NEWS AND OPINION:
One longtime talk-radio maven has become openly vexed at his media peers for upping the often manipulative and calculated “noise’ in their news coverage to gain public attention and ratings.
So says Michael Harrison, founder of Talkers Magazine, an industry publication that tracks both trends and ratings in talk radio as well as “talk media” such as podcasts.
“We live in an increasingly noisy world. The accelerating advancement of media technology, with its accompanying ‘everybody is a star’ syndrome, combine to make it increasingly difficult to get attention. By that, I mean real attention – the kind of attention that those in the professional media (and related) industries describe as ‘traction.’ Public conversation, as conducted in today’s media, has fallen victim to the noisy cocktail party syndrome,” Mr. Harrison wrote in an editorial featured in the aforementioned publication, which is published online and in print.
“Have you noticed how headlines – even when used by the editors of generally reliable platforms – have taken hyperbole to new lows of dishonest clickbait in order to get attention? Beware of two such words that are being spewed through today’s media to cut through the noise only to create even more noise in the process. In the world of science, it’s ‘terrifying.’ In the world of politics, it’s a ‘bombshell.’ These ratty words have infested our media sewers and should be avoided unless actually used in an honest and accurate manner,” Mr. Harrison said.
THE GRAHAM PRESS
A South Carolina Republican gave the press a little something to do Sunday.
Sen. Lindsey Graham revealed he was not interested in impeaching President Biden at the moment and instead preferred to help the president “bring the Mideast to a better spot.” He made the remark during an appearance on NBC’s “Meet the Press.”
Yes, well. Here are a few headlines that quickly emerged in the aftermath:
“Full Lindsey Graham: ‘I’ve never been more worried about a 9/11 than I am right now’” (NBC News); “Graham says Biden impeachment inquiry narrative ‘falling apart’” (The Hill); “Graham says he’s ‘not worried’ about impeaching Biden” (Axios); “Lindsey Graham is suddenly bored of Biden impeachment probe” (The Daily Beast); and “Border policy deal won’t come together this year, Graham says” (CNN).
A ‘CATASTROPHE’
The situation grows more dramatic on the southern U.S. border as illegal immigrants continue to arrive — and arrive and arrive.
A Texas Republican is taking a stand, though. Sen. John Cornyn has summarized what Republicans intend to do about the escalating crisis.
“I live and work in Texas and obviously, we’ve borne the brunt of the Biden open border policies for years now, and the governor and legislature have done everything they can, using the tools they have, to do something about it,” Mr. Cornyn told Fox News anchor Shannon Bream on Sunday.
“We want to stop the flow of humanity coming across the border, the drugs, and the fact that 300,000 children have been placed with sponsors in the United States, and the Biden administration has lost track of them. This is a catastrophe, and it’s a result of the Biden open border policies. We’re going to use this opportunity to change that,” Mr. Cornyn said.
“The president has failed to faithfully execute the laws as required of him by the Constitution. And we intend to use every tool in the toolbox to try to make him do his job,” he promised.
WHAT’S BEEN DONE
Let’s also recall that Texas Gov. Greg Abbott and the Texas Department of Public Safety launched “Operation Lone Star” on March 6, 2021. The push to counter illegal immigration and drug trafficking on the state’s border with Mexico brought in the Texas National Guard — along with the deployment of “air, ground, marine, and tactical border security assets” in high-threat areas.
“Since the launch of Operation Lone Star, the multi-agency effort has led to over 488,500 illegal immigrant apprehensions and more than 37,500 criminal arrests, with more than 34,100 felony charges reported. In the fight against the fentanyl crisis, Texas law enforcement has seized over 450 million lethal doses of fentanyl during this border mission,” Mr. Abbott’s office said in a press release Friday.
“Operation Lone Star continues to fill the dangerous gaps created by the Biden Administration’s refusal to secure the border. Every individual who is apprehended or arrested and every ounce of drugs seized would have otherwise made their way into communities across Texas and the nation due to President Joe Biden’s open border policies,” the release said.
The state has also bused a total of 80,400 migrants to Los Angeles, Denver, Philadelphia, Chicago, New York City and Washington, D.C. since April 2022, according to the release.
SCIENCE CORNER
Well, here’s some food for thought.
“U.S. adults eat a meal’s worth of calories of snacks in a day,” notes a new study from Ohio State University.
“Snacks constitute almost a quarter of a day’s calories in U.S. adults and account for about one-third of daily added sugar. Researchers analyzing data from surveys of over 20,000 people found that Americans averaged about 400 to 500 calories in snacks a day — often more than what they consumed at breakfast — that offered little nutritional value,” said the study, which was released Friday.
“Snacks are contributing a meal’s worth of intake to what we eat without it actually being a meal,” senior study author Christopher Taylor, professor of medical dietetics in the School of Health and Rehabilitation Sciences at Ohio State, said in a written statement.
POLL DU JOUR
• 35% of registered U.S. voters say the economy is the most important issue facing the country.
• 19% cite immigration and border security.
• 10% cite gun-rights issues.
• 8% cite voting rights and election integrity.
• 7% cite climate change, 6% health care.
• 6% cite abortion, 5% crime.
• 3% cite foreign policy.
• 1% cite some other issue, 1% don’t know what is the most important issue.
SOURCE: A Fox News poll of 1,007 registered U.S. voters conducted Dec. 10-13.
• Follow Jennifer Harper on Twitter @HarperBulletin.
• Jennifer Harper can be reached at jharper@washingtontimes.com.