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The Disinformation Dynasty: The Elephant in the Newsroom
Author - Kent M. Harrington (former CIA analyst).
Publish date - December 03, 2020
The market for disinformation is growing big time, threatening the democratic process. Right wing news media and its backers are building the infrastructure to crank it out on an industrial scale.
Ken Shimura, arguably the funniest man in Japan, died in March from the coronavirus. Living in Tokyo in the 1970s, I tried to catch him every week on the TV comedy hit Hachi-Ji Da Yo! —translation, "It's Eight O'clock!" Even struggling with colloquial Japanese, it was impossible not to get his hilarious shtick, a stupid feudal lord who insulted everyone in sight and a lecherous old uncle somehow always surrounded by nubile beauties. Shimura's iconic characters will be missed. Their American version about to leave the White House? Not so much.
Comic material or not, President Trump's defeat has raised hope that his departure will change what passes for news these days. Even if it eventually does, of course, his fabulists on air, cable, the web and in print won't be out of a job anytime soon. With Trump fulminating about election fraud and threatening to run in 2024, their meal ticket clearly is good for another few years. But what about the longer run? What happens to the propagandists and panderers who have taken his lies, conspiracy theories, and Il Duce-style pronouncements to the bank?
For anyone who expects a new day at Trump's go-to news outlets, don't hold your breath. Long his media lodestar, Fox News and Trump may have their ups-and-downs, but the network shows no sign of falling out of love with its favorite President or altering his adoring Kim Chong Un-like treatment on air. Trump's first post-election interview last week made that point loud and clear. Fox's Maria Bartiromo outdid the network's usual obsequiousness, lobbing softball questions, while fawning over Trump's groundless election conspiracy theories.
That Fox continues to see black ink flowing from pushing propaganda disguised as journalism sets an example that other media executives won't ignore. Despite Trump's occasional ire and a post-election ratings slip, Fox's viewership still leads the pack. And short-timer or not, Trump remains a cash cow. In fact, with 70 percent of Republicans believing the election was stolen, his lies are metastasizing along with his appeal. The message to Fox's C-suite couldn't be clearer: like the Marlboro Man, pundits peddling Trump's political carcinogens will remain revenue machines, whether he tweets from the first tee or the West Wing.
CNN's Brian Stelter and others have reported well on how Fox and Trump capitalize on each other. What's important for journalism about their symbiosis, however, has only been touched on if that. Take Bartiromo's interview. A cynic would argue her cringe worthy toadying simply reflects a business model. But proselytizing for a president who has authored an estimated 25,000 lies hasn't just fattened the Fox bottom line. It is creating a market for disinformation that is redefining journalism. The implications are profound for democracy as well as the news.
Consider Newsmax and One America Network, two cable competitors that are seeking to claim the real estate on Fox's ideological right. Three weeks ago, Trump renewed earlier rants telling supporters to tune in the two outlets. The slap at his Fox friends came after ostentatiously jilting the network for its factual accounting of election results. Reporters covering the media have followed the tiff, including investor interest in Trump's new favorites, albeit giving the upstarts slim chances of challenging the cable news leader. Their analysis of the media market couldn't be better. But the rise of Newsmax and OAN, whatever the statisticians' buzz or Bronx cheers over their viewership, reflects more important issues than ratings and cable turf.