There is a lot of talk about Fake News and a lot of anger directed thereat. Think with me about this persistent controversy.
In his salacious new book about the Trumpkins, Michael Wolff probably made up stories, or repeated gossip he had no way of checking. The press concludes he did this because it made a better story.
Treating gossip as “too juicy to check” because checking might show it to be exaggerated or less deliciously salacious can be a journalistic failing. Think of Wolff as a gossip columnist doing book-length and you’re probably pretty close.
I believe completely made-up material is the exception - some exists, not too much. Failure to check a story the writer hopes is true has regretably become more prevalent.
There are other categories of journalistic malpractice that deserve more attention. These prominently feature selection, what gets included in (or left out of) a newspaper or TV news program,
Subcategories of selection might be (a) ignoring good news about people of whom you disapprove and bad news about those you like, and (b) choosing to feature news items which suggest those in office are ignoring problems or solving them, depending on if the “ins” are on your team.
Other selection issues include (c) choosing to cite opinions which agree with yours, omitting the others unless you can ridicule them, and (d) if pretending to feature “balance,” selecting spokespersons for the opposite side who are unattractive, inarticulate, or likely to be offensive or extreme.
An example of selection-driven “fake news” is before us now. The Obama administration undertook a semi-rapprochement with Iran, which ended with a nuclear weapons treaty and the shipment of pallets of cash to Tehran.
Much of the pro-Obama, anti-Trump media is downplaying the street demonstrations and unrest happening today in Iran. That violence suggests the Iranian regime SecState Kerry and President Obama befriended is very unpopular with the Persian people.
Trump has sided with the Iranian demonstrators. By not covering the story, biased journalists avoid suggesting Trump might be correct about something their icon Obama screwed up.
