An era where misinformation is weaponized

“Jared Kushner is under federal investigation for diverting money to terrorist organizations according to a guy I met at the gas station who told me he works for the FBI” is something I would never be allowed to publish.

“Donald Trump Jr. has an escalating cocaine dependency problem according to a woman I ran into at the supermarket who toldme she’s his dealer” is another sentence my editor would flag.

There is, you see, this thing in the news business called judgment. Youmay or may not have ever heard of it, though it is supposed to be one of the foundation stones of journalism.

Many of us have spent years pretending otherwise. Which is to say, pretending we are not in the business of deciding what without fear or favor. And as soAs to its trustworthiness, well, are going to supplant news meis important and what isn’t, cial media have, to a large dethe paper says it received the dia’s function, they darn well what is authoritative and what gree, supplanted mainstream emails on a duplicated hard better accept news media’s obis not. Instead, we embrace media as information conduits, drive from that fount of unimligation to vet what they put false equivalenceout.andspeciousthey’veproven,ifanything,evenpeachablecredibility,RudyGisyntactical strategies to spare more cowardly. uliani. ‘ Nuff said. Maybe this is a step in that ourselves from having to draw Which makes last week’s But as to the charges leveled direction. Either way, it is less even the most obvious conclubrouhaha over the New York by conservatives: No governtroubling that social media resions. Post’s story on Hunter Biden all ment agency has banned or instricted the story than that they

That’s how you get people the more fascinating. It seems timidated the Post. All that haphad to, that we live in an era hanging nooses and using the nFacebook and Twitter both limpened is, two shareholder-owned where misinformation is so readword and reporters dubbing it ited users’ ability to share the companies declined to allow ily weaponized. And that’s the “racially insensitive.” story, which purports to be broad dissemination of a story real point.

It’s how you get news media based on emails showing that they found dubious. That’s not “For all its pious moaning creating fake balance between Joe Biden’s son peddled access to censorship. It’s responsibility, beabout censorship, the right wing climate scientists and climate his father when the elder Biden latedly accepted. is more upset about being held change deniers. was vice president. People have literally died, let to a standard of verifiable truth

It is how, more than 20,000 The restriction has the right us not forget, from U. S. social because they know it’s one they lies later, you get reports of Donwing up in arms. New York media’s willingness to be used cannot meet” is a sentence I’m ald Trump saying bizarre things Times columnist Ross Douthat as uncritical platforms for unpretty sure I can get away with. “for which he provided no evilabeled it “dangerous and stutruths. BuzzFeed, The Columdence.” pid.” Sen. Ted Cruz called it “cenbia Journalism Review and the

In seeking to avoid charges sorship.” New York Times have reported of anti-conservative bias, mainI’m not going to spend a lot Facebook’s role in violent unstream news media have too ofof time analyzing the story itrest from Libya to Germany to ten been serial evaders of their self. Suffice it to say, it is amMyanmar. Which is a visceral responsibility to tell the truth ateurish and poorly sourced. argument that, if social media