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Alexander's
Column
Mainstream
Media 'Fake News'
The
MSM conglomerates are now the most prolific and insidious "fake news"
propagators in the marketplace of ideas.
By
Mark Alexander · November 30, 2016 
The mainstream media's opinion-shaping conglomerates are desperately
searching for "plausible explanations" to account for the Trump phenomenon.
Indeed, these hapless scribes completely ignored the
groundswell of grassroots support nationwide that led to Donald Trump's victory over
their shoe-in favorite, Hillary Clinton, and her crime family syndicate.
Clearly, the mainstream media (MSM) missed it because they are a collective
of inbred print and cable media echo chambers that exist in a few major urban
centers such as New York, Washington and Los Angeles. This collective has little
interest — much less contact — with those deplorable grassroots folks
from flyover country.
The MSM's latest effort to explain Trump's victory is that his
knuckle-dragging supporters were virally circulating "fake news" stories about
Clinton. The MSM claims these stories were generated on fake websites by minions
of Trump's BFF, Vlady Putin. Yes, apparently another example of how the Russians
"rigged the election" for Trump after Clinton's Russian reset button failed and
her secret communications
subterfuge as secretary of state was exposed.
Last week, the Washington Post led with a claim that Russian
fake news websites enabled "an insurgent candidate ... to claim the White
House." As the WaPo's "investigative journalists" opined, "The sophistication of
the Russian tactics may complicate efforts by Facebook and Google to crack down
on 'fake news,' as they have vowed to do after widespread complaints about the
problem."
"Efforts by Facebook and Google" to do what?
That's right, millions of Americans turn to their Facebook news feeds for
information. Thus, the MSM is lobbying CEO Mark Zuckerberg to modify the
software his company produced for the Red Chinese, enabling them to censor
content before it reaches their people, and apply that software to the
American Facebook and Google market, ostensibly, to stop fake news.
Caveat emptor!
Now, for the record, our editors don't pull news from untested foreign
sources, and our American sources are highly reputable. Long before sunrise each
day, The Patriot Post's editors review hundreds of news and policy
reports in order to select the few important trending stories from the endless
loop of MSM noise — so that YOU don't have to. And we have fact-checking
redundancies for our news, policy and opinion pages, because even the most
reliable sources are wrong on occasion.
Accuracy has always been the first standard for our content.
Indeed, 10 years ago at the annual American Conservative Union gathering in
Washington, our staff received the Accuracy in Media award for
outstanding Grassroots Journalism. We received that award in part for having
coined the term "leftmedia" to describe the MSM's "dezinformatsia" alliance with
statist leftists as their de
facto public information office. And in every edition we strive to shine the
bright light of Truth on that corrupt alliance.
We also defined the "pollaganda effect" to describe
how the MSM uses media polling as propaganda, to dictate public opinion rather
than discern it — particularly in election cycles like that of 2016. Most media
polls are outcome-based, which is to say designed for a subjective outcome,
which is then promoted as an allegedly objective outcome in order to propagate
and expand the subjective goal — promoting a leftist viewpoint or candidate.
How ironic it is that media outlets claim they refrain from exit polling on
Election Day, ostensibly to ensure that they don't influence those who've not
yet voted and, thus, the election outcome. However, they promote their
outcome-based polling incessantly up until the last minute before Election Day,
and they do so precisely to influence the voters and, thus, the election
outcome. Of course with advanced absentee voting at almost
40% in 2016, the pollaganda effect is more pervasive than ever.
Of course, we've also continuously exposed the dangers of entertainment as political
indoctrination — again, an area where lacking a functional filter of
discernment results in a liberal lemming effect.
From day one, our editors' steadfast focus on Liberty has accounted
for the success and growth of our highly acclaimed
publication, now in its 20th year online — longer than
any other news, policy and opinion digest.
Conversely, over the last 20 years the powerful MSM news conglomerates have
steadily declined. Notwithstanding their recent "fake news" fakery, the reason
for that decline is the MSM outlets are now the most prolific and insidious
"fake news" propagators in the marketplace of ideas. Increasingly, the MSM's
audience is wising up, and turning to the most powerful First Amendment forum
since that very amendment's ratification — the Internet.
The once venerable Washington Post now has a subscription circulation under
500,000 — more than The Patriot Post's subscription circulation, but
fewer than the 518,000 people who follow our news, policy and opinion on our Facebook page.
Writing on the First Amendment, Thomas Jefferson noted, "Where the press is
free and every man able to read, all is safe."
But the MSM does not exemplify a "free press" today. It is predominantly
enslaved by the prevailing leftist winds, and its pages, bandwidth and airtime
are filled with subjective opinion poorly masquerading as "objective
journalism."
Thus, millions of Americans whose opinions subsist on a steady diet of MSM
"journalism," particularly those who don't develop the gift of discernment, fall
victim to the principle of "garbage in, garbage out." Because the MSM's mixture
of facts and opinion/fiction still enjoys relatively wide and influential
circulation, while being subjected to less scrutiny, it's a far more dangerous
form of fake and fallacious news.
There are three modes of truth-telling.
First is "the truth," as opposed to a complete lie. Second is "the whole
truth," as opposed to intentionally withholding facts to slant a story. And
third is "nothing but the truth," as opposed to adding embellishments that
receive the imprimatur of legitimacy by being mentioned in the same story.
The MSM has developed a Pulitzer Prize-winning ability to invert all three
modes, often in the same story, to the end that much of what they produce is 10%
substance and 90% fragrance. But again, lacking the ability (or the desire) to
discern, millions of Americans simply soak it up.
As I was preparing to look for a notable example of how MSM fake news bias is
picked up and propagated through social media, one fell right into my lap.
At 9:50 Monday morning, there was an attack at The Ohio State University.
Shortly thereafter, the MSM launched reports of an "active shooter" on campus
and multiple victims.
At 11:52, a full two hours after that incident, former Demo VP wannabe Tim
Kaine broadcast this Tweet: "Deeply saddened by the senseless act of gun
violence at Ohio State this morning." Given his status as Hillary Clinton's
former running mate, he has many followers who instantly Re-Tweeted his
Tweet.
So Kaine picked up an MSM news report about an "active shooter," and
broadcast it across his social media platform, where it quickly went viral. And
his "gun violence" claim kicked off an immediate #guncontrol trend!
Problem is, the "active shooter" at Ohio State turned out to be an "active Islamist" immigrant who
assaulted 11 students with his car and then a butcher knife. Fortunately, the
only "active shooter" on campus was the police officer who shot the
assailant.
Kaine failed to correct his fake news Tweet until almost one and a half hours
later, Tweeting: "Updated reports say attacker used a vehicle & knife.
Horrifying & senseless."
Again, responding to the lack of media discernment and fake MSM news, I close
with those ever apropos words from Thomas Jefferson: "Man, once surrendering his
reason, has no remaining guard against absurdities the most monstrous, and like
a ship without rudder, is the spot of every wind. With such persons, gullibility
takes the helm from the hand of reason and the mind becomes a wreck."
(Footnote: On the subject of Tweets — please, somebody on Trump's transition
team, suspend his Twitter account! Though I agree with his sentiments about flag
burners, the Supreme Court has ruled on both flag desecration and revoking
citizenship. Notably, in his opinion on flag desecration, Justice Antonin Scalia
agreed with Trump, noting he would throw them in jail! So get Scalia's
replacement on board and let's test this case again. Oh, and a footnote to this
footnote, recall if you will that 10 years ago, then-Sen. Hillary Clinton
cosponsored the Flag Protection Act, arguing, "I hope ... that we can pass a law
that criminalizes flag burning and desecration... I agree that this burning,
this desecration, that can happen to our flag, is something that people have a
right to ask this body to try and prohibit and prevent.")
Pro Deo et Constitutione — Libertas aut Mors
Semper Vigilans Fortis
Paratus et
Fidelis
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