Small-pond Fake News
One method of news fakery employed by local outlets is editing a nationally syndicated article, so as to convey an inaccurate rendition.
Viewers are thusly encouraged to draw erroneous conclusions. The obvious danger is that civic involvement, including voting, can be negatively impacted.
On Sunday, Waterloo, Iowa-based NBC affiliate KWWL offered a good example of such bad performance.
An Associated Press headline read: "Trump tweets video with 'white power' chant, then deletes it."
But KWWL clipped it, substantively altering its message: "Trump approvingly tweets video showing 'white power' chant." There was no acknowledgement of the deletion.
The first graph, in the Associated Press story: "WASHINGTON AP - President Donald Trump on Sunday tweeted approvingly of a video showing one of his supporters chanting 'white power,' a racist slogan associated with white supremacists. He later deleted the tweet and the White House said the president had not head 'the one statement' on the video."
But again, KWWL sliced away full depiction: "President Donald Trump on Sunday tweeted approvingly of a video showing one of his supporters chanting 'white power,' a racist slogan associated with white supremacists."
Still no mention of the deletion.
Several commenters on the channel's Facebook page that day (the present author included) called out KWWL's willful deceitfulness, and urged correction.
None had been made by Sunday evening. It is not know if an on-air correction was made.
I suppose there is another possible explanation. Bias at KWWL against President Trump might be so ingrained, and attention to professional ethics so scant, that editors there think nothing of letting related inaccuracies stand.
The channel's viewers are disserved, either way.
One method of news fakery employed by local outlets is editing a nationally syndicated article, so as to convey an inaccurate rendition.
Viewers are thusly encouraged to draw erroneous conclusions. The obvious danger is that civic involvement, including voting, can be negatively impacted.
On Sunday, Waterloo, Iowa-based NBC affiliate KWWL offered a good example of such bad performance.
An Associated Press headline read: "Trump tweets video with 'white power' chant, then deletes it."
But KWWL clipped it, substantively altering its message: "Trump approvingly tweets video showing 'white power' chant." There was no acknowledgement of the deletion.
The first graph, in the Associated Press story: "WASHINGTON AP - President Donald Trump on Sunday tweeted approvingly of a video showing one of his supporters chanting 'white power,' a racist slogan associated with white supremacists. He later deleted the tweet and the White House said the president had not head 'the one statement' on the video."
But again, KWWL sliced away full depiction: "President Donald Trump on Sunday tweeted approvingly of a video showing one of his supporters chanting 'white power,' a racist slogan associated with white supremacists."
Still no mention of the deletion.
Several commenters on the channel's Facebook page that day (the present author included) called out KWWL's willful deceitfulness, and urged correction.
None had been made by Sunday evening. It is not know if an on-air correction was made.
I suppose there is another possible explanation. Bias at KWWL against President Trump might be so ingrained, and attention to professional ethics so scant, that editors there think nothing of letting related inaccuracies stand.
The channel's viewers are disserved, either way.
posted by DC Larson at
June 29, 2020
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
Subscribe to Post Comments [Atom]
<< Home