It’s Whiskey Tony with Friday Dokoupil, and where is Whiskey Tony? He’s reporting on Trump’s trip to Beijing live from Taiwan, which is a China I guess, though not really the China in question. In Status Oliver Darcy reported that the bumbling simpleton in charge of CBS News, Bari Weiss, did a visa whoopsie and forgot to get permission for Friday Tony to go to Beijing. Weiss was apparently also unable to foresee how much more embarrassing it would be to report from a Taipei hotel room then just to stay in New York.
Aside from that, though, the trip is going very badly. On Wednesday Dokoupil’s remote feed abruptly cut off as a cameraman had a medical emergency and on Thursday the broadcast illustrated a story about inflation forcing “middle class Americans to make tough choices” with stock footage of a Thai grocery receipt. More importantly, as Oliver Darcy also reported:
According to people familiar with the matter, the hotel from which Dokoupil had initially been broadcasting was far from pleased with the network using its grounds to anchor the newscast…
As a result, CBS News on Thursday was forced to scramble to secure a new location for Dokoupil to broadcast from, ultimately deciding on Liberty Square. Put another way, not only was Dokoupil unable to broadcast from Beijing during Trump’s trip, but he was also booted from his backup location—a logistical fiasco compounded by another mortifying logistical fiasco.
Last night’s live hit was so bad that Stephen Colbert simply ran it on The Late Show without further comment. Tabs sources report that Bari Weiss, determined to avoid a repeat of this disaster, is already nailing down broadcast space in British Columbia, in case Trump travels to London or Cartagena.
Where are the people who know how to make a podcast? Not at the Washington Post anymore, as proven by Post Opinion’s almost scientifically off-putting new grievance podcast “Make it Make Sense,” which consistently fails to attract any Youtube views and is struggling to crack a three digit follower count on Bluesky. Let’s go back to Status, who had a bunch of great posts this week, where Natalie Korach reported that despite recently axing virtually all of its video production staff, the newspaper installed:
…a newly renovated opinion studio outfitted with fresh couches, extensive new video equipment, a bar setup, and the kind of natural wood-paneled backdrop increasingly favored by podcasters and creators…
The video gear alone cost the paper $80,000, according to a person familiar with the matter…
Defector’s Tom Ley named the new studio “The Saddest Place In America,“ calling special attention to the work of “hamburger dipshit” James Hohmann, who once asked Megan Greenwell if he could expense boat shoes. The studio investment is also being put to use pumping out trash like “we have Olivia Reingold at home” Carine Hajjar explaining who’s responsible for California’s budget overruns:
That’s right: it’s greedy babies. Hajjar was extruded from Harvard five years ago and underwent a rigorous empathy removal procedure at the National Review before joining the Post’s editorial board where she helps opine on issues of urgent concern to Washington D.C. residents like European tax policy, how handsome and important billionaires are, and New York City tax policy. Sure, billionaires destroyed American news media on purpose, but at least now we get to watch a bunch of dumb assholes humiliate themselves every day. It’s not a trade I’d have taken willingly, but it’s what we have.
Where is New York Magazine feature writer Ross Barkan, who ganked Drew Harwell’s reporting for the lede of a piece on Ben Shapiro yesterday? Barkan’s story was updated to quote Harwell instead of… not quoting him, but no explanation has emerged from New York Magazine or Barkan on how this happened to begin with. Everybody blames A.I. for every mistake now, and honestly that’s very funny so let’s blame A.I.
Where is Caroline Calloway?
Please forward any further information about Caroline Calloway’s odeur to [email protected]. That’s probably a real email address.
Where is Max Read’s Read Max? At Patreon now, he explained in a long and self-consciously “transparent” post that didn’t manage to find space to reveal how much Patreon paid him to switch. Where is everyone who used to have a job in Hollywood? Training A.I. now according to Ruth Fowler in Wired. Where are the men of San Francisco? Talking to Claude, according to Alessandra Ram and the other “Sad Wives of A.I.,” also in Wired. Where is New Jersey Republican Congressman Tom Kean Jr.? No one will say, but “there’s no cameras where Tom is,” apparently. Classic puzzle box situation if you ask me. Where are all the poop pictures you uploaded to the PoopCheck app? For sale to anyone who wants them, reports Jason Koebler in 404. And where are all of us on the internet? In the cuck chair, according to Aidan Walker’s Cuck Internet Theory:
That’s where everybody is. I will be in New York next week for the ASME awards, where I will try to ascertain who else in media has a distinct odeur, but where I cannot possibly be expected to also write one (1) email so don’t look for me baby.
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