All that spin can make a person dizzy!
Let me say that after years as a respectable conservative news source, Breitbart has gone so completely alt-right that its credibility is nil. Fox News is... well, Fox News. And a great many of the attempts to "spin" the story in a Trump-friendly fashion involve conspiracies on the part of government and law-enforcement officials which would require a great deal more evidence than is being provided to avoid being dismissed as paranoia or wishful thinking.
Still, the article is a fascinating insight into the state of journalism these days. As long-time readers of this blog know, I believe very strongly that the social, educational, and cultural uniformity of people who work in the media across the board establishes an echo-chamber which guarantees that the news will be filtered through a leftist worldview. This is not a conspiracy. It's simply a consequence of too many people with similar backgrounds and viewpoints being the sources of our news.
But Mr. Trump's "fake news" is another kettle of fish. It assumes that there is a conspiracy, and it's dangerous because it partakes of a strategy engaged in my every authoritarian regime in modern history: try to get the people to distrust any source of information which doesn't come from, or is at least sympathetic to, The Leader. Trump supporters sometimes actually use the term Lügenpresse. or "lying press," the term Goebbels and the Nazi propaganda machine used to discredit news sources outside the control of the Nazi party.
Much as Trump apologists tried to "refute" the videotape of their hero imitating the physical disability of a reporter while mocking him by claiming that it was a common gesture Trump used all the time (Trump himself was subsequently caught in several lies while denying the charge), Breitbart (gotta love it!) has tried to deny that the term Lügenpresse has a distinctively Nazi pedigree, and suggesting that the other Germans have historically used the term on occasion, even comparing its use to the use of the word 'Volkswagen.' Evidently, folks on the crazier reaches of the Right make a habit of speaking German in their everyday political discourse!
Everybody tries to spin the news, and you will search in vain for a politician who doesn't routinely try to put to himself or herself in the best possible light even in the case of outright error. People tend to be forgiving when public figures honestly admit mistakes, a lesson politicians seem slow to learn. They are not so forgiving when they are caught in outright lies.
Or at least they weren't before Trump came along.
But there is a lesson here, beyond the fact- which should be obvious by now- that we are dealing with an administration and its supporters whose relationship with the facts is hostile to a far greater degree even than usual. We shouldn't believe everything we hear. Especially in these times, when confirmation bias distorts not only the media's reporting but our reception of it, it's important that we hear both sides and get the facts before we leap to the conclusions we'd like to reach.
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