Opinion

The Three Types Of Fake News The Legacy Media Happily Promote

   DailyWire.com
LAS VEGAS, NV - DECEMBER 15: Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump is introduced during the CNN presidential debate at The Venetian Las Vegas on December 15, 2015 in Las Vegas, Nevada. Thirteen Republican presidential candidates are participating in the fifth set of Republican presidential debates.
Ethan Miller/Getty Images

During President Donald Trump’s first term in office, the phrase “fake news” has become somewhat of a cultural phenomenon. The President has routinely elicited audible shudders among activist journalists in response to their biased rounds of questioning, and they would scurry back to their desks to warn us of the second coming of Hitler.

Trump was right. Fake news is real, and the legacy media are often the source. However, one problem is that Trump often applied the “fake news” label to any story, whether it was true or not, fair or not, partisan or not. Sometimes, Trump rejected active media malfeasance with pin-point accuracy. Sometimes, he rejected reasonable and accurate questions as indicative of the same deceitful media he campaigned against in 2016.

At this point, there are still some who doubt the general “fake news” characterization. The reason many are failing to acknowledge reality is because the legacy media point to the few times Trump incorrectly labeled a question or story as “fake” as evidence that they are never fake. 

We must punish the legacy media for their behavior, particularly during the past year. In order to do so, we must reach those who have fallen for the media’s trick: those who don’t believe that the legacy media are our society’s largest dealers in fake news. These are the people who are willing to accept the false safety and security of the “normalcy” promised by Biden and his legacy media.

We must pull the veil from their eyes by showing people the truth: the legacy media are guilty of promoting three types of fake news. If we do nothing, they will face no consequences for their actions, and will maintain control of the political narrative as they continue to defend the leaders they choose for us.

Fake News: Lies

The first type of fake news is the easiest to understand, and involves the simple and highly effective promulgation of false information in pursuit of a desired narrative. One such example was provided by MSNBC’s Chris Hayes, who happily promoted the idea that the COVID-19 death toll was “predictable and predicted,” and that Trump and the GOP “actively chose this path.” According to Hayes, they knowingly “chose to send tens of thousands to their graves.”

This is an example of blatant falsehoods presented through the editorialization of objective events. The COVID-19 death toll is beyond tragic, and yes, much of this was predicted. However, it is bordering on insane to argue that Trump is uniquely responsible for a virus which originated in China, spread despite his early actions which were condemned as “xenophobic,” and has ravaged countries across the world regardless of leadership or policy.

If Trump “actively chose this path,” then he also chose a path which included the United States producing a vaccine in record time. “They knew what they were doing,” after all.

Other media lies are plentiful, whether it be the Russian collusion hoax, the “mostly peaceful protests” which left American cities in ashes, or the continued obsession with demanding that Trump “finally” condemn white supremacy. All lies. All fake news.

Fake News: Hypocrisy

The second type of fake news is perhaps the most frustrating, involving the shameless double standard applied by our supposedly objective legacy media. Every Republican statement or action is filtered through a lens of hatred and derision. If delivered by a Democrat, the same statements or actions are either sugar coated, reframed, or ignored altogether. 

When allegations of sexual assault were made against Joe Biden by Tara Reade, for example, the same legacy media who delighted in providing the Democrats with a “Believe All Women” platform reported on the story quite differently. The Washington Post gave us “Trump allies highlight new claims regarding allegations against Biden,” a slightly more complicated version of “Republicans pounce!” CNN ran a piece titled “A complicated life and conflicting accounts muddle efforts to understand Tara Reade’s allegation against Joe Biden,” and Politico went with “‘Manipulative, deceitful, user’: Tara Reade left a trail of aggrieved acquaintances.” Remember, this is the same legacy media who placed Brett Kavanaugh’s original accuser, Christine Blasey Ford, on Time Magazine’s 2018 “Cover of the Year.”

There is no finer — and by finer, we mean appalling — example of media hypocrisy than the dripping fervor with which they fought to kiss Andrew Cuomo’s behind. Trump? He’s the man responsible for every COVID-19 death. Cuomo? He’s a hero, despite being responsible for policies which directly resulted in the highest COVID-19 death toll of all states. But don’t worry, your elite journalists are on the case with probing questions about Cuomo’s nostril size.

Fake News: Omission

The third and final type of fake news is actually the most disgusting given the self-congratulatory manner with which the legacy media present themselves as advocates and protectors of all that is true. It involves lies by omission, the intentional dismissal of certain stories in favor of ones which are more beneficial.

Without question, the most impactful lie by omission was the legacy media’s overt decision to suppress the Hunter Biden scandal. When the New York Post published a now infamous story titled “Smoking-gun email reveals how Hunter Biden introduced Ukrainian businessman to VP dad, ” the legacy media rallied to Biden’s aid, with “numerous media outlets refus[ing] to report on Hunter Biden’s Ukraine and Chinese dealings ahead of the election, claiming, without evidence, the accusations were part of a Russian disinformation campaign.”

In an obvious and despicable attempt to drag the limp body of Joe Biden across the finish line, the legacy media spent much of 2020 burying stories which any real journalist would hungrily explore. 

Fake news is real, and we are witnessing it in real time. Whether it be lies in the form of Russian collusion, hypocrisy in the form of Cuomo worship, or omission in the form of Hunter Biden, the legacy media have shown us their true colors.

It’s up to us to decide whether they deserve our attention.

Ian Haworth is host of The Ian Haworth Show and The Truth in 60 Seconds. Follow him on Twitter at @ighaworth.

The views expressed in this opinion piece are the author’s own and do not necessarily represent those of The Daily Wire.

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