“Fake news” refers to false or misleading information presented as news. Most people identify “fake news” with Donald Trump, as he used the term widely to challenge mass media coverage of his 2016 presidential campaign. The former president even referred to the press as “the enemy of the people.” Now I (#blogger #blog #somseason #YA #authors) will admit, when I first heard Donald Trump use the phrase “fake news,” I didn’t understand what he meant, but I sure do now. He might be right. The press may be “the enemy of the people.”
I have become more and more disillusioned with Mainstream Media (MM), or Legacy Media, which started back in 1985 when I was involved in a teacher’s strike. Being part of the strike committee, I had inside information, yet what the media was reporting was very different from what I knew as an insider. I also know two other people who shared their experiences involving a murder, and their experience with news media. They told me that what the media reported and what they knew because of personal involvement differed greatly. My disillusionment has only grown since.
I’m not the only one as Half of Citizens Polled Say Media Are Intentionally Deceiving Canadians. Even MM’s Toronto Sun headline: As CBC ratings plummet, they ask for more taxpayer dollars. Independent News outlets say, the CBC is the media arm of the Liberal Party of Canada and I would have to agree. Regarding Canada’s publicly owned news media, the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC), many Canadians question if tax dollars are well spent, as in the article CBC: Costing Canadians $1.2 billion — and for what? In fact, there are calls to defund the CBC, with the MM’s National Post saying Erin O’Toole won the Tory leadership promising to ‘defund CBC. The Financial Post says CBC does not deserve our money. There is even a petition to defund the CBC. Clearly, Canadians are losing faith in the news, or at the very least, the CBC.
This trust is dwindling in other countries as well. In the US, Well Deserved: Americans Have the Lowest Trust in the Mainstream Media. In the United Kingdom, the BBC faces fresh calls for defunding after sending ‘despicable’ letters to elderly viewers. If news is withholding and manipulating the truth, then of course trust is lost because this is passive bullying (#bullying, #antibullying).
The concentration of ownership of media very much alarms me. In the US the Big 6 Media Companies are Comcast, Walt Disney, AT&T, ViacomCBS, Sony, and Fox. Together they control 90% of all media outlets. Surprising to me was, “Canada has the biggest concentrated TV ownership out of all the G8 countries and it comes in second place for the most concentrated television viewers,” according to Wikipedia.
In Wikipedia’s article, Concentration of media ownership, it says:
Media integrity— the ability of a media outlet to serve the public interest and democratic process—is at risk when small number of companies and individuals control the media market. Net neutrality— involves a lack of restrictions on content on the internet—is also at stake when media mergers occur.
When the MM is owned by a few individuals, or corporations, of course integrity is compromised. That’s alarming. If owners have an agenda, such as spreading fear of a virus, concentration of media ownership makes that easy. This is not just me claiming that the MM is a fear propaganda machine. Bill Maher Asks Liberal Media to Stop “Scaring the S—” Out of People About COVID, and even politicians have as in “Stop promoting fear:” Premier Kenney takes aim at legacy media’s COVID coverage.
Another reason not to trust MM is they can be bought. Every news media who secretly took Trudeau’s $61M pre-election pay-off and Liberal government gave Canadian Press $2 million during pandemic are examples. Trudeau even admits he did in the video, Well now! Nothing like outright admitting that you bought the media! Check it out. This editorial claims Secret Liberal Government Payments To Media Subvert Democracy – Spencer Fernando. If media can be bought, of course they threaten democracy. How can media have integrity when they are bought off?
The most convincing reason for me not to trust MM is the numerous times media outlets have been caught outright lying to us, or at the very least manipulating a story to get viewers or readers to think a certain way—mind manipulation if you will. A recent example is CBC uses mannequin instead of patient to show crowded ICU.. The articles CBC admits they used mannequin in COVID propaganda,, The CBC was forced to admit that they engaged in fake news, and CBC apologizes for using fake patients and training facility in COVID-19 story all confirm the story. Even the National Post says, ‘Error in judgement’: CBC Edmonton regrets mannequin’s use in COVID-19 news report. This was more than an error in judgement. This was deliberately done to mislead people making it fake news as True North’s Candice Malcolm says, The CBC was forced to admit that they engaged in fake news.
There are many other examples, and not just in Canada. A LEAKED VIDEO: Daily Mail Australia caught manufacturing fake news and WATCH: Police bodycam proves the mainstream media was HIDING the truth. In the US “They’re Lying at Your Network” – CNN Correspondent Confronted During Interview. Another example involving CNN is CNN Attempts Damage Control After Being Humiliated by Joe Rogan, a podcaster who blasted CNN for lying about ivermectin. In the United Kingdom, The silence from BBC News, Sky News, & GB News is deafening after hundreds of thousands of people marched for your Freedom on June 26th. Germany’s Largest Newspaper BILD Apologises for Harming Society Over its Coverage of the Covid-19 Pandemic. The list goes on.
Here are more examples from Canada. In a heavily slanted article by CBC News during Canada’s recent election, reporting on Conservative Party Leader Erin O’Toole’s views on mandatory vaccinations for federal workers, the CBC failed to mention that the Liberals held the exact same position when it comes to vaccine mandates. (see CBC bashes Conservatives). The story, Big sister of dead child used in COVID propaganda speaks out against media and government, is a story about the sister of the boy who died calling out the media and government for lying. In this article, Levy points out the Shameful double standard in how police, politicians and the media cover terror attacks. Showing more skewed reporting is Cuban protesters call for end of Communist regime (and mainstream media lies about it), and Global News journo caught in fake news lie over Trudeau’s blocked campaign bus. Another article tells how Legacy media largely ignored Trudeau’s “monetary policy” gaffe. Then there’s the story of a journalist whose show was cancelled for raising concerns about ethical standards in media today (see Lacey Lee Elliott: TV host cancelled after vid on NOT trusting the media). MM constantly tells us to “trust the experts” when it comes to COVID-19, but what the media doesn’t tell us is sometimes the health experts turn out to be partisan politicians and/or political donors. This was revealed in How can we trust “experts” when they moonlight as political activists? The “icing on the cake” is a SUPERSPREADER COVER-UP: CBC hides internal outbreak from public.
I have to wonder why governments—specifically Justin Trudeau—try to suppress independent media as in the story, Team Trudeau cuts our mic — Terry Guillon RETURNS to bully Rebel News! Could it be that independent media tells more truth? The truth is, Canadians can’t rely on the legacy media to report the truth.
I trust independent media more than the MM. If you read my blogs regularly, you know that. Yet, I still get many people refuting my arguments citing MM news articles. That won’t convince me for reasons clearly outlined above. If you wish to contest something I say, you’ll have to use other sources. Am I saying that independent media is unbiased? No, of course they have their biases, since MM labels them conservative. What baffles me is those who rely on MM for their information, yet never question that the MM might be biased or even lying to us. These people are quick to tell me that the sources I use are prejudiced or biased. Is news from MM fake? The evidence is there.
I’ll end with some food for thought.
The greatest weapon is not a gun or a bomb. It is the control of information. To control the world’s information is to manipulate all the minds that consume it.
Unknown
Sommer Season all year 