As IF Times

Source: Mueller Disputes BuzzFeed News Report Claiming Trump Directed Michael Cohen Testimony | ValuBitNews

Over the past decade, the subtleties of media bias have been brusquely pushed aside by much more aggressive story lines.  Whereas in the past, editorial spin would be used to characterize a set of events in a certain light, these little fibs have given way to blatant full blown whoppers.  Rest assured, the media still plays the Orwellian word game.  For example, there was the recent violent home invasion in New York  that was perpetrated  by an unwanted house visitor .  We do know that the perpetrator was introduced to an unwanted bullet in his body and  consequently suffered an unwanted death, thereby saving the community the cost of prosecution and incarceration.  I’m surprised he wasn’t characterized as considerate.

But that’s all man bites dog stuff compared to the bonanza of fake news emanating from the activities of anything Trump. Ever since his improbable bursting on to the political scene a few short years ago, there has been a geyser of fake news from every quarter of the media sewer.  It’s as if Donald Trump became the straw doll that they use in psychology offices to indicate where a client had been victimized.  His appearance has revealed the massive hold that mental illness has on a large part of the population.  Even here in Canada, where we have our own comic book character of a Prime Minister, the media outlets are practically giddy when any sniff of Trump’s troubles percolates from south of the border.

While some news outlets vainly try to maintain some credibility, most have clearly given up and are essentially spreaders of gossip and innuendo.  CNN is now the enfant terrible of the media purveyors but others are not far behind.  The particular outlet in the news recently, Buzzfeed, is basically scribbling obscenities on bathroom walls at bus stations; they are essentially media graffiti. They used to make fun of the National Enquirer; but at the Enquirer, stories are at least fact checked.  If they say Nancy Pelosi is a Martian, you can take that to the bank.  Buzzfeed alleges that Trump had directed his disgraced lawyer, Michael Cohen, to lie to Congress.  The frenzy that surrounded that little morsel was like rabid dogs fighting over a discarded piece of hamburger.  The media hadn’t been this giddy since the revelations of Trump peeing in a Russian hotel room: also fake and also by coincidence, reported by Buzzfeed.

Most don’t know that Buzzfeed is owned by NBC, so it’s a clever way to issue fake news without incriminating themselves.  This would be like the Ford Modelling agency also owning an escort business on the side. Some smart lawyer will have to figure out whether there’s any culpability on the part of the parent company and so at least the lawyers win again.  The first amendment is always cited as protection for the dissemination of  scurrilous information, but someone  will figure out that libel and slander laws are also in play….not to mention sedition.

The real tragedy of this comedy is that there is still a market for this stuff.  There remains a  large constituency of the population waiting for the latest hint of the President’s demise like mental patients waiting for their evening medication.  It’s a sad commentary because they don’t realize that if Trump fails, so does the nation.

Source: Winner of CNNs Journalist of the Year Award Admits He Faked Stories

A story like this should be on the front pages of all of the news outlets worldwide.  Instead, it has been tucked away in the back pages among announcements of black Friday sales.  To some, it may not rise to the level of the fraud of  Lance Armstrong winning races with the aid of equine medication, or labelling regular yogurt as non fat.

But in fact, it’s much worse.  For some reason, journalists residually have the respect of many people because of their notional role of reporting the truth.   These days, that notion is as quaint as separately gendered washrooms. The precipitous decline of respect for those in the ‘journalism’ racket has been like the action of the Dow Jones this December.  For almost a decade on this site, we’ve pointed out some of the fanciful stories that circulate in the news sphere attempting to be passed off as truth.  The Global Warming charade still has legs even as more and more objective scientists have backed away from the very premise and the associated predictions.

But you can get away with propagating untruths if the claims are vague and difficult to disprove, much like the tenets of religions.  Now however, they are so bold as to try casting doubt on immutable facts.  For instance the very basic notion that males and females are biologically determined is countered by the premise that gender is in fact individually determined in our heads.  Apparently, we’ve gotten it wrong since Eve said to Adam, “Hey take a bit of this.”  Intelligent, sane people past the age of 10 can readily scoff at the idea of feelings based gender identity, but those impressionable children under the age of 10 are susceptible to believe the looney tripe if they are thus told by their teachers.

Taking this same dynamic to the adult world, if ‘respectable’ news sources repeatedly push a narrative upon people, those who don’t make the effort to critically assess the narrative are drawn into the circle of delusion.  It’s the modern equivalent of the phenomeon of the 1960’s where if it was on TV, it must be true.  Perhaps people were more easily fooled then because of the lack of alternate sources of information. Such is not the case today of course.  Intelligent people can access many different sources to corroborate what they observe with their own lyin’ eyes.  It will be clear if someone is an unhinged idiot.  Fill in the name of MSNBC personality here.

Over the past 2 years, the most conspicuous target of fake news is anything and everything to do with Donald Trump.  It’s as if a massive virus of delusion infected the majority of those in the media business. From the amount of sprinkles on his dessert to frolicking with Russian hookers, no aspect of Trump’s life was too picayune for fake and snarky reporting.  Very highly respected reporter Sharyl Atkinson, herself the target of spying from the Obama administration, even compiled a list of Trump fake news in the Trump era.

The fact that this ‘celebrated’ journalist, Claas Relotius, has admitted fabricating stories for years should be a huge wake up call for the naïve masses.  After all, if this celebrated guy is spinning stuff out of whole cloth, what about the other run of the mill reporters, journalists and pundits?  Naturally the outlet that awarded Claas Relotius the distinguished honor, CNN, is itself the font of the fake news business, so it barely budges the needle on the shock meter for informed people.   Unfortunately, the influence of fake news percolates into public policy as politicians milk public sentiment.  So even if you were aware of the truth behind absurd policies, you’d still be subject to the insanity of them.

There will always be Al Gore types that will run with fake narratives to enrich themselves.  There will be wars that don’t need to be fought, enemies that aren’t real and truths that are buried.  Fake news is not just harmless story telling.  Fake news is a profitable business and we are all its unwitting  customers.