US mainstream media is engaged in another bout of hand-wringing over the spread of “misinformation” ‒ this time, about lies they themselves amplified and spread.
The likes of CNN and the New York Times, unfortunately, aren't taking this moment to reflect on how well they're actually performing the role of adversarial media organizations. No, instead they're whining about being misled ‒ and so terribly easily ‒ by the White House.
The mainstream press has finally caught up to what was clear to alternative, investigative media sources from the moment the story broke — that despite accusations by US officials like Vice President Mike Pence, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and the head of Washington's official aid agency USAID, Venezuelan soldiers clearly did not set fire to aid trucks, certainly not on the orders of Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro.
CNN producer Marshall Cohen tweeted on Sunday about how “misinformation spreads… from an unconfirmed rumor, to the Twitter feeds of top influencers, to the mass media.”
Absolutely lacking in that tweet is any consciousness of the role mass media should play in, say, investigating and debunking the “rumors” that fuel misinformation. CNN, it seems, is merely intended to be a platform for the claims — true or false — of US officials, and shame on them if they use those platforms to lie to the US public.
Cohen couldn't even avoid more…
