subject line: President Obama’s “just words” campaign speech was lifted from former Mass. Governor Deval Patrick. I’ve always thought Patrick delivered it much better. Take a look here.

Free words …

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