Why the Mainstream Media Is Responsible for Fake News
Liberal elites are running out of excuses for why Hillary Clinton lost.
They have now gotten around to blaming an upsurge of “fake news” sites and headlines. To hear them tell it, we are now living in a “post-truth” age of politics. Surely, this is not Hillary’s fault. And surely the liberal media itself cannot be blamed for being desperately out of touch with the country it so badly seeks to control.
The fake news defense is particularly exasperating. There is nothing new, or specific to this election, in terms of dramatized click-bait or untrustworthy publications. And there is no credible evidence that one party benefits from it more than the other. But perhaps we are asking the wrong question. Perhaps we should wonder not what effect these sites have had on the election — likely minimal when compared with countless other factors — but rather why so many people believe, or continue to visit, these fake news sites. Why are they working?
In the barrage of WikiLeaks’ Clinton campaign emails, Americans saw yet additional examples of what they have long suspected: The mainstream media itself is a fake.
For years, our major news outlets have tried hard to maintain the facade of objectivity. It is, of course, easier for them to look disinterested and nonpartisan when it costs their party very little. But when tensions rise and ideological victories are on the line — as in, say, election season —the veneer of honest journalism comes tumbling down. And in its place comes the corruption of ethics, collusion with political players, and unsubtle agenda peddling.
People so long ago caught on to this dynamic that it is hardly a wonder how markets for alternative journalism sprung up across the net. In many ways, this explains the demand for conservative media emissaries — not to alter, misreport or even tint the news; simply to tell the other side of the story, the only viewpoint people are being systematically denied. There would be no need, and indeed no demand, for Conservative Review or CRTV if the media did not leave such a monumental gap in its coverage of American life. An astonishing portion of this country — and the way that portion thinks about and experiences the world — is simply disregarded in the ivory tower broadcast stations and newsrooms of the elite.
But when liberals now lament the rise of fake news, they unknowingly lament their own partisan allegiance. Do they not see that people have stopped distinguishing between mainstream integrity and the integrity of that which they find on their Facebook feed?
Take a look at your standard Buzzfeed, Times or network website headlines. Then click and read the article, and the source material on which it was based. Did the headline give you any true sense of the reality your own investigation revealed?
Here is the Washington Post roster of “news” as of 4 p.m. ET on November 18:
Sessions is known for his hard line views on immigration
CIA pick fiercely partisan on national security
Trump’s national security adviser has said incendiary things online
Flynn – “Make up makes women look more attractive”
Put simply: No one believes it anymore. Just like with obscure internet sources, reading these headlines induces the same automatic eye-roll at the blatant hyperbole and lack of context. Hypersensitivity and liberal orthodoxy have been so factored in to the American psyche that people simply assume (correctly!) that the real story is not as stark, troubling, or evil.
The media of our time has gone way beyond the sensationalism of yore. It is not merely a matter of accounting for embellishment anymore; we also add to every header the salt-grain of progressive outrage.
It seems unlikely that our journalistic betters are going to come to any sort of self-awareness on this score, especially if they haven’t yet, in the face of a national referendum on their “fact-based” coverage. But while broad change is unlikely, you can see whispers of the truth starting to creep into the media discussion.
On some level, the elite pundits know that even when they do their absolute best to elect the most well-funded candidate in history, they are no match for a people disgusted by the centers of power in this country, the press high among them.
Perhaps that knowledge belies some of the recent demands upon Google and Facebook to “do something” about these alt-news sources. It is not difficult to see where this may be headed. If history is any indication, liberals will have a slew of helpful prescriptions for how organizations can help us weed out sites we ought not be seeing! How the powers that be really ought to start labeling information that should not be confused with the real “official” news. Wouldn’t this process be just the thing to help elites succeed where they have too recently failed: in silencing opposing views.
The media industrial complex created the conditions for a revolution. Now that the revolution has arrived, they would like you to believe that fake news is responsible.
They have arrived at a truth greater than they realize. (For more from the author of “Why the Mainstream Media Is Responsible for Fake News” please click HERE)
Follow Joe Miller on Twitter HERE and Facebook HERE.
