MarketWatch and TheHill loose #FakeNews anti-Trump horse
On 9/30, TheHill.com posted that the Trump administration was charging Puerto Ricans flying from devastation. It was Fake News of the sort the president frequently decries.
Americans depend on sound information for our understanding of world events and democratic decision making. Reporters allowing their personal ideological prejudices to twist and taint their work do terrible harm to readers, as well as to subjects, and to the theoretically noble journalistic endeavor.
The Hill's erroneous report had as its sole basis a Tomi Kilgore anti-Trump MarketWatch.com piece. Kilgore's false claim was corrected by the U.S. State Department. But, undeterred, MarketWatch preserved the original false article, including reflective URL.
The Hill later retracted the untrue assertion, advising readers that the article had been updated at 2:21 PM EST. But, like MarketWatch, The Hill retained the original link, which preserved the subsequently withdrawn deceit.
http://thehill.com/homenews/administration/352824-trump-administration-forcing-puerto-rico-evacuees-to-pay-for
Clicking that link led to the corrected report [italics, mine]: "State not requiring Puerto Rico evacuees to pay transportation costs," by John Bowden.
"The State Department is not requiring anyone evacuated from hurricane-ravaged Puerto Rico to sign promissory notes reimbursing the government for travel costs," Bowden acknowledged, in the opening paragraph.
(Snopes.com also ruled the claim to be "false." http://www.snopes.com/is-the-trump-administration-puerto-rico-evacuees/)
Once Fake News is disseminated, though, as its unethical dirt-doers doubtless intend, subsequent retraction is as impotent as closing the barn door after a horse has gotten free. The initial fake story turned up on social media long after the correction was posted, spread widely by enthusiastic, partisan users sharing fake media's zeal for slurring Trump -- by any means necessary.
One was put in mind of the MarketWatch/Hill deceit by President Trump's tweet the same day. "To the people of Puerto Rico: Do not believe the #FakeNews!"
(In his piece quoting that Trump admonition, Bowden made no mention of The Hill's own #Fake News guilt.
http://thehill.com/homenews/administration/353264-trump-tells-puerto-rico-residents-do-not-believe-the-fake-news )
On 9/30, TheHill.com posted that the Trump administration was charging Puerto Ricans flying from devastation. It was Fake News of the sort the president frequently decries.
Americans depend on sound information for our understanding of world events and democratic decision making. Reporters allowing their personal ideological prejudices to twist and taint their work do terrible harm to readers, as well as to subjects, and to the theoretically noble journalistic endeavor.
The Hill's erroneous report had as its sole basis a Tomi Kilgore anti-Trump MarketWatch.com piece. Kilgore's false claim was corrected by the U.S. State Department. But, undeterred, MarketWatch preserved the original false article, including reflective URL.
The Hill later retracted the untrue assertion, advising readers that the article had been updated at 2:21 PM EST. But, like MarketWatch, The Hill retained the original link, which preserved the subsequently withdrawn deceit.
http://thehill.com/homenews/administration/352824-trump-administration-forcing-puerto-rico-evacuees-to-pay-for
Clicking that link led to the corrected report [italics, mine]: "State not requiring Puerto Rico evacuees to pay transportation costs," by John Bowden.
"The State Department is not requiring anyone evacuated from hurricane-ravaged Puerto Rico to sign promissory notes reimbursing the government for travel costs," Bowden acknowledged, in the opening paragraph.
(Snopes.com also ruled the claim to be "false." http://www.snopes.com/is-the-trump-administration-puerto-rico-evacuees/)
Once Fake News is disseminated, though, as its unethical dirt-doers doubtless intend, subsequent retraction is as impotent as closing the barn door after a horse has gotten free. The initial fake story turned up on social media long after the correction was posted, spread widely by enthusiastic, partisan users sharing fake media's zeal for slurring Trump -- by any means necessary.
One was put in mind of the MarketWatch/Hill deceit by President Trump's tweet the same day. "To the people of Puerto Rico: Do not believe the #FakeNews!"
(In his piece quoting that Trump admonition, Bowden made no mention of The Hill's own #Fake News guilt.
http://thehill.com/homenews/administration/353264-trump-tells-puerto-rico-residents-do-not-believe-the-fake-news )
posted by DC Larson at
September 30, 2017
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
Subscribe to Post Comments [Atom]
<< Home