I agree 100% with The Nation Mag on this article about fake news:

[Alekzander]

Fake News Is Not the Real Media Threat We’re Facing - What the conservative media machine does is much more dangerous.
By David A. BellDECEMBER 22, 2016

From all the recent hand-wringing about “fake news,” you would think that the hand-wringers had never stood in a supermarket checkout line, surrounded by 72-point headlines about alien abductions and miracle cures. Fake news has been around as long as real news, as any historian of early modern Europe can tell you (Renaissance readers gobbled up stories about women giving birth to rabbits, and men from Africa with faces in their chests). Social media has certainly transformed how fake news circulates, speeding up its circulation and extending its reach and impact. The temptation to blame many of our current ills on it—and by extension, on Mark Zuckerberg—is understandable. But the hand-wringing has in fact distracted attention from a much more important problem involving the American media. That problem is not fake news but the continuing delegitimization of real news by American conservatives. This delegitimization has been taking place for a long time (as The Nation’s Eric Alterman has meticulously reported, and as even some conservative media figures have admitted), but during the past year it has taken a frightening new turn. If the mainstream American news media are to have any hope of avoiding potentially catastrophic results—both for themselves and for American democracy—they need to change how they report on American politics, and on the ideological apparatchiks they continue to describe, misleadingly, as “journalists.”

Entire Article @ Link: https://www.thenation.com/article/fake-news-is-not-the-real-media-threat-were-facing/

[uponit7771]

1. +1, 67℅ of Trump voters thought the UE rate rise under Obama and you try to tell

...them different and even BLS is lying to them

[yallerdawg]

2. Fox News and Fox Business describe the M$M as the "liberal press."

Are Fox viewers aware they are watching a rightwing propaganda machine, or are they as oblivious as Fox considers them?

[Alekzander]

3. Actually, I am sure some of them know it but flat out do not care. That is the problem in this

country, where many believe what they want to believe. Many had to know all of the lies about President Obama was just that but they went along with it anyway. The hate, the vile racist lies made against this President & his family to me were unbelievable but yet, so many went along with it regardless.

As I stated, I agree with the article but it angers me how our legitimate non-partisan news media seems to cater to these political operatives because they seem to be afraid. They allow themselves to be used, they never call them out for their lies so they are part of their own problem of what people think of them.

If the media would really do their job, it would help tremendously to shut down a lot of this kind of stuff but then have we let the genie out of the bottle & now everyone is always going to go read what they want to read that supports their own thinking, listen to their own news, watch their own news & here we are.

[yallerdawg]

9. The notion that facts have a "fair and balanced" alternative viewpoint...

as presented by a so-called "reputable" news source is one of the remaining strengths of the rightwing, conservative Republican minority.

It really is hard to discredit them when the faithful viewers don't care what the facts are.

[wordpix]

10. msm "never calls them out for their lies" --I would say "often don't call them out"

Since GWB's wars, Tweety calls them out. Farenthold, too. There are a few others. I just contacted a young msnbc reporter who let an obvious lie go when one of Trump's surrogates called the entire E and W Coast, "extremists." I asked her why she didn't challenge that since it was such an obvious lie.

Amazingly, next time I saw her interview someone she actually pressed the person about a lie. Seems like a good idea to contact these reporters and anchors. I tweeted my comment.

[pangaia]

19. which are " our legitimate non-partisan news media ?"

I honestly don't think I know an more.

[no_hypocrisy]

4. Agreed. Hosts of "news" or talk shows are not equivalent of journalists.

They are entertainers. Period. Like Mike Douglas, Merv Griffin, Oprah.

[MADem]

7. And Merv Griffin, at least, could sing!

[Dave Starsky]

16. I'd respect these "news" clowns a lot more...

if between interviews with pundits, they'd break out into a little song and dance. That way, it would acknowledge that they know it's all entertainment, and that they want to give us something of actual value for our cable dollar.

Imagine if Chuck Todd, after another softball Meet the Press interview with Dick Cheney, picked up a guitar and treated us to a thrilling rendition of "Classical Gas" with the NBC Orchestra backing him. I'd pay real money to watch that shit.

[MADem]

18. LOL! He'd need years of practice to be able to pull that off!

The idea of it amuses, though!

[pangaia]

20. Actually that is a fantastic idea !!!!

[malaise]

5. That's a MUST READ for all

Rec

[spanone]

6. K&R...

[FailureToCommunicate]

8. K & R

[Roy Rolling]

11. Dangerous and Careless - I only agree 90%. LOL

No doubt I agree the corporate media is a bigger problem. But diminishing the damage of "fake news" publishers is exactly their message! This is a false comparison, like the silly memes saying either sending money to either soldiers or refugees.

Fake news is a gigantic and ongoing threat and should not be given a free pass. It is responsible for the current PEOTUS. (As well as the corporate media who lavishly showered Trump with BILLIONS OF FREE COVERAGE)

[TexasBushwhacker]

21. And there are the MSM executives

Who are totally fine with giving Trump hundreds of millions of dollars in free airtime because it was good for ratings. Les Moonves said:

"It may not be good for America, but it's damn good for CBS."

WHAT THE FUCK!!!!!

[Hoyt]

28. Truthfully, any time on the air should have been to Trump's detriment. It's obvious he's a buffoon.

But, people bought into his racism and hatred.

I really don't think that is a media issue. People saw him for hours saying the most stupid and hateful things, and they still voted for him. That is not the media's fault.

[Dark n Stormy Knight]

31. I disagree. I believe a critical number of people voted for him due to being woefully

misinformed, both about policy and character.

Even though, yeah, what a hateful, crass, ignorant, bigoted, immature, thieving, intemperate bully Trump showed himself clearly to be, the mission of the RW propaganda machine over the past 8+ years has been to turn Democrats into such monstrous creatures, in every way, that even Trump would look good by comparison.

Well, mission accomplished.

Sure, many Americans voted for him because of his macho, bigoted,anti-intellectual, big-mouth ways, but I think a lot (enough to put edge him to the win) did so despite those characteristics because they were led to believe so many damning lies about the Democrats.

[EricMaundry]

12. "Fake News" is fake news

The real word for it is propaganda.

[Roy Rolling]

13. It can and most often is

it is a commercial as well as political persuasion method that relies on the gullibility and PREJUDICES of the viewer,

That is why right-wingers are the perfect customers because they are dangerously prejudiced and ignorant.

[Alekzander]

15. Yes and you are absolutely correct because that is who they said their target was:

How Teens In The Balkans Are Duping Trump Supporters With Fake News
BuzzFeed News identified more than 100 pro-Trump websites being run from a single town in the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia.


“This is the news of the millennium!” said the story on WorldPoliticus.com. Citing unnamed FBI sources, it claimed Hillary Clinton will be indicted in 2017 for crimes related to her email scandal.
“Your Prayers Have Been Answered,” declared the headline.
For Trump supporters, that certainly seemed to be the case. They helped the baseless story generate over 140,000 shares, reactions, and comments on Facebook.
Meanwhile, roughly 6,000 miles away in a small town in the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, a young man watched as money began trickling into his Google AdSense account.
Over the past year, the Macedonian town of Veles (population 45,000) has experienced a digital gold rush as locals launched at least 140 US politics websites. These sites have American-sounding domain names such as WorldPoliticus.com, TrumpVision365.com, USConservativeToday.com, DonaldTrumpNews.co, and USADailyPolitics.com. They almost all publish aggressively pro-Trump content aimed at conservatives and Trump supporters in the US.

The young Macedonians who run these sites say they don’t care about Donald Trump. They are responding to straightforward economic incentives: As Facebook regularly reveals in earnings reports, a US Facebook user is worth about four times a user outside the US. The fraction-of-a-penny-per-click of US display advertising — a declining market for American publishers — goes a long way in Veles. Several teens and young men who run these sites told BuzzFeed News that they learned the best way to generate traffic is to get their politics stories to spread on Facebook — and the best way to generate shares on Facebook is to publish sensationalist and often false content that caters to Trump supporters.

entire article: https://www.buzzfeed.com/craigsilverman/how-macedonia-became-a-global-hub-for-pro-trump-misinfo?utm_term=.lmAPmGJO8#.jdgE146GL

[pangaia]

22. I just read a couple articles on WORLDPOLITICUS..

What a joke!!

Not the horror of it, but the laughable amateurishness.

Subtle poor English,, no sense..

Written by "RT and RM"

[Martin Eden]

14. "any hope of avoiding potentially catastrophic results"

That ship saled Nov 8.

[Fast Walker 52]

17. what sick and maddening is the rightwing is now calling all non-RW media "fake news"

http://www.nytimes.com/2016/12/25/us/politics/fake-news-claims-conservatives-mainstream-media-.html?action=click&contentCollection=Opinion&module=Trending&version=Full&region=Marginalia&pgtype=article

[Bernardo de La Paz]

23. "Delegitimization" is too big a word for tRump supporters at 16 letters. . . nt

[jalan48]

24. Fake news is really just propaganda.

We need to look behind the propaganda and ask, who benefits from the propaganda? It's certainly not the poor and powerless, they are the ones the propaganda is aimed at.

[First Speaker]

25. The whole point of "conservatism" is to destroy democracy...

...from their point of view, the plan is going great. That the MSM willingly goes along indicates either that they're the ultimate Useful Idiots, or that they're willing coconspirators...

[lancelyons]

26. This issue is the biggest threat we have going right now.

This issue is the biggest threat we have going right now to our country and the world.

I am not sure how you right the ship here except all main stream media outlets have to continue pushing correct information all the time.

Media has to start calling out lies and fake information because this directly impacts the validity of media. They are going to start losing money as everybody starts considering outlets like CNN just the national enquirer while the right wingers have fox news that to them, delivers fair and balanced news.

The media own this problem. The journalists at fox news are creating the problem and propagating the problem to their own demise.

[Guilded Lilly]

27. Conservative media calculatingly preys on easily mislead and

rather shallow malleable individuals with little or no depth of personal thought. (I.E. The Stupid) Easier to spread planned lies.

Their most dangerous threat comes from a factually informed audience who hasn't been weaned on the shallow idiocy of "reality" TV.

Easy lies and stupidity.
Practiced, seriously, with the Bush/Cheney show, but started many decades ago.

Uneducated public and evaporation of accountability are the conservative tools of disaster.

A great, but scary as hell article.

[Dark n Stormy Knight]

29. This article ought to be read by everyone.

But, of course, loads of them won't bother to or will dismiss it as MSM liberal bias BS. This is truly one of the most important issuers of our time and finding a way to fix this, rather than "listening to Trump voters," ought to be the approach taken by the Democratic Party.

[Dark n Stormy Knight]

30. We need to hire and army of true geniuses to work on this.

The implications of this shift for the incoming Trump administration are frightening. Even entirely blatant corruption, and blatant violations of the Constitution are likely to be dismissed as “fake news” by the conservative media machine. Reports in the mainstream media will be denounced as part of a nefarious plot by liberals to destroy the administration (and, by extension, America), and could well intensify Trump’s support. Criticism by Democrats, and attempts to hold Trump accountable, will be treated as grievous attacks on American democracy, justifying extraordinary—and perhaps extra-constitutional—responses.

I don't think the parties under attack, the NYTimes, etc., can make the necessary impact by fighting back alone. The left, needs to beef up their efforts to get facts out to the people through other channels. The huge, sophisticated, RW propaganda machine, in all it's permutations, is entirely unmatched by efforts on the other side.

The mainstream media today is unfortunately in a very weak position vis-à-vis this party. Nothing that appears in the Times or on CNN can now make much of an impact on the people who live within the party’s steel-walled ideological bubble—including a very large proportion of Trump voters. As noted, new revelations, however damning and sensational, are more likely to intensify their support for Trump than to weaken it. But reporting on this party as a party, as an ideological apparatus, can still have an effect.

Figures like Limbaugh and Hannity benefit enormously from the perception among their listeners that they are just commentators. In a grotesque, and enormously effective, act of projection, they denounce liberals for being what they themselves actually are: a ruthless ideological movement that cares nothing for verifiable facts. This self-representation is not challenged nearly enough by the mainstream media, which continue to portray these figures as journalists and commentators, rather than as ideological apparatchiks—indeed, as members of a conservative Nomenklatura. At the very least, the mainstream media should be identifying them as such, and fighting back far more vigorously against the conservative media machine’s delegitimization of real news. It should be reporting on Limbaugh and Hannity, Savage and Levin, Ingraham and Coulter, as often as it reports on the Republican “Freedom Caucus,” and it should respond systematically to their delegitimization of real news.

When so-called conservative “commentators” attack The New York Times, the gray lady should not act as if responding to them is beneath her dignity. This tactic has not worked, to say the least. The Times should be covering the charges as part of the ideological battle now being waged in America, and it should be responding to them. So should The Washington Post, and CNN, and the rest of the mainstream media. If they don’t, then in the end, they could be signing their own death warrants.