When Lies Metastasize: A Meditation on the Media and Democracy

Last week Trump explained the process in an interview with The Daily Calleramp160a conservative website amp160After naming CNN ABC CBSamp160and NBC as fake news he said quotYou look at what39s going on with the fake news and the people get itamp160 They the network news organizations had a very high approval rating before I became president and I think it39s actually a great achievement of mineamp160 Their approval rating now is down as low as just about anybodyquotThe major news outlets paid littleamp160if any attention to Trump39s selfcongratulations for his quotachievementquotamp160 It39s not surprisingamp160 From bogus claims of massive inaugural crowds on his first day in office to warnings of drug gang hitmen filling migrant caravans a few weeks ago Trump already has established himself as the most prolific liar in American presidential historyamp160 Nearing his 700day mark the tote board registers over 6400 false or misleading statementsamp160 an impressive eight lies or misrepresentations each dayEven with a White House distinguished by his unprecedented mendacity most people probably believe that whatever may be the fallout from reporting on presidential lying it39s the media39s problemamp160 After all the argument goes journalists are paid to find the facts as well as identify the decoysamp160 Save for the obvious favor shown Fox News Trump39s house organ and the rightwing outlets that parrot his prevarications the payback for professional reporters who question his verbal effluvia as well as for their networks comes with the territoryBut to consider the impact of two years of presidential lying on the news both as a commodity that informs its consumers and as an institution in a democracy only a press issue misses a larger point amp160The effects of Trump39s ceaseless prevarication are metastasizing infecting the politics of our democracy itselfamp160 Much as events abroad show the political consequences of foreign leaders who disdain the truth the last midterm election provides examples of the disease process across the United Statesamp160 The content of negative political ads in the midterm election campaign and their source is a case in pointTake Trump39s histrionics as he stumped for Republican candidates and what appeared on television screensamp160 Trump conjured Middle East terrorists hidden among Central American migrants Democrats eager to install Venezuelastyle socialism and impending massive voter fraud amp160Never mind his lack of any evidenceamp160 According to the Kantar Campaign Media Analysis Group sixty percent of Republican television ads in the closing weeks of the 2018 campaign pushed these and other negative messagesamp160 It wasn39t by chanceamp160 In September alone the Congressional Leadership Fund a GOP super PAC paid for a fifth of themamp160 Their ludicrous accusations warned of the Democrats39 ties to Islamic terrorism and the funders for invading migrant hoardsOf course to overlook the source of the ads39 embedded lies takes an act of willful blindnessamp160 It also ignores the damage done to the voters39 opportunity to understand their choices amp160The 4billion flood of broadcast cableamp160and online ad spending in 2018 is testimony enough to the importance of the issue amp160Rather than laying out real world problems hundreds of thousands of ads repeated the presidential hyperbole word for wordamp160 Negative ads are certainly nothing newamp160nor is hardball politicsamp160 But with advertising content increasingly emulating Pravda39s propaganda in the heyday of the former Soviet Union the disinformation deserves scrutiny not only by the press but also by the media industry39s leaders who today are happy to enable the mendacity all the way to the bankIt39s easy to be cynical when revenue streams are denominated in the billions but the critical responsibility of media giants in protecting the democratic process extends beyond standing up for a free pressamp160 Writing ten years ago Sarah O39Leary a marketing expert and consultant decried the broadcast industry39s irresponsibility in the midst of a then ongoing presidential electionamp160 quotIf a company slipped through the broadcasting cracks and aired a spot that claimed a competitor39s toothpaste actually caused cavities amp8230 all hell would break loosequot she wroteamp160 quotPolitical advertising is the only safe haven for a candidate to lie amp8230 and get away with itquotamp160 O39Leary concluded quotIt seems only fair that those running for the highest office in the free world be held to the same standards as a tube of toothpastequotBroadcasting is no stranger to standardsetting and selfregulationamp160 Nor is a role for the media industry in policing prevarication farfetchedamp160 Writing a century ago the journalist Walter Lippman clearly stated the importance of that job in a democracyamp160 quotThere can be no liberty for a community which lacks the means to detect liesquotClick the social 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When Lies Metastasize: A Meditation on the Media and Democracy

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Kent M. Harrington

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When Lies Metastasize: A Meditation on the Media and Democracy

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Kent M. Harrington

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