Media bias: patriot's guide to spotting the fake news

Media Bias ~ how to spot fake news

------------------------------------------------- Revised 02/01/2021
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Above, CNN.com uses two highly charged words, "impulsive" to describe
President Trump and "plodding" to describe Senate in one headline. It was
the lead story Thursday, June 29, 2017.

For subjective words and phrases, including the highly charged
words "impulsive" and "plodding," it would have been better for
the journalist to use quotes to lay the foundation for an
attribution explained in the story, or to rewrite the headline
altogether.

Impulsive: If the headline above were in quotes, then the
reader could deduce someone had an opinion that
President Trump is "impulsive" and not that he necessarily
was impulsive. Using a subjective adjective without quotes
becomes highly charged. Another person reasonably could
argue that President Trump is not impulsive, but rather
"quick witted," "nimble," or "astute."

Plodding: The word "plodding" is another highly charged
adjective in that it has negative connotations of being
"slow moving" or somehow "unexciting." Another person
could reasonably argue the opposite ~ namely that the
Senate is "steadfast" and "unwavering" in their resolve.

A better headline would have been, "President Trump urges
Senate to pass health care bill."

Below is an example from FoxNews.com, with quotation marks
used properly. The headline reads, "Bernie Sanders insists FBI
probe of wife 'pathetic,' but allegations serious." The highly
charged word "pathetic" is in single quotes, meaning that
Foxnews.com is attributing the quote to Bernie Sanders.

Media Bias
Beware of media bias, learn how to spot "fake news"!

Choose your media wisely...
President Donald Trump coined the term "fake news" after a
barrage of information disseminated by the media in which he
perceived as media bias against him. The tides are turning and
he's beginning to see some vindication. Still, there has been little
in the way of story retractions, and defamation of character
lawsuits.

Journalism is supposed to be impartial and it's supposed to report
the who, what, when, where, why and how of current events.
When journalists inject adjectives into their headlines and
storylines, when they focus on narratives without substantive
backing details, and when they don't cite sources in their articles,
they risk the perception of bias or even a lawsuit.

While an editorialist is allowed commentary and opinion, a
journalist is supposed to stick to the facts and delineate. That's
not what's happening today. Here's how to sort through the
media and spot today's fake news...

How to spot "fake news"
"Fake News" is not only false or incorrect published information,
but it is writing presented to the public that violates some very
basic standards in journalism. The Associated Press Stylebook,
right, provides a journalist with rules on grammar, spelling,
punctuation, capitalization, abbreviation, and word and numeral
usage. It also sets important guidelines on objectivity, and can
help a journalist guard against libel and copyright infringement.

Below are some tips for patriots to identify media bias,
propaganda, or "fake news" as President Trump likes to call it.

Here are five ways to spot "fake news":

#1: Beware of adjectives.
The Reuters handbook of journalism says to use adjectives
sparingly. Their guidance to journalists, "Inject colour into copy
with strong verbs and facts first. If you have more than two
adjectives before a noun, rewrite the sentence."

It doesn't appear that CNN.com understands the basic premise in
journalism of objectivity in use of two words in a headline on
Thursday, June 29, 2017:

The Associated Press Stylebook

Elements of Style

New York Times Manual of Style

#6: Watch for retractions.
Credible news agencies retract stories that they later discover are
untrue, and fire the people involved. Unfortunately, retractions
are rare as President Trump has made us all aware.

Instead of firing journalists, news agencies today just force the
offenders to resign and then only mildly apologize. That's what
happened when CNN faced a $100M libel lawsuit. How did CNN
apologize? They told viewers that the botched Russia story "didn't
meet their standards."

A word about Libel Laws and Lawsuits...
There are libel laws to protect an individual when someone
publishes a false statement that is damaging to the person's
reputation. Journalists used to have higher standards and worried
more about written defamation. Today they seem to have a free
pass, and it's taking a toll on patriots.

So why haven't there been many lawsuits on all the fake news? It
all has to do with "malice aforethought," which in criminal law is a
way of saying that a false statement may be misleading, though
not malicious. The reporting must show reckless disregard of the
truth. Essentially the press gets a free pass for most of their
reporting pursuing a potentially false narrative. One could argue
that they are in pursuit of the truth, even if they are going down
the wrong path and find absolutely no evidence.

If a story doesn't inject reputational damage, then it's a "big
nothing burger" in terms of chance for a lawsuit.

#7: Watch for inconsistencies.
Do you trust your news source? Follow the facts and follow up!

If only 6.4 million people are enrolled in Obamacare then how
could 32 million people loose coverage if Obamacare is repealed?
The same news organization (and journalist) says the following,
how is this so?

Obamacare 2017 enrollment hits record ~ 6.4 million
Americans have selected Obamacare policies (CNN ~ Tami
Luh by). Dec. 21, 2016

32 million people would lose coverage if Obamacare was
repealed (CNN ~ Tami Luhby) June 30, 2017

When you follow the facts you realize the media has an agenda.
Fake news is there and you need to take it with a grain of salt.

Above, Forbes updated, but did not fully retract the story of Trump and kids
who were not charged in a tax evasion case, but were material witnesses to
the tax evasion case of a Russian businessman

No proof. Another form of sensationalism or propaganda, is
when the media pushes on with a story that's not based on
any evidence.

When here is "no big giant proof," as John

Bonifield, CNN

Supervising Producer, was caught saying in

the Project

Veritas

undercover video, there is only

speculation. It's far

too easy for a

news agency to spread

false statements or

exaggerated claims

to bolster a cause

simply for ratings.

Nothing burger FNN T-shirt cnn is fake news shirt

Nothing Burger T-shirt

"You are Fake News" T-shirt

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Above, shows the obvious bias of Time Magazine.

Happy endings...
Think: it's not illegal yet! As a patriot, you can hit the media
where it counts: in their advertising wallet. Don't watch the
media biased television news channels and their ratings will go
down. It's that simple.

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Prepare to live happily ever after with us at happypreppers.com - the emergency
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#4: Be leery of allegations and accusations.
Journalists should always qualify allegatory statements to
attribute statements to specific individuals or groups:

Allege. Choice words from a journalist, such as "alleged," or
"allegedly," allow a journalist flexibility talk about claims
that haven't been proven. It's a way of modifying the action.
Instead of calling out someone as a "tax evader" a journalist
can soften the finger pointing. "Alleged tax evader" is a bit
better, but truth be told, a journalist should tell who is doing
the alleging for more clarity.

Accuse. The word "accuse" or "accused" are legal charges
and not opinions, and as such you should pay careful
attention how a journalist uses the word. Reuters
recommends deflecting any presumed guilt before a trial.
Their advice to journalists: "A void phrases like "accused
killer" and use a less emotive phrase like "Joe Bloggs,
accused of the murder of..."

#5: Recognize propaganda and sensationalism.
Another area for patriots to be alert about is sensationalism and
propaganda. It's not just the adjectives a journalist chooses, but
the entire narrative portrayed. A story that has a shock value
aimed at increasing ratings or subscribers is a sensationalist
story and patriots should recognize the motivations are
readership and viewership.

Yesterday's propaganda is today's "fake news."
Fifty years ago fake news was called "propaganda." When an
organization spreads information or allegations with the objective
of injuring someone, it's propaganda plain and simple.

Shocking language. Sensationalist stories purposefully use
shocking language to dance around the truth and grab
readers attention. Forbes staffer Kelly Phillips Erb has a
byline that reads, "I cover tax: paying tax is painful but
reading about it shouldn't be." Turns out it was not only
painful, but shocking when she wrote "Trump and kids named
in $250 million tax evasion case." Here's the rub: they were
not charged. They were not even the defendants! The truth
is that they were material witnesses in a case involving a
Russian-born businessman. A more accurate headline to the
article below would have been, "Trump and kids named as
material witnesses," but who would have read that? It was
the start of the "witch hunt," that Trump alleges

Above, Foxnews.com correctly attributes the adjective "pathetic." This was
the lead story Thursday, June 29, 2017.

#2: Make sure the media cites their sources.
If the attributions are missing then there are anonymous sources,
which provide no

Here's why quotes are important...
Quotes provide an important attribution. In other words, quotes
ascribe a work or remark to a particular person. It can help
maintain a sense of neutrality, and this imparts trust at the news
source. Neutrality is a hallmark of the best news organizations.

#3: Look for attribution.
While every news story is different, attribution to the highest
possible source is the key to a news agency's trustworthiness. As
Reuters.com puts it, "Solid sources are the foundation of a strong
legal defense. The best sources are reliable, agree to be
identified in the story, and well placed to know the information
they share with Reuters."

Journalists and their editors who choose to publish scandalous
articles with an unnamed source violate the most basic line of
integrity. The ethics of journalism gets put into question when
too many unnamed sources don't wish to have their names
attributed. Without attribution the information appears fabricated
for a specific agenda, and the information presented quickly
becomes an editorial, disguised as news.

Sourcing and credibility are both integral in unbiased journalism.
That's why it's a cardinal rule to get two or three sources before
airing or publishing information.

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