The assault on truth by a right-wing “media ecosystem” began with Rupert Murdoch’s invention of Fox News, augmented in recent years by even more fantasy-based cable networks like Newsmax and One America News.
The shamelessness of these sham journalists was best summarized by lawyers defending the most successful one, Tucker Carlson, in a suit accusing him of slander. The preppy anchor’s statements “cannot reasonably be interpreted as facts”, they said, because he so obviously engages in “non-literal commentary”.
Another foundation of the disinformation crisis was the deregulation of broadcast by the Reagan administration, which eliminated the fairness doctrine in 1987. That simple change insured the pollution of the radio airwaves by Rush Limbaugh and his imitators, creating the first echo chamber.
Of course, the internet allowed these waves of lies to reach warp speed, more destructive than anything humanity has experienced. In the understated description of this volume, “the conservative media ecosystem was augmented by … Facebook, Twitter and Reddit, where the tendency to find like-minded partisans and the freedom from fact-checkers took disinformation to new depths.”
Folk being allowed to say what folk wanted to say is the terror of our times.
These venues have given “far-right lies unprecedented access to significant numbers of Americans” and allowed “ordinary Americans to spread lies to one another”, instantly. “As a result, misinformation and disinformation have infused our debates about almost every pertinent political problem.”
Just to emphasise, this is not some nutter running with the Tankies:
A former reporter for The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, and Newsweek, he is currently a nonfiction book critic for The Guardian.
This is actually close to the establishment view in the very serious and proper journalistic classes.
Americans should only be allowed to listen to trusted journalists who tell them incontrovertible truths, such as that calling people “the French” is white supremacy.
The preppy anchor’s statements “cannot reasonably be interpreted as facts”, they said, because he so obviously engages in “non-literal commentary”.
It’s a frequently used trick of left-wing ideologues to make accusations that are hard to refute because the accusations sound grave but are meaningless.
Hmmm.
With Essays By
Akhil Reed Amar – Kathleen Belew – Carol Anderson – Kevin Kruse – Erika Lee – Daniel Immerwahr – Elizabeth Hinton – Naomi Oreskes – Erik M. Conway – Ari Kelman – Geraldo Cadava – David A. Bell – Joshua Zeitz – Sarah Churchwell – Michael Kazin – Karen L. Cox – Eric Rauchway – Glenda Gilmore – Natalia Mehlman Petrzela – Lawrence B. Glickman – Julian E. Zelizer
A collection of essays, the vast majority by grudge-bearing ethnics who hate the Founding Fathers/ Western Civilisation/ Christianity and whose ancestors arrived in the US well after the American Civil War…
Why am I not surprised?
whose ancestors arrived in the US well after the American Civil War…
And many of whom were fleeing countries with an oppressive state imposing itself on and controlling the lives of the people, and now they, their descendants, want to and see absolutely nothing wrong with recreating exactly what their ancestors fled from.
“Just to emphasise, this is not some nutter running with the Tankies”
He is a political gayite, though. He’s running with the tank-tops.
Speaking of disinformation/misinformation waves of lies…. Safe and effective: these ‘vaccines’ will stop transmission and stop you getting disease.
Anyone who said different was a Right-wing, Fascist/Nazi, granny-killing, conspiracy theorist.
‘far-right lies unprecedented access to significant numbers of Americans’
I can understand why he wants to make sure that they only have access to far-left lies.
The 600 influential Russian Twitter bots narrative was pushed by mainstream media. Twitter executives knew it was false.
Fury as under-fire Nicola Sturgeon accuses gender reform critics of ‘homophobia and racism’.
Aaand the motherlode… a new ice age by 2021; “climate catastrophe” by 2020; “Hoover dam to be a ‘dry hole by 2021’”; “Alpine glaciers ‘gone’ by 2020”; Maldives to be flooded by 2018; “50 million climate refugees by 2010”; Arctic to be ice-free by 2012; or 2013; or 2014; no, 2015.
Oooh, those pesky lyin’ right-wingers. (And those are just what I’ve seen this morning. As John B says, it doesn’t include the “Covid vaccines will stop transmission” bullshit.)
jgh, they believe that they should be in charge – not those evil, white, right-wingers.
“Just to emphasise, this is not some nutter running with the Tankies:
A former reporter for The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, and Newsweek, he is currently a nonfiction book critic for The Guardian.”
Well I think he managed to contradict your assetion himself Tim, given the output if those once august journals. 🙂
The thing that gets me about the Russian Bots story is how stupid and amateurish it was.
I mean this Hamilton 68 group were led by a ‘Former’ FBI agent and advised by a think tank full of ‘Former’ CIA, FBI, NSA and DHS heads and deputy heads and all they could come up with is a list of real twitter accounts, (including OLDHolborn (RIP) for gods sake), and call them Russian bots. Anyone writing this in fiction would have these super agents going through all sorts of espionage tricks to hide their trail but these guys just couldn’t be bothered.
It’s like they didn’t care that they would be caught. They knew they’d still get their MSM advisor gigs. (And their checks from whoever set up this ‘misinformation’ deal and who is still driving it in many other ways.)
And everybody went along with the scam.
It’s like this guy’s obviously unhinged rant. Why would anyone take his ravings seriously? Yet they clearly do. He gets paid for this garbage.
We’re back to that whole ‘they know we know they know we know and still they keep lying.’
Thread by Matt Taibbi about Hamilton 68:
https://twitter.com/mtaibbi/status/1619029772977455105
. . . the very serious and proper journalistic classes.
When did that ridiculous notion come in? At some point the trade of scurrilous bastards who nailed lies to trees became associated with integrity and professionalism; something esteemed and learned. Sad!
The remedy for misinformation and lies is the truth – not bans. Any ban, however well intentioned, will eventually be used to suppress the truth. You would think that the Americans, of all people, would realise this given their First Amendment and the way they worship their constitution.
I had no idea Rupert Murdoch worked for William Randolph Hearst. He’s that old?
I wish I hadn’t sold my rifle.
Which just goes to show how delusional, unhinged and out-of-touch mainstream journalism has become, mostly, I suspect because the Overton Window of “acceptable discourse” has been pushed so far left that all viewpoints become distortion.
I was reading some NZ journalists comments on why the Sainted Jacinda had resigned and must admit that I had never realised before that simply not liking the beloved Leaders every word was extreme right wing fascism.They really do not like any dissent do they.
“It’s like they didn’t care that they would be caught.”
It’s more like they didn’t think that they would be caught. I mean, not by anyone who matters. The little boys who spotted that the Emperor was starkers could easily be dismissed as swivel-eyed Russian-sympathizing conspiracy theorists.
And they’d have gotten away with it if it wasn’t for that meddling South African…