Indeed, it is a strange-disposed time

For the past couple of days there's been a storm in a tea cup around the willful propagation of a known lie by the mainstream media.

In a press conference or rally, Trump made a statement to the effect that the MSM's reporting on the administration's handling of the COVID-19 outbreak was a hoax, the latest in a long line of media hoaxes ranging from Russia Collusion to the Ukraine phone call. Multiple videos of the event are available. Transcripts of Trump's comments are available.

This wasn't an issue of misunderstanding confused statements. The comments speak for themselves. All you have to do is watch a video of the conference. But . . . if you carefully edit the video or omit segments of the speech you can make almost any string of words say what you want them to say. Ann Althouse took this apart yesterday in The deceptiveness of Politico's claim that Trump called the coronavirus "a hoax."

Had it been a single news outlet, it would be unremarkable. But the memo had gone out and all the MSM rallied with similar headlines, effectively communicating "Trump called the virus a hoax!" If that sounds too manipulative a summary, then a straight quote might do.

Remember this moment: Trump, in South Carolina, just called the coronavirus a "hoax."

— Dana Milbank (@Milbank) February 29, 2020

Ironically, Milbank's self-written Twitter description is

Syndicated columnist with @washingtonpost and purveyor of fake news.

Its all getting too meta. The MSM is purveying a hoax about a hoax. MSM stalwarts are embracing the accusation of fake news - while purveying transparently fake news.

But the beast is true to its nature, an observation which really doesn't need hammering home. I think we have all become pretty jaded.

The outrage this morning is altogether different. It is a mean portent of virtually no consequence. And yet. . . Shakespeare's dialog from Julius Caesar springs to mind.

CASCA
When these prodigies
Do so conjointly meet, let not men say
'These are their reasons; they are natural;'
For, I believe, they are portentous things
Unto the climate that they point upon.

CICERO

Indeed, it is a strange-disposed time:
But men may construe things after their fashion,
Clean from the purpose of the things themselves.

What is the small grain of sand which scratches at my mind? The New York Times report of the results of South Carolina's primary. The opening paragraph.

COLUMBIA, S.C. — Joseph R. Biden Jr. scored a decisive victory in the South Carolina primary on Saturday, reviving his listing campaign and establishing himself as the leading contender to slow Senator Bernie Sanders as the turbulent Democratic race turns to a slew of coast-to-coast contests on Tuesday.

Written by Jonathan Martin and Alexander Burns. And apparently edited by no one.

"Reviving his listing campaign"? These are journalists. Conjurers of words. Nominally reputable ones. Reporting on one of the more important events of the long, drawn-out campaign. In the first sentence of the lead paragraph!

And still uncorrected after more than seven hours.

This is fundamental English comprehension, not esoteric sentence diagraming. If you can't use a metaphor accurately, don't use it at all. Best to be thought a fool than to speak and prove it and all that.

You right a listing ship or you revive a flagging campaign. You do not revive a listing ship.

How many people read this sentence before it went to press?

It is a strange disposed time. Of course I am, to use another metaphor, making a mountain out of a molehill. People do make mistakes all the time. We are fallible.

But these are two seasoned reporters in mid-career, writing in a leading (though flagging) news outlet, making an obvious mistake in the opening sentence of a major news story.

It is nothing and yet seemingly portentous. It is as if reporters are on auto-pilot and material goes straight from rough draft on a laptop into the internet edition. Corners are cut, quality is falling. Does it mean anything?

We'll see.