Products at the grocery store are “Certified organic” or “Made with 100 percent real dairy butter.”
Maybe we need something like that for news.
I had this brilliant idea after reading – in an actual newspaper (you know … the foldy thing that stains your fingers) – about the 1,000 Internet trolls the Russians may have unleashed upon American voters in an attempt to damage Hillary and help The Donald win the White House.
Sen. Mark Warner, the Democratic chair of the Senate Intelligence Committee, said recently the evidence suggests the Russians were particularly focused on swing states like Wisconsin, Michigan and Pennsylvania where people were “reading during the waning days of the election that “‘Clinton is sick,’ or ‘Clinton is taking money from whoever for some source’ … fake news.”
It sounds impossible that fake news could possibly make a difference in such big states. But, remember, Trump only won Michigan by 10,704 votes, and that’s a pittance when you consider 4,799,284 total votes were cast, including 172,136 for Gary Johnson, the Libertarian candidate, who was the popular “protest” vote against Hillary and Trump. (Still feel proud, folks?)
There were also the 10,386 souls who voted for Evan McMullin, an independent, and Emilio Soltysik, the Natural Law Party’s candidate. (Just for fun, I looked up the Natural Law Party. They were founded in 1992 on the principles of Transcendental Meditation, the laws of nature, and their application to all levels of government. A meditation-based government sounds kind of interesting, actually. Oooohm.)
So, OK, it’s clearly possible fake news could have affected the outcome in Michigan. (Whether it did or not, we’ll never know.) And if it could have happened here, maybe it could have happened in Wisconsin and Pennsylvania. And if it happened in Michigan, Wisconsin and Pennsylvania, it could happen anywhere again in future elections.
Assuming that’s true, maybe it would behoove us as a nation to clarify what’s real news and what’s not. I’m not sure how we’d do that exactly, but if we can figure out a way to certify butter, we certainly can figure out a way to certify news, news organizations and news reporters. (I can tell you right now, my list would not include Fox, Sean Hannity, Rush Limbaugh, Rachel Maddow, CNN or MSNBC.)
If we do, though, no one should assume that’ll fix the whole problem.
Trump, I figure, wasn’t elected solely because of too much fake news but because not enough people consumed enough real news. (Or, maybe, they just liked the guy. There’s no accounting for taste.)
The Internet is partly to blame. It gutted journalism. According to the Niemann Lab, there were about 56,400 newsroom jobs in 2000. Now there are just 33,000.
That’s a whole lot less real news and a mighty big information void. Something was bound to fill it. The Russians took advantage and filled it at a critical moment with the empty calories of fake news.
And we gulped it down with some fava beans and a nice Chianti.
That’s our fault, by the way, not theirs. They just did what enemies do. We’re to blame. We’re the ones who fell for it. We could have read, watched and listened to those credible news sources that still remain. But we chose not to. Enough of us, anyway. So as the cartoon character Pogo once said, “We have met the enemy and he is us.” The consequences are ours.
Want to make sure it doesn’t happen again? Get off of Facebook and read a newspaper or watch the network news.
Oh, and make sure to look for the “Certified real” label.
Image credit: DonkeyHotey
It’s all about education and critical thinking of which there is a deficiency. Our schools churn out primarily bubble students. If you ask these students to use critical thinking to explain their point of view, they are clueless, but they sure do know how to fill in that oval. The Russians took advantage of this and also that many people are rejecting critical thinking in favor of blind obedience to a fixed belief. This is anathema to maintaining democracy and a free society. That is why our democracy is under attack, aided and abetted by the GOP. This country is filled with people who have blind obedience in their beliefs and have become uncritical disciples of Donald Trump.
You nailed it, NOM. Very well put, and frightening.
Unfortunately, we now have Betsy as our education leader, doubly frightening.
No “Certified News” label would work. Right-wing ninnies just would say it was a Liberal system, and would continue with their beliefs that Hillary Had Sex With An Elephant, and such. (Hey! It’s on the internet! Take a look at this link to Heller!)
The only way to deal with this would be to put some shame into the right-wing leaders, the Senators and Congresspeople who depend upon these silly right-wing voters. These leaders actually know the truth from the baloney, despite what they often say.
Right-wing leaders need to be ashamed of their support based on silly lies and fantasies. Hey! Congressperson! You need to lead your constituents! Do not just give in to their dopiest imaginings. Try to be a leader. Not a slimy cliche-dispenser. Do you have any ideas of your own? Any pride in your own self whatsoever?
Unfortunately, right-wing leaders are shameless, which they have demonstrated over and over.
Shout out to you Andy and Garrett Ellison regards real news affecting us. The Nestle water situation. I read your mention of permits pending with no public notice, hearings or input. Using your reporting and name of DEQ employee, I and apparently many other sent emails expressing concern that such an issue regards Michigan natural resources was almost green lighted. Garrett Ellison’s in depth reporting on this including today’s issue of Grand Rapids Press has informed and brought out many concerns and problems that were not mentioned or were downplayed. Another public meeting coming up this week at Ferris University and sounds like a SRO crowd. That’s what journalists can do, inform the public
Journalism can’t go away. These issues need daylight and fresh air and people to do it. And we need to respect the respectable and quit the MSM labeling.
You don’t consider CNN real News? What about NPR? Just network news?
I agree with everything else you said, just curious . You think CNN leans left?
No, I think they bastardize stories by hyping them so much, which means it isn’t news. They don’t do it to be malicious, they do it because it’s a lot easier to cover a few stories then hire in experts on the left and right to argue about the the three stories they usually cover. (And that’s not an exaggeration – count them sometime. They mostly cover three stories heavily regardless of their true scale or meaning, and the rest of the world of news is left to a crawl on the bottom of the screen.) That’s an intentional strategy. Reporting the news is very, very expensive. But the cost is they eliminate the traditional ordering of what’s important, which confuses people. We no longer know what’s important and what’s not.
On that problem of Nestle taking water from Michigan: The solution is that we let Nestle take it, but require that Nestle sell it within the Great Lakes Basin states and provinces. This is such a simple solution. I have said this before. Nobody seems to get it. Why? People are dopey, and do not pay attention, I guess.
Read me, and do it, and win. And then, please hush up.
You also have people believing that Bill O’Reily is innocent. Never did anything wrong. He and the network just paid them off because he has better things to do. It was the lying liberals that just made it all up. This was a serious statement from a person I know. I just can’t fathom why people think this way!!!!
Fox News = “Right Wing Entertainment Media” They were even categorized as entertainment not news before.
Tell a Fox addict that and watch how defensive they get.
This week, Trump’s minion Sean Spicer compared the Syrian dictator to Hitler. He said something along the lines of, “Even Hitler refused to use chemical gas weapons, but Assad uses them on babies, and Putin lets him do it.”
Why is that so bad? It is true. Why in the world are people criticizing? Apparently, somebody said, “Oh, it’s Passover, and nobody is allowed to say, “Hitler.” This is silly.
Because its incorrect for one thing. Second of all its like saying Hitler wasn’t so bad compared to Assad. No its is not true. Hitler did not “refuse” to use chemical weapons on anyone. He was happy to do it and began doing so when his military commanders complained about the waste of bullets on innocent people. The solution; just march them into chambers and kill them with poisonous gas. The scratches from fingernails on the walls of Auschwitz will show just how much those people suffered while they we trapped like rats.
Please tell us what you think Hitler did. I have been hearing a lot of crazy things from right that borderline defending Hitler or even praising him. I would love to hear your side.
Fred, You are right. Hitler did use gas on his helpless prisoners. He did not use it in battle, though. But, you win this discussion.
And! Assad stinks! I am not wanting to defend Hitler. I hope you are not trying to defend Assad.
Not at all, but lets not confuse genicide with an attempt to subdue his enemies. The difference is Assad has no regard to civilian castualities, while Hitler set out to eliminate an entire ethic group.
I long for the days of Dan Rather, Tom Brokaw, Ted Koppel and Peter Jennings.
Here is a fun (?) twenty-first-century-American-life story: My bride’s work colleague Kimberly just got a dog. Kimberly is not an experienced dog owner, but she wanted to get her new dog a good chew-toy.
Some of you know the usual range of dog chew-toys: rawhide, rubber, and so on.
Well, Kimberly bought her dog a Bull’s Penis, baked, with sea-salt. Yikes! Holy Snots! Apparently, Bulls’ Penises are the latest top-of-the-line thing for with-it dog moms!
Wow!
Andrew, you and the others who are trying to blame the Russians for helping get President Trump elected are delusional. The Russians did not influence myself or any other voter who voted for President Trump.
Hilliary’s own history caused us to not votefor her. Hilliary and slick willy had
more history of dealing with the Russians than President Trump. It is on record that slick willy received $500,00 in speaking fees from the Russians while hilliary was the SOS. Hilliary also sold 20% of our (American owned and located inside the USA) uranium assets to the Russians. That was after the clinton foundation also got a sizeable donation from the Russians.
Yes Fred, you long for the days of Dan Rather who created a fake story about Bush II and tried to pass it off as real. He lost his anchor job after it was found out that he and some cohorts at CBS had created it out of thin air.
Do I believe that Bill O’Reily innocent. No. He is got enough arrogance top do such a thing. When a man begins to think with his moisture seeking missile, he usually loses all common sense.
Oh, by the way I find it interesting that democrats have real screaming fit when a republican politician acts like that the democrats go stir crazy (I have other terms, but I want to keep it clean. )
The party with the most foul mouth, hatred, intolerance of free speech and thought and a whole bunch of other nasty things are the democrats.
The KKK was founded by members of the democratic party.
Hitler, Mao and Stalin policies are more in line with the democrats party line.
A couple of weeks ago V.P. Pence stated that he would not dine alone with any other female. He would only dine with his wife.
slick willy chimed in that he was not being rational to say the least.He also stated a few other things. Some liberal female columnist also chimed in by stating that V.P. Pence was not treating women properly by stating that he would not dine alone with another women.
Where did you aquire all this controversal information about the Clintons and Democrats, and when? Think about that.
That agrument about Democrats being the founders of the KKK is getting old. The GOP became the prefered party of the KKK back in tbe late 60s and still is. White nationalists and david duke made it no secret that they supoorted trump. Please explain your logic to us again.
Jim the 3rd,
Please realize that just are not credible. For one thing, you do not even know what, “Stir Crazy,” means.
Jim, who said they influenced you? It’s irrefutable, however, that they tried to influence people. Why are you doubting your own nation’s intelligence?
that YOU are not credible. I meant to type. I undermine the cause of righteousness with my typos.
Trump’s big bomb: Apparently, the bomb we Americans just dropped on Afghanistan is the third most powerful bomb ever used in the history of human conflict. The two atomic bombs we dropped on Japan in 1945 apparently were somewhat more powerful, and yesterday’s bomb is a fairly close third place. Wow!
Of course, we have set off more powerful bombs in tests, but we have not used them against people. So, we Americans are Number 1! And Number 2! And Number 3!
Here is a source for what I just wrote (above) about the big bomb:
http://www.freep.com/story/news/politics/2017/04/13/donald-trump-afghanistan-north-korea-bombing-syria/100436010/
I cant help but notice that everytime trump has 3 or 4 embarrassing controveries going on around his administration, a bomb gets dropped or missles get fired, and we forget what we were talking about before.
Expect this to be a pattern.
Also worth noting; the Cold War was a very productive time for both the USA and the USSR. A lot of people got very weathy then. When you think about it, it seems that the economy really started falling when the Cold War ended. Now with both Russian and USA presidents facing chaos everyday…hmmmm I wonder.
Interesting idea. I do not know what to make of it, though. Please expand on it. It appears our host Andrew Heller does not intend to post often, so we probably should take over.
Bah. Just work travel. I think, yes, he sometimes gins up another controversy to make another disappear but I don’t think the MOAB was one. Although I wouldn’t doubt he said “Use it” because it makes him seem like a tough guy. I doubt it’s coincidence that we’ve had this bomb for years but never used it.
The reports say that this MOAB was signed off by the General overseeing that area, but the timing is interesting. There were plenty of opportunities to use in before, what made them decide to use it now? I am sure trump’s influence was in someway behind the decision.
We already know that some of trumps campaign aides had Russian ties, and some of his White House aides are thought to be connected to Russia also. What is going on?
This is just a what if. What if trump’s people and putin’s people are working together to restart the cold war? That would distract from all the negative publicity they are both getting, create a new true enemy for the people to fear, make the wealthy weathier and loads of other things that will benefit them. All they have to do is bomb smaller countries and pretend to hate each other. The little people like us will happily fork the bill because we are convinced its the patriotic thing to do in these uncertain times, and all is good for them and their friends.
I would not put them above such a scam. Please keep digging FBI.