Donald Trump has repeatedly scorned the "fake, fake, news," but now out of office he's whining because the mainstream media are ignoring his flagging rallies. ...
Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg learned the hard way that he was an unwitting dupe in the flood of fake news and conspiracy theories that flooded his social media site during the 2016 election. But he still doesn’t get it. A new study by the Poynter Institute, a non-profit school for journalism in St. Petersburg, Fla., has found that two of the leading purveyors of fake news and conspiracy theories–InfoWars and YourNewsWire– are still publishing freely on Facebook....
George Orwell predicted that newsspeak would come to dominate local news programming. He was just wrong about the date. Instead of “1984,” newsspeak has arrived in 2018. Just watch these local news anchors in different markets spout the same Donald Trump trope about Fake News–in lock-step. What unites these stations in markets as widely varied as Montana and South Carolina is not the same ideological beliefs but corporate owner Sinclair Broadcasting, which forces its beliefs on the stations. ...
Alex Jones, the bombastic commentator who traffics in false stories and wild conspiracy theories as a form of “entertainment,” is finally being call out by the biggest purveyor of his dreck–YouTube. Jones and his program, Infowars, were slapped for posting a video promoting a conspiracy theory about the mass shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Fla. Seventeen people were killed and dozens were wounded by a lone shooter with an AR-15 assault rifle....
Alex Jones, the self-righteous right wing harranger, who attracted a large following by spewing vile racist and misogynistic invective over the radio and Internet, is finally getting his comeuppance in a most unusual way. Stephen Colbert hilarious explained his fall from grace. Jones’ strongly opinionated “reporting” pushed the envelope on fake news....
The Huffington Post has caved to right wing pressure over a satirical article published on its comedy page, in a disturbing example of self-censorship that sends the wrong signal about the role of the media. President Trump and his hard right surrogates have been waging an unrelenting war against media outlets that report unpleasant truths about his lies, fuck ups, bungling and miscues....
Mariah Carey became an instant symbol of a year gone awry last night. She ushered in the New Year on live television with an epic fake music fail that in many ways symbolized the nation’s descent into fake news, demagoguery and fatalism. You can’t say she didn’t have it coming. Carey, who is known for a five-octave voice, has lip-synced her live performances for years....
Jennifer Aniston is pregnant… again! So claim the latest tabloid reports. But that’s no surprise. They’ve have reported her with child nearly 30 times over the past several years, including six times with twins. And, Jen, for one, is fed up with it. Katy Perry and Kendall Jenner and other young celebrities had become the new targets of fake pregnancy stories....
Prince Harry and Pippa Middleton have been romantically linked in a sensational story in tabloid OK magazine. But it’s not OK. The article is baseless, despite attempting to gin up a connection. Instead, the tabloid hits a new low. Pippa’s only connection to royalty is through her sister Kate, who married Harry’s brother Prince William. So she’s Harry’s sister-in-law. Until the tabloid story broke today, the two have never been linked romantically....
Kourtney Kardashian has dumped Scott Disick, again. But like previous rough patches between the two, this one is largely made up to provide a story line for the Kardashian’s reality show “Keeping Up With the Kardashians.” Gotta find some drama somewhere. The impetus for the breakup were photos of Disick with friend and long-time stylist Chloe Bartoli....
New York State Attorney General Eric T. Schneiderman is cracking down on search engine optimization companies that engage in a “black hat” SEO scheme known as “Astroturfing.” It involves placing phony reviews on Web sites to boost traffic. The investigation, known as “Operation Clean Turf,” discovered that companies have been hiring freelance writers to post glowing reviews online to game Google’s search engine rankings....
