Donald Trump tends to call whatever he dislikes "fake news," from inconvenient facts to unfavorable reporting. Even though the President himself is less a font of truth and more a spigot of self-serving exaggeration and insults.
But Trump isn't all wrong when he labels reporting against him as fictitious or slanted. Reporters have become so enraged with the President that in their hurry to lambaste him, they sometimes forget about fact checking and standard quality controls.
Here are just a few stories which turned out to be exaggerated or wrong.
- CNN: Trump's healthcare plan would qualify rape as a preexisting condition
- ABC: Trump instructed Michael Flynn to contact Russian officials during the campaign
- WSJ: Mueller subpoenaed Trump's financial records from Deutsche Bank
- Washington Post: Trump's Florida rally was all but empty
- CNN: Trump accessed stolen DNC emails nine days before WikiLeaks released them
- MSNBC: America's ambassador to Panama quit over Trump's "shithole" comments
The result is that actual "fake news" is slipping into major news outlets. When hit pieces turn out to be false, they bolster Trump's claims about the media and discredit journalists in the eyes of his supporters.
In the latest "Mostly Weekly" Andrew Heaton explains the relationship between "Trump Derangement Syndrome," fake news, and a solution for the media.
Mostly Weekly is hosted by Andrew Heaton, with headwriter Sarah Rose Siskind.
Script by Sarah Rose Siskind with writing assistance from Andrew Heaton and Brian Sack.
Special guest appearance by Brian Sack as "TV doctor"
Edited by Austin Bragg and Siskind.
Produced by Meredith and Austin Bragg.
Theme Song: Frozen by Surfer Blood.
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