Granted there is a need for Alternative News outlets and bloggers to report on and expose the fake news. Much of it though is self-refuting and only a matter of considering the source. We wrote here recently of NBC's Claudio Lavanga shameful antics disrupting the Centennial Papal Pilgrimage to Fatima. And then there was the stupid commentary by ABC's Matthew Dowd about the Conference on Christian Persecution attended by Vice-President Pence. Sources like these can't be believed for much of anything.
In the past, when journalists actually operated under a professional code of conduct and ethics, everybody understood that a news agency relied on two things: public trust and credible sources. Journalists dealt with facts; not narrative. And old-school journalists would tell you that the difference between reporting concrete facts and reporting political narrative was the difference between a free and a controlled press. That fools like Lavanga and Dowd are the pinnacle of modern American journalism shows that our press is generally not credible.
The Washington Post thus reported that unnamed sources told them that President Trump revealed unspecified national secrets to Russian officials. Why is this fake news? Simply because we don't know who told this to the press; we don't know what information was supposedly released, and frankly, we never can know. If it really happened, did it compromise national security? We don't know, and never can know. So what was the point of reporting this story? None. If the story had any validity, the responsibility of a real journalist would be to investigate and build a convincing case---not just print what anybody whispers his ear the next day.
The worst thing about this kind of fake news that it trips unstable minds, like Keith Olbermann's to go on air and rave about coups and the end of American Democracy. Olbermann has even gone so far as to encourage outright treason: yesterday he called on foreign governments to work with Americans to overthrow Trump.
"I appeal to the intelligence agencies and governments of what is left of the free world; to them as entities, entireties, bureaucracies making official decisions and to individuals who make decisions of conscience...to all of them, and to the world's journalists, I make this plea." Olbermann shrieked, "We, the citizens of the United States of America are the victims of a coup. We need your leaks, your information, your intelligence, your videos and recordings, and your conscience. The civilian government and the military is no longer in the hands of the people. Nor in the control of any responsible individual upon whom you can rely."
Olbermann goes on to give suggestions to these foreign agents and lists Britain, Australia, France, Germany, and Japan as countries that should help facilitate this overthrow. Olbermann of course doesn't seem to realize that any one of those five countries would have (or at least have the legal power to) throw him in jail if he'd said any of that against their governments in their countries.
Though Olbermann probably won't end up in jail for what he advocates: we should caution any Liberally-leaning readers against acting on his advice. There are two facts of which you should be keenly aware:
1. The FBI takes an extremely dim view of cavorting with foreign operatives for the purpose of overthrowing the US government---regardless of who the president is. Even Rules for Radicals advises against doing this, it's such a bad idea.
2. When you get caught by the FBI, federal judges will not take "But Keith Olbermann told me to!" as a legitimate defense. The Federal Prison System is full of people who did what somebody else told them to do. Just ask the Pizzagate Shooter.
We have a lot bigger problem with our irresponsible media than with presidential appointments or diplomatic meetings. We need to work on reforming that part of society desperately.
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