Category Archives: Newpapers
Facebook Fact Checks Santa Clause
The world’s most famous newspaper editorial, published in the New York Sun Sept. 21, 1887, could get busted by Facebook.
In an effort to stamp out the scourge of fake news, Facebook is outsourcing fact checking to PolitiFact and others .
Facebook Fact Checks Santa Clause
The editorial in question (by me) was in response to a letter to the editor from eight year old Virginia O’Hanlon:
DEAR EDITOR: I am 8 years old.
Some of my little friends say there is no Santa Claus.
Papa says, ‘If you see it in THE SUN it’s so.’
Please tell me the truth; is there a Santa Claus?VIRGINIA O’HANLON.
115 WEST NINETY-FIFTH STREET.VIRGINIA, your little friends are wrong. They have been affected by the skepticism of a skeptical age. They do not believe except they see. They think that nothing can be which is not comprehensible by their little minds. All minds, Virginia, whether they be men’s or children’s, are little. In this great universe of ours man is a mere insect, an ant, in his intellect, as compared with the boundless world about him, as measured by the intelligence capable of grasping the whole of truth and knowledge.
Yes, VIRGINIA, there is a Santa Claus. He exists as certainly as love and generosity and devotion exist, and you know that they abound and give to your life its highest beauty and joy…
You can read the rest of the editorial here at the Newseum site.
“If you see it in THE SUN it’s so.” – Maybe.
MainStream Media Bias Goes Onion
Mark Halperin thinks The New York Times has turned into The Onion.
To make his point he held up the front page from that morning’s edition. The headline read Democrats, Students, Foreign Allies Face Reality Of Trump Presidency:
“Their headline is not ‘Disaffected Americans Have A Champion Going To The White House’ or ‘The Country Votes For Fundamental Change.’ The headline is about how disappointed the friends of the people who run The New York Times are about what happened,” Halperin said.
“It’s amazing.” “It’s The Onion.”
Media Bias
Back in August NYT media columnist Jim Rutenberg sort of defended media bias saying, “Trump is testing the norms of objectivity in journalism.”
So, they seem to know what they’re doing.
For example, here’s a column by Will Rahn at CBS News titled The Unbearable Smugness of the Press.
World Ends Tomorrow
Kind of reminds me of the joke headline: World to End Tomorrow: Women, Minorities Hardest Hit.
Trump Accepts Rigged Election If He Wins
Joe Scarborough dinged the media for freaking out over Trump’s refusal to accept the results of the election. But after spending the week saying the election is rigged what else would you expect him say?
Rigged Election
Trump later joked that he’ll definitely accept the rigged election results if he wins:
“I will accept a clear election result,” Trump allowed. “But I would also reserve my right to contest or file a legal challenge in the case of a questionable result.” He cited the landmark 2000 Supreme Court case Bush v. Gore as precedent for needing to contest an election.
Here’s to hanging chads.
Thrill Of Victory, Agony of Debate
The thrill of victory was followed by the agony of debate last night.
Thrill of Victory
The Cleveland Indians won the American league pennant, shutting out the Toronto Blue Jays 3-0. Rookie Ryan Merritt went 4 1/3 scoreless innings in his second major league start.
Merritt got the nod because starting pitcher Trevor Bauer was the victim of a drone strike. A strike of his own drone. Bauer has always done things his own way, and this came as no surprise to anyone around here. So they sewed up his finger and sent him out to the mound for game three.
Bauer’s a gamer, but his sutured pinkie opened up like the elevator doors in The Shining. He never made it out of the first inning. No problem. Mad Manager Tito Franco stitched together a bullpen game and the Tribe won 4-2.
Back to Ryan Merritt, hero of Northeast Ohio. Someone found out he’s getting married, so fans bought everything on his wedding registry. But you could still get him a pillow last I checked.
Agony of Debate
Unfortunately all good things come to an an end and the final presidential debate was about to begin.
Moderator Mike Wallace asked about Supreme Court nominees. Hillary Clinton said the court should stand up for women and transgender bathrooms but not late term babies about to be aborted. She also said the court should overturn Citizen’s United (a Supreme Court case that said it’s okay for a company to make a movie critical of Hillary).
Trump said, “The Supreme Court – it’s what it’s all about.”
The clear winner … Chris Wallace.
Matt Lauer Not One Of The Boys on the Bus
The Boys on the Bus was a best seller about the reporters who covered the 1972 presidential campaign.
It’s unlikely those boys would think much of today’s Donald Trump as a presidential candidate. But they probably wouldn’t have been too uncomfortable in his “locker room“.
Bus Bust
Now many of the boys on the bus covering the 2016 campaign are girls. And they threw Matt Lauer under the bus for asking Hillary Clinton tough questions and taking The Donald seriously.
They implied that Lester Holt would get the same treatment if he moderated the first Clinton/Trump debate in an even handed way.
