STAFF NEWS & ANALYSIS
Epic Media Failure, but they blame Trump for calling them out
By The Daily Bell Staff - December 10, 2017

Even if the news is dripping with errors, boiling with bias, and presenting a false narrative, it is important to trust them.

That’s what media outlets are saying in response to multiple melt-downs this week. They just can’t seem to get the facts straight… or stop themselves from lying.

Obviously, Trump is going to call them out on this. Is anyone surprised?

But some people think this is a threat to free speech.

  • Adam Serwer of The Atlantic was among those who pointed out that a head of state “publicly calling for a journalist to be fired is a textbook threat to freedom of speech.”

Incorrect. If Trump called for government regulations allowing them to fire journalists for “fake news” THAT would be a textbook example of a threat to free speech.

But Trump didn’t say that. Trump’s issue was with a Washington Post journalist who tweeted a photo of a half-empty stadium before a Trump rally in Pensacola on Friday. The only problem… the photo was taken hours before the rally, and by the time the rally started, the stadium was packed.

This “journalist” was caught red-handed spinning a false narrative about how popular Trump is. That isn’t someone that should be trusted to deliver ubiased real informative news. Yet if Trump didn’t call him out, he likely would have kept the photo up. That is literally reporting fake news. The journalist says Trump is so unpopular that his speeches are empty. The truth is that his speeches are full.

The Axios article admits that many media outlets have made extreme blunders, yet seems to brush these aside because journalism is so important. But if it is so important, then brushing these things aside is the LAST thing we should do.

Three media screw-ups in eight days on one investigation. The bad week for big news has President Trump feeling that he has moved the “fake news” argument from the fringe to the conservative mainstream, according to close Trump associates.

Why it matters: The mistakes — ABC’s Brian Ross on Michael Flynn’s plea, financial outlets on a Mueller subpoena of bank records, and CNN on an email about WikiLeaks — give Trump fodder for one of his favorite, and most damaging, tropes.

Why shouldn’t this be damaging? Media screwing up or deliberately misleading viewers is cause for alarm. It is high time people realize that news agencies have an agenda.

We have a president waging a relentless war against all media, minus Fox News and pro-Trump organs…

  • Only strong, responsible, accurate, non-hyperbolic journalism can withstand the assault. Make no mistake: This was a terrible week for the cause.

Axios seems to end the article by calling on media outlets to maintain a high standard. But then they say this was a terrible week for the cause. Why? Because the media was caught in lies and blunders, touting hyperboles and inaccuracies? So then why does their article demonize Trump’s response instead of the media outlets which gave Trump the fodder?

The journalist that tweeted the misleading photo of a Trump event apologized, but Trump still called on him to be fired. Axios and other media outlets have a problem with this response.

Again, why? They just called for responsible journalism, and this was an irresponsible move. Perhaps if he is fired, others will think twice before spinning a false narrative.

They characterize the photo as a simple mistake. That is silly. He lied. He was called out. He backed down. Does Trump need to call out every reporter spinning their false narratives in order to hold them accountable?

Of course, Trump has an agenda too. That is also important to keep in mind. It’s not like everything he says is accurate. The difference is that Trump is a politician. The word politician has been synonymous with liar since the invention of the word.

That doesn’t make it okay to lie. But clearly, people’s expectations for the quality of information they get from a politician versus a media outlet should vastly differ.

Trump is going to support his agenda. He is going to give the best possible spin on everything he does. He is going to take credit for anything good, whether he made it happen or not. He is going to deflect anything bad as someone else’s fault.

We can’t help how people interpret things. There is nothing we can do if people are silly enough to take what politicians say at face value.

But for too long the myth has existed hat the media is trustworthy. Even if they spin things, the basic facts are true, people think. But that is not so.

There is nothing wrong with Trump calling out a reporter who tried to further the false “unpopular Trump” meme.

There is plenty to criticize Trump about. Yet the media focuses on superficial crap.

If anything good comes from Trump’s Presidency, it will be widespread distrust of media and government.

Those with agendas in the media and government will clearly see this distrust as a bad thing. They have worked together for a long time to make sure people hold unrealistic expectations from the government and the media.

The more people that disengage from this fantasy the better.

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