Wednesday, February 08, 2017

Fake News Tacks Leftward Again from a Rightist Slant Before the Election

Well it looks like it is liberal fake news that dominates again.
There was the fake photo of Mr. Trump, purportedly showing him standing with his parents, both dressed in the white robes and symbols of the Ku Klux Klan. There was the misleading story of Supreme Court nominee Neil Gorsuch, who was said to have founded a group in high school called the “Fascism Forever Club.” There was the viral photo of a boy handcuffed at Dulles airport near Washington after the president’s immigration ban last week – it was a fake, taken in 2015.
What is interesting is the reason they site for fake news dominating during this election cycle.
The confusion and misinformation creates and environment where it is increasingly normal to accept facts only if they conform to one's own worldview. But something else is at work, as well, many observers say. The penchant to believe fake news is often rooted in a deep-seated feeling of alarm and powerlessness. 
When things are crazy and your party does all kinds of stunts to stay relevant I can see liberals finding some insane things like a Supreme Court nominee forming a fascist high school club very believable. It fits their narrative so there is much less scrutiny than normal. It does seem good that the regular news media is starting to get some kind of uptick in readership.
The recent spike in fake news stories on the left can be attributed to the enormous increase in the number of liberals now seeking information from all sources, says Professor Donath, also the former director of the Sociable Media Group at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology Media Lab. That trend has also bolstered mainstream newspapers including The Washington Post, The New York Times, and The Wall Street Journal, which have each seen their circulations surge after the election.
Hopefully they are reading more Wall Street Journal and less New York Times though. That way liberals can get a little more information from the other side and get a fuller picture of things.

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