Here we are again dear readers, back in the trenches of the murky world of tactics and the ideology used by the media, both mainstream and independent alike. Today, in honor of this being Wrestlemania weekend and because I’m a geek like that, we have our own triple threat main event lined up for you. We’re going to be covering a situation that is a few weeks old at this point, yet is ongoing. I’m talking about the viral video filmed by way of a hidden camera that made it’s rounds on Youtube that revealed how falsified the aired product of Comedy Central’s “The Jim Jefferies Show” can be.
As stated this will be a 2 part piece with the first part focusing on the initial event that exposed the rather underhanded tactics of the mainstream media show on Comedy Central. I DO feel that this is an important thing to make known as far and wide as possible. That said I spent the weeks following looking into Avi Yemini’s own channel and kept an eye out to see just how he would use his new found, widespread attention. Needless to say I found similarities in the tactics he used, and while they are more overt than chopping up an interview in editing and choosing in order to create a narrative, they are just as manipulative. Part 2 will see me focusing on that end of the situation.
So without further adieu let the opening bell ring.
On Friday March 15th a mosque in New Zealand became the target of a terrorist shooting attack that left a reported 50 people dead and another 50 people injured. As with many such occurrences news of the tragedy spread like wild fire over both mainstream and social media, with some independent media sources in the form of blogs like this and Youtube channels covering the spectacle and many of the arbitrary occurrences that happened in it’s wake…..Whose heard of the Eggboy encounter?
Our story picks up 5 days later when Comedy Central aired an episode of “The Jim Jefferies Show” to deliver it’s own take on the atmosphere surrounding the tragedy and what led to it. Within hours of the segment being uploaded to Youtube, Avi Yemini, the person who was interviewed in that segment uploaded his own response to it in the form of a clip of the interview in progress, taken from a hidden camera. As you will see this clip not only showed that in the process of being edited for television, answers to questions were taken out of context and placed as the answers to other questions, it also showed the host Jim Jefferies in an effort to evoke a reaction or simply to make someone he viewed as a racist to feel more comfortable and let their guard down make some rather disturbing comments and gestures of his own towards people of the Muslim faith. Below are the links to both the original aired segment and the hidden camera exposure video for you to make your own judgement on.
Jim Visits Australia’s Massive Anti-Migration Fence – The Jim Jefferies Show
Hidden Camera: Jim Jefferies EXPOSED
Now you have been given the means to view both and form your own opinion of the state of the mainstream media in modern times. I on the other hand will be holding my view on the entirety of the situation in reserve until after part 2 of this series where I fully intend to let both sides have it from the view point of The Unspoken Ethic. However just focusing on the Mainstream media in this segment I will say this: In the weeks since this event when another high profile news story unveiled the end result of the Mueller Investigation into the U.S. President and those individuals surrounding him in connection to collusion with Russians to effect the outcome of the 2016 presidential election…I witnessed a professional journalist cry on air as they had had to report the findings. When someone has that much emotion invested in the story told rather than the objective process of journalism, it paints a picture, one that to me says they did not get the results they were hoping for. When the primary source of informing the people becomes about what someone wants the people to hear, rather than telling them the facts as they stand, that source loses it’s integrity and the trust of the people when the outcome proves very different than expected. We have seen what results from this in the form of double digit drops in overall viewership percentage after the story broke for CNN, and a dip for MSNBC ratings as well. Below is a direct link to Part 2 of this series.
Media Tactics, The Unspoken Ethic v Mainstream Media v Independent Media Part 2: Avi Yemini