Eric Boehlert: Now Politico's just making stuff up

[babylonsister]

Now Politico's just making stuff up
Good grief
Eric Boehlert
May 20


President Joe Biden is getting trashed by Democrats over the Middle East!

Vice President Kamala Harris isn’t acknowledging her Asian heritage!

Those were two breathless dispatches Politico posted this week, as the Beltway insider outlet did its best to gin up drama surrounding the Democratic administration. Apparently still longing from the non-stop news cycle of the Trump era and the relentless controversies and scandals that came with it, Politico has decided that during the No Drama Biden era the best strategy is to just make stuff up and post it as news.

In both gotcha articles it became abundantly clear that Biden is not being trashed by Democrats regarding the Middle East. And Harris is not being widely criticized for downplaying her Indian roots. Both premises are fabrications. How do we know? Because neither article contained evidence to back up the click-bait headlines.

This is indefensible journalism, as Politico eagerly does the GOP’s bidding by trying to create controversies where none exist. The daily is hardly alone in this regard. The New York Times recently promoted a long article about Biden’s “short fuse” and “quick temper” in a piece that included no quotes or evidence of Biden’s “short fuse” and “quick temper.” But Politico does seem to be particularly aggressive in concocting unsupported storylines during the Biden era. And Politico is doing it with weighty topics that should not be used as ways to manufacture news.

more...

https://pressrun.media/p/now-politicos-just-making-stuff-up

[samnsara]

1. i pass right over headlines like this..whichever side it comes from

...usually they ask for money at the end.

[spanone]

2. K&R...

[marble falls]

3. Politico has always been a caveat emptor kind of place. They hover between 75% to 25% mix.

[abqtommy]

4. Politico...MEH!

[kimbutgar]

5. Never been a politico fan since it was started by a Karl Rove associate.

[JohnSJ]

6. You nailed it OP. The writer is simply lying. I wouldn't even characterize it hyperbole, it is

bold face lying

[PortTack]

7. Exactly! the minute I see the post is from politico I don't even open it

[ismnotwasm]

8. Politico--ugh

When I find myself reading something from there, I try to find another source. They really are awful

[ZonkerHarris]

9. Politico is full of scumbags

[ladym55]

10. Another good piece from Eric Boehlert!

He has been one of my go-to sources for good information for quite some time. I read Pressrun faithfully every week.

[George II]

11. If Politico was a printed publication it would be sold near the supermarket cashiers....

....with all the other gossip rags. They've gone way downhill in recent years. Looking down the list of their "journalists", there's not a decent one in the bunch.

[NurseJackie]

14. They hire amateur writers who couldn't get hired by respectable publications... AND/OR...

They hire amateur writers who couldn't get hired by respectable publications... AND/OR... writers who had already been FIRED by respectable publications. (Perhaps I should say "writers" -- in quotes -- because they really are pathetic examples.) In any case, this is where extremist activists go to prosthelytize and/or get revenge on liberal centrists for not being liberal enough. This, in my personal opinion, is truly contemptible behavior because it has the effect of kneecapping Democrats, dividing the party, weakening Democrats and ultimately pushing their activist agenda even further back than it would have otherwise been.

Looking down the list of their "journalists", there's not a decent one in the bunch.

All I'm trying to say is that bitter and angry "writers" (and other dime-a-word purple-prose writers). They're hurting EVERYONE with that type of selfish behavior. A couple of them write as though they've only completed a sophomore* creative writing class, but believe that they've won a Pulitzer Prize instead.


*high school

[George II]

15. I think there are more ANDs than ORs, to be honest. Sometimes I think a few of those writers....

....get backchannel pay from other sources.

[NurseJackie]

16. RE: "backchannel pay from other sources."

Sometimes I think a few of those writers.... get backchannel pay from other sources.

Honestly, I wouldn't be surprised. Thank you for pointing that out. It's certainly something that would make perfectly good sense (considering all that we have observed and all that we know.)

[Traildogbob]

12. It did seem

Like Andrea Mitchell was on every show yesterday as portraying President Biden as unprepared and not ready for foreign issues. It was sickening

[betsuni]

13. K&R

[dalton99a]

17. Remember Al Franken.