The Smear: How Shady Political Operatives and Fake News Control What You See, What You Think, and How You Vote

The news coverage given to Brock’s fake news focus provides fresh evidence of how he’s truly set himself apart in the smear industry. As a political operative, he seems able to pick up the phone or send an email and get his message covered in outlets ranging from Politico to the New York Times. There are no other liberals or conservative counterpar

I find it an uncanny coincidence that there’s a Brock connection to Pizzagate, which has become the poster child for “fake news,” just as Brock happens to emerge to lead the anti–fake news movement.

Investigative reporter Glenn Greenwald of the Intercept writes on December 9, 2016, “The most important fact to realize about this new term: those who most loudly denounce Fake News are typically those most aggressively disseminating it.” A top national investigative journalist tells me, “The subset of news that is fake is very tiny and inconsequen

In an interview on NBC’s Meet the Press, host Chuck Todd asks Clapper if there is evidence of the Trump campaign colluding with Russia. “Not to my knowledge,” replied Clapper. He adds that he saw “no evidence of such collusion” while he was in the Obama administration.

After a suspension, Williams is reinstated in the anchor chair at MSNBC—where he later criticizes the Trump team for spreading fake news.

The Post ends up publishing an embarrassing editor’s note. It reads, in part: A number of those [websites on PropOrNot’s Russia propaganda list] have objected to being included on PropOrNot’s list, and some of the sites, as well as others not on the list, have publicly challenged the group’s methodology and conclusions. The Post, which did not name

violating election law after making large donations to the DNC (which were later returned); and Chinese-born John Huang—a DNC fundraiser and Commerce Department official in the Clinton administration—was convicted of campaign finance fraud.

With the Russia narrative taking a firm grip on America in the news media, journalists and pundits begin to routinely refer to Russian interference in the election, and Trump’s Russia connections, as if proven. The DNC issues daily email blasts and “War Room” updates ferreting out and attacking any and all Trump administration contacts with Russian

any allegations should be treated as such and attributed to their various sources. But that’s not how it seems to work in the brave new world of fake news. Today, if enough pundits, operatives, and media parrot the same narrative, it becomes incorporated into the fabric of the news as an accepted fact.