Here’s why you should not care one whit about President Krusty’s “Fake News Awards.” And why you should care very, very much.

by Therese Odell, posted in Uncategorized

As promised, President Cheeseburger announced the Fake News Award winners last night via the GOP site, which promptly crashed. This is as apt a metaphor as I’ve ever seen.

CNN took home the most awards with four, but Paul Krugman took the first place prize for an editorial — AN EDITORIAL — that suggested that Trump’s presidency would be a catastrophe for the economy. It should be noted that many of the 11 stories that “won” were stories that the network or media outlet promptly and publicly corrected. You know, like responsible media outlets do. However, the final award went to simply the concept of “Russian collusion.” So I guess we’ll just have to wait and see what Mueller has to say about that.

This was obviously a media stunt intended for two purposes: to make outlets like CNN and The New York Times to report on their own mistakes and to remind the Trump supporters that they can’t trust the mainstream media. As such, I hesitate to give it any oxygen at all. But it is newsworthy when the President attacks any media outlet, even more so when he creates a PR event to malign the entire Fourth Estate.

This is authoritarian behavior that, as John McCain points out in this Washington Post editorial, emboldens foreign leaders who want to crack down on democracy as a whole, and puts journalists’ lives in danger. McCain’s fellow Arizona senator, Jeff Flake, compared Trump to Stalin in an impassioned speech on the Senate floor, worrying that democracy cannot withstand these constant assaults on the First Amendment. Both of the senators’ statements were deliberately timed to blunt Trump’s stupid “Fake News Awards”; let’s hope they served as sufficient counterbalance for those out there who fail to fully appreciate the danger that Trump represents.

Because while I don’t believe that Trump is going to declare himself President for Life (although, the way this GOP has behaved in the past year, I doubt they’d do fuck all if he did), with these stunts he is inflicting damage — possibly lasting damage — on one of the only institutions that has power to hold him or any politician accountable. Long after President Liar is gone, Americans’ trust in reportable truth will be a crucial necessity for our democracy to function properly. And the problem is that Trump doesn’t give two shits about the future of this country; he is — AS HE HAS ALWAYS DONE HIS ENTIRE LIFE — only looking out for Donald Trump. If the free press gets in his way by reporting on his astonishingly awful racist sexist nativist behavior, he’ll just burn it all down, democracy and America be damned.

I know it’s hard in this constant onslaught of bullshit that we have dealt with in the past year to not grow numb to all of this. Fuck, just this week we’ve had to worry about shitholes and Hawaii coming under a fake missile attack and the god damned wall and Trump lying about his health and Dreamers being torn from their families and a government shut down and Steve Bannon maybe obstructing justice on the White House’s orders and the NRA also colluding with Russians to get Trump elected and porn stars and hush money. I get it: we can only care about so much and a P.R. stunt ginned up by a circus clown doesn’t deserve even a sliver of our attention. And in fact, I believe we should ignore President Troll’s “winners,” and not give them the slightest bit of consideration. But I beg you, don’t ignore or grow numb to what this latest attack on the First Amendment symbolizes as a whole. The future of our country depends on our continued outrage.

In Other TV News

Katie Couric will be co-hosting the Winter Olympics Opening Ceremonies and promises that NBC won’t shy away from covering any political protests that might take place.

This is a piece about how the emergencies on 9-1-1 are actually pretty realistic, but my takeaway is that every. single. one. of Ryan Murphy’s ideas come from something in his own life:

My son Ford was 11 months old and in the middle of the night stopped breathing. We called 9-1-1, and obviously we were in a panic and doing CPR, and they showed up, and at two in the morning there were four responders. They were incredibly calm and nurturing, and they brought him back to life.

Of course this show came into being because Ryan Murphy had to call 9-1-1 this one time. Obviously, it did.

ALERT! Kit Harington is in Belfast! Get excited! Or not.

The Situation has pled guilty to a situation.

Wayward Sisters is the series we needed now.

The #MeToo Report

Dylan Farrow opened up in explicit detail about what she claims Woody Allen did to her as a child. And you can choose to believe her or you can choose to believe the guy who married his step-daughter and has made COUNTLESS films about young beautiful women falling for much older men. She also is calling out all you actors who continue to work with him for being complicit and creating a “culture of silence.” Kate Winslet. Justin Timberlake.

Rachel Brosnahan, for one, regrets working with him. Alright, great, back it up.

According to this Vanity Fair report, Harvey Weinstein began spying on ex-employees and deleting files when he discovered he was about to be exposed by the media for being a sex monster. What a guy.

The UK cops are investigating yet another sexual assault allegation against Kevin Spacey.

This Ashleigh Banfield/ Babe.com feud about Aziz Ansari is becoming ridiculous. HEY, LADIES: FOCUS ON THE REAL ENEMY HERE, THE PATRIARCHY.

GOD DAMMIT, BRIGITTE BARDOT, SHUT IT.

Renewals

Cancellations

In Development

Casting News

Mark Your Calendars

R.I.P.

Peter Wyngarde, Actor

WATCH THIS

Supernatural: It’s the pilot for Wayward Sisters! 7 p.m., The CW

Portlandia: The dream of the 90s is alive — for just one more season. Season premiere. 9 p.m., IFC

How to Get Away with Murder: Annnnd … we’re back. 9 p.m., ABC

Late Night: Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon: Jessica Chastain, Ricky Martin, Franz Ferdinand
Late Night with Seth Meyers: Catherine Zeta-Jones, Carrie Brownstein, Glen Hansard, John Stanier The Late Show with Stephen Colbert: Sharon Stone, Rob Riggle, Fall Out Boy The Late Late Show with James Corden: Michael Pena, O’Shea Jackson Jr. Jimmy Kimmel Live: Adam Levine, Jason Jones, Maroon 5 Conan: Gerard Butler, Selma Blair, Grizzly Bear The Daily Show: Ricky Gervais The Opposition with Jordan Klepper: David Cay Johnston Watch What Happens Live: Jane Fonda, Lily Tomlin

 

THURS 7:00 7:30 8:00 8:30 9:00 9:30
ABC Grey’s Anatomy
(new)		 Scandal
(new)		 How to Get Away With Murder
(new)
CBS The Big Bang Theory
(new)		 Young Sheldon
(new)		 Mom
(new)		 Life in Pieces
(new)		 S.W.A.T.
(new)
CW Supernatural
(new)		 Arrow
(new)		 News/Local
FOX The Four
(new)		 News/Loca
NBC Superstore
(new)		 The Good Place
(new)		 Will & Grace
(new)		 Great News
(new)		 Chicago Fire
(new)

2 thoughts on “Here’s why you should not care one whit about President Krusty’s “Fake News Awards.” And why you should care very, very much.”

  1. “CNN took home the most awards …” After lobbying so hard, Colbert, Bee, and Noah were shut out. Sad!

    “… I don’t believe that Trump is going to declare himself President for Life …” On election day 2020, as the votes come in and Trump is losing badly, he will announce that someone obviously meddled with the election, the results cannot be trusted, and he must – MUST – remain in office for the foreseeable future. Y’know, to “preserve our democracy.” ‘Cause he cares.

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  2. I have no time or patience for Jeff Flake. He’s talks a big game and then votes with Trump 90% of the time. As seen on Twitter: “The reason Jeff Flake doesn’t like Trump has nothing to do with policy and everything to do with the fact that Trump says the quiet part loud.”

    Reply

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