🧩 BND Motif Index · M236
Blame the messenger
Instead of answering bad news, a leader attacks the outlet that reported it.
- 3claims filed under it
- 1left show it came up on
- 1center show it came up on
- 2right shows it came up on
- 1claim retold online
⚠️ A story people tell, not a claim that it's true.
A motif is the shape of a story as its tellers tell it, named the way a folklorist names a tale type, so the same story told about other people, by the other side or in another year lands in the same place. Some of the claims below are true, many are false. Arguing against a story is often a story of its own, its answer (Voter fraud is answered by Voter suppression, Lawfare by No one is above the law), and we file it there; where no answer has a motif yet, the arguments against a story sit with its tellings.
🪜 Its family
what it rests on, what rests on it, and the motifs that answer it
🪜 rests on 🧩 Passing the buck
🔗 goes with: 🧩 Blame game 🧩 Blame the victim 🧩 Fake news 🧩 Political retaliation 🧩 The buck stops here
🎙️ Who it came up with
the shows we follow where its claims came up, by the show's lean
🫏 left 1
⚖️ center 1
"Came up on" means one of its claims was heard on the show: told, reported or argued against. We don't yet mark which. Show leans are our own grouping of the shows we transcribe.
🧶 Its claims
what's been told in this shape, newest first, in our words, with where each was heard
- 2026-10-22 “Reform UK reported ITV to the police following an undercover exposé revealing racist and sexist views among party members.” 🧶 people online
- 2026-10-08 “The media is misrepresenting Trump's comments regarding Iran and American cities.”
🎙️ Louder with Crowder 🎙️ Clay Travis & Buck Sexton - 2026-10-05 “The Financial Times is an anti-American and anti-business publication.”
🎙️ Breaking Points 🎙️ The MeidasTouch Podcast
M236 · first seen 2026-10-05 · last 2026-10-10 · what this is · how the index works