Anatomy of a Puff Piece: The “enduring mystique” of kollaborator journalism.

The @nytimes Hicks diddler is a tipping-point in an existential crisis.

With truth an endangered species, normalizing enablers of an illegitimate president is dangerous and lame.

A puff piece thread:
I knew we were in derp sh*t when just minutes after the 2016 election results were in, @THR published this “exclusive” dreck.
https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/omarosa-reveals-what-went-down-inside-freight-elevator-brought-trump-his-victory-party-945791
We expect a low, vichy bar from corporate-controlled broadcast news, but we’re constantly taken aback when print media doing some of the best work during this trying days, also puts out lame sh*t. https://twitter.com/washingtonpost/status/1130504777643831296?s=21
6/ That time it took seven Washington Post reporters to write a Steve Bannon puff piece that didn’t mention Cambridge Analytica and his role in damning democracy. https://twitter.com/heidi_cuda/status/1056892561736880128?s=21
9/ And another puff piece on the troll hack. I guess Trump’s other campaign manager was ensconced in the pokey. https://twitter.com/wendysiegelman/status/1056873605731176448?s=21
12/ We had to spelunk 50 paragraphs down in this Erik Prince puff piece to learn he’s under investigation by the SCO. (Lotta zebra lines in the Mueller Report.) https://twitter.com/heidi_cuda/status/1016779606706171904?s=21
15/ The media’s addiction to Steve Bannon remains curious, as he parasitically traverses the world in search of fresh democracies to destroy. But this @60Minutes “exclusive” was an all-time low.
17/ Can’t emphasis enough how critical investigative reporters at @nytimes and @washingtonpost have been to rooting out the f*ckery of TrumPutin Inc. But with each puff piece, critical work fades into obscurity. You’d think the fourth estate wudda learned.
https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/1922-new-york-times-hitler/
18/ There is nothing cute about a lousy dictator who lies as he breathes. Trump is a veteran con artist, as 1000s of lawsuits evidence and those who enable him should be given the hairy eyeball fitting for sellout pariahs. Instead, we get puff pieces.
https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/live-feed/sean-spicer-developing-tv-talk-show-1123249 @THR
21/ Using dewy words in softball features is perfectly fine when a democracy isn’t at stake. But normalizing a multi-generational crime family linked to global mobsters aided into power by a foreign adversary’s military, just ain’t right. Behold @cnn 💦 https://twitter.com/cnn/status/1109558462197968897?s=21
22/ First time I referenced Trump in ink was in the @latimes in ‘96: I noted he was a has-been. Next time was in a TV news investigation I produced a decade later: he was the bait in a ponzi scheme. Point being, the truth was out there pre-2016. And yet... https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/the-fix/wp/2016/08/19/donald-trumps-best-speech-of-the-2016-campaign-annotated/
23/ Some say puff pieces on Scamalot continue cuz MSM fears losing access. Let’s ponder that: Trump’s never met a camera he doesn’t like (except Special Counsel’s) and he even pretended to be his own flack. Without 24/7 media coverage, his propaganda dies. https://twitter.com/heidi_cuda/status/1079597855633887232?s=21
25/ Giving ink to a chronic liar reviving old lies long since debunked in the Mueller Report actually contributes to the problem. Regurgitating lies spreads the mind virus. This piece is not puffery, but “Trump Desperately Clutches Straws” a better hedder.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/trump-uses-discredited-conflict-of-interest-charges-to-attack-mueller/2019/05/30/2f7c7908-82f6-11e9-95a9-e2c830afe24f_story.html
26/ @thehill headlines and clips regularly fan the mind virus. Here’s an example of the sound bite as puff piece: https://twitter.com/thehill/status/1134162558611410944?s=21
31/ WHAT AILES AMERICA—“Fair and balanced” became code for putting liars on TV and calling it “news.” I was schooled by newsmen who taught me reporters must be biased and that bias is TRUTH—it’s our job to inform the facts. As @alaindebotton taught me... https://twitter.com/heidi_cuda/status/870747393611882496?s=21
32/ @CNN is going all in on its schizo vichy kollaborator normalization which negatively impacts real work by staffers. https://twitter.com/katebennett_dc/status/1138104055203581952?s=21
33/ CODA: And the kollaborator journos play on, the headlines more weaponized and sinister by the day, as the mind virus spreads.
https://twitter.com/newsweek/status/1146103758750912512?s=21 @Newsweek
34/ Moscow on the Hudson. https://twitter.com/heidi_cuda/status/1202274720600608768
You can follow @Heidi_Cuda.
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