NPR Archives ⋆ Unite or Die

Examining Fact Check Journalism Through an NPR “Fact-Checking” Article

All Along the Watchtower

February 6, 2019 by Rusty Guinn

…Sure, there are examples of Fact Check Journalism doing good. And then there’s the NPR Fact Check of the 2019 State of the Union Address.

It’s a long read. I recommend it. If you’re like me, you’ll find yourself agreeing with most of the commentary. If you’re not, then maybe you won’t. But whether you agree with the commentary or not isn’t the point. Ignore whether you agreed or disagreed with its sentiments. Read it again and ask yourself: Is this really a fact check? Or is this person trying to shape how I think by presenting his or her opinions as a fact check? As it happens, I think you’ll find that there are actual fact checks in the article, mostly in the well-researched responses to the immigration and border wall questions, other responses to foreign policy and national security questions, and in many of Jim Zarroli’s checks on economic statements.

But with those exceptions, NPR’s Fact Check is an analysis, commentary and opinion piece. There’s nothing wrong with that on its own. That’s an important role of the press. But publishing a piece like this as a ‘fact check’ is not just fiat news. It is fraud, a fraud of the kind that will kill confidence in the media stone dead unless others of influence recognize it and disavow it.

What am I talking about? Let’s take a look.

No More Dislike Button For You: the Negative Response to the Gillette Ad was Thoughtcrime

This reminds me of when NPR removed their comments sections.

Or when Netflix removed the star rating system because of the backlash against the Amy Schumer “Leather special.”

YouTube wants ‘dislike mobs’ to stop weaponizing the dislike button

By Julia Alexander Feb 1, 2019

YouTube is no stranger to viewers weaponizing the dislike button, as seen by the company’s recent Rewind video, but the product development team is working on a way to tackle the issue. Tom Leung, director of project management at YouTube, addressed the issue of “dislike mobs” in a recent issue of Creator Insider, YouTube’s corporate series for creators.

“Dislike mobs” are the YouTube equivalent to review bombings on Steam — a group of people who are upset with a certain creator or game decide to execute an organized attack and downvote or negatively review a game or video into oblivion. It’s an issue on YouTube as well, and one that creators have spoken out against many times in the past. Reports have suggested that a video with a high number of dislikes — that outweighs the number of positive likes — is less likely to be recommended, and could therefore hurt the creator’s channel.

Now, the company is planning to experiment with new ways to make it more difficult for organized attacks to be executed. Leung states in the video above that these are just “lightly being discussed” right now, and if none of the options are the correct approach, they may hold off until a better idea comes along. Right now, the current option is for creators to go into their preferences and indicate they don’t want ratings (likes and dislike numbers) to be visible; the issue is that videos with an overwhelmingly positive response also won’t be seen. Leung and his team are aware of how important those public stats are to creators, too.

“Another [option] is requiring more granularity when someone downvotes,” Leung says. “If you’re going to give a downvote, maybe you have to click a checkbox as to why you don’t like this video. That could give the creator more information, and it would also give viewers pause instead of just doing it impulsively. On the other hand, that’s complicated to build, complicated to collect, and then to relay the results to the creator in analytics or Creator Studio.”

The last option, which Leung describes as the most extreme option, is just to remove dislikes entirely. It’s not “as democratic,” according to Leung as, “not all dislikes are from dislike mobs.”

What changed with the Liberals and Immigration? Why did they go from Liberal to Leftist?

It’s funny that all of these Democrats agree with most American’s views on illegal immigration… just in the past.

What changed with them? Why did they go from liberal to leftist?

Harry Reid 1993: ‘No Sane Country’ Would Do Birthright Citizenship; 9-20-1993:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GJY4yHeYSjw

Clinton: Send some immigrant kids home:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N1FP6t0OUlk&feature=youtu.be

President Obama Gives a Policy Speech on Immigration
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cVuuzTJBE5Y

Schumer on illegal aliens
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VdL2k8jbnAs

Dianne Feinstein opposing ILLEGAL IMMIGRANTS
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4aqOfDbZmj8

Bill Clinton Receives Standing O In 1995 State Of The Union For Tough Stance On Illegal Immigration
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hy8UwpenlEA

I think it’s simply media manipulation. No one realized that their go-to media sources have changed?
Just today, listening to NPR on the immigrant thing…they present a human interest story about family and voting, but inside the story is a bunch of stuff about immigration, but they never actually present any facts or even differentiate between legal and illegal immigration and the benefits and costs of each. It’s just low-information, emotional content, meant to sway voters w/out any facts. https://www.npr.org/2018/11/01/662855443/a-couples-plan-to-vote-on-issues-related-to-family

Illegal immigrants are presented as a good thing because “they do the jobs other’s don’t want to.” But they don’t mention that’s really an argument for corporate profits. The corporations want low wage workers so they can have more profits.

Because corporations claim they can’t afford to pay Americans living wages, we accept illegal workers, forced to live in horrible conditions, many to a room, in shifts, with few protections or rights, as second class humans, living illegally, in the shadows

The same illegal labor market actually undercuts poor Americans’ wages and opportunities and additionally the money that is earned by illegal immigrants leaves the community when it’s sent overseas as remittances.

That money, spent by the legal residents, would have been recycled into the local economy and enriched a poor community. Why doesn’t NPR or the Democrats care about poor Americans? Why do they want illegals immigrants? Why do they equate legal and illegal immigrants?

NPR and others claim it’s their human rights to live wherever they want, but they leave out the rights of the residents who live in the country they’re immigrating to.

Do the people who live legally in a country have a right to keep their homeland?

Do they have a right to their own culture?

Illegal immigrants cost billions a year in Federal, State and Local expenses. But with the loss of wages to poor Americans and the loss of money in local economies makes the cost much higher.

The Fiscal Burden of Illegal Immigration on United States Taxpayers
https://www.fairus.org/issue/publications-resources/fiscal-burden-illegal-immigration-united-states-taxpayers

The Cost of Illegal Immigration
https://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/11829/illegal-immigration-cost

Then there’s the open borders thing. It’s very dangerous to encourage illegal crossings. 80% of females making the illegal crossing at the southern border are raped during the journey and many of the women and children are being trafficked.

80% Of Central American Women, Girls Are Raped Crossing Into The U.S.
https://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/09/12/central-america-migrants-rape_n_5806972.html

Operational Contract Support Joint Exercise combats human trafficking
https://www.army.mil/article/165364/operational_contract_support_joint_exercise_combats_human_trafficking

GLOBAL STUDY ON SMUGGLING OF MIGRANTS 2018
https://www.unodc.org/documents/data-and-analysis/glosom/GLOSOM_2018_ExecutiveSummary_web_small.pdf

The drug cartels also use the border for human smuggling including guns, drugs, and child sex trafficking and banks like HSBC have been caught profitting from their activity.

How a big US bank laundered billions from Mexico’s murderous drug gangshttps://www.theguardian.com/world/2011/apr/03/us-bank-mexico-drug-gangs

HSBC has form: remember Mexico and laundered drug money
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2015/feb/15/hsbc-has-form-mexico-laundered-drug-money

Outrageous HSBC Settlement Proves the Drug War Is a Joke

Outrageous HSBC Settlement Proves the Drug War Is a Joke

4 Things The Media Won’t Tell You About The Border Crisis
http://thefederalist.com/2018/06/20/4-things-media-wont-tell-border-crisis/

NPR is Propaganda: Doesn’t Mention Court Case that Showed MLK’s Murder by Conspiracy Involving FBI

NPR is Corporate/Deep State propaganda that is funded not only be donnations from listeners but by the largest global corporations in the Medical, Industrial, Defense and Intelligence Industries.

While James Corbett is funded by donations from his listeners and provides sources for everything thing he reports.

Which do you trust?

Martin Luther King was assassinated by the US governmment — The Feels When the Government that Assassinated You Made Your Birthday a National Holiday

James Corbett:
Truth At Last: The Assassination of Martin Luther King

NPR:
Despite Swirl Of Conspiracy Theories, Investigators Say The MLK Case Is Closed

Authorities have investigated the death of Martin Luther King Jr. five times since his murder in April 1968. Congress, district attorneys and the Justice Department all have concluded that James Earl Ray shot King as the civil rights icon stood on a motel balcony in Memphis.

That hasn’t stopped conspiracy theories from flourishing.

March For Our Lives: Created by Social / Political Death Machines for one Reason: Disarmament and Total Control

Every time I hear NPR or Obama say that these kids have done all of this on their own, I have to laugh.

Remember that it was actually organized and paid for by the NeoCon/NeoLiberal Global Death Machine… Planned Parenthood, The MSM, Hollywood, and The Women’s March and Former Obama Administration Officials…

WEIRD: Planned Parenthood Takes Over Control Of “March For Our Lives”

Tens of millions of dollars have poured in from a cross-section of far-left groups to help fund and coordinate the anti-gun “March For Our Lives” protest this weekend. From political activist entities like MoveOn.org to deep-pocket donors like Michael Bloomberg, it is a protest that has expanded far beyond the “student-generated” activism that has been repeatedly portrayed throughout the Establishment Media.

Perhaps most odd though is how involved Planned Parenthood has become in a march which is operating under the guise of “saving children’s lives”.

Regardless of whether or not you are “pro-life/pro-choice” it strikes an undeniably odd tone to have the #1 killer of unborn children orchestrating a march that calls for saving the lives of children.

Who Is Deena Katz? March For Our Lives Organizers Picked Her To Plan The D.C. Event

March For Our Lives organizer Deena Katz, who is also one of the executive directors of the Los Angeles Women’s March Foundation.

If you’ve heard of Katz before, that might be why. But it could also be that you’re more familiar with her work in film and television. Katz is a producer and casting director on shows like Real Time With Bill Maher, The Grand Tour, and perhaps most prominently, Dancing With The Stars. According to The Miami Herald, some of the survivors of the deadly Stoneman Douglas High School shooting last month who called for the march chose Katz to organize the event.

Who Runs March for Our Lives?

When it comes to March for Our Lives, the questions never end.

The March for Our Lives permit application was filed by Deena Katz, a co-executive director of the Women’s March Los Angeles Foundation. This wasn’t just a little bit of professional activist assistance.

The application lists Katz as the “Person in Charge of Event”.

Katz is a former Dancing With the Stars and current Bill Maher producer. She’s also the former owner of Talent Central, a Los Angeles talent agency, The leaked application lists her as the president of the March for Our Lives Fund.

Media contacts for March for Our Lives are being handled by 42 West. The agency is a full service PR firm operating out of New York and Los Angeles that represents major celebrities. 42 West was supposedly recommended by George Clooney who was one of a number of major celebrity donors.

March for Our Lives is funded by Hollywood celebs, it’s led by a Hollywood producer and its finances are routed through an obscure tax firm in the Valley. Its treasurer and secretary are Washington D.C. pros. And a top funder of gun control agendas is also one of its directors.