By Becky Gillette – I think it is time to change my career. For the past 42 years, since starting as a correspondent for the Associated Press at age 19, I followed the rules. Articles had to be accurate and well balanced. When I went to journalism school, we were even taught to count the number of words pro and con, and make sure we didn’t give more coverage to one point of view than another.
But now as 2017 dawns, the experience of the last election has me reconsidering whether I want to continue writing real news. It seems like millions of Americans are much more interested in fake news than real news. Fake news played a big role in election that put a sexual predator and bully with no political experience into the White House.
Much has been said about Russian hacking of the emails of the Democratic National Committee with the intention of harming Hillary Clinton and helping throw the country into mayhem by electing a sociopathic narcissist to the Presidency.
Less is being said about who is behind the “fake news” sites. According to the Washington Post, “The flood of ‘fake news’ this election season got support from a sophisticated Russian propaganda campaign that created and spread misleading articles online with the goal of punishing Democrat Hillary Clinton, helping Republican Donald Trump and undermining faith in American democracy, say independent researchers who tracked the operation.”
I still contend the election was stolen. Not only did Clinton receive 2.8 million more votes, but there are firm grounds to suspect that our election systems are not secure. Voting machines can easily be hacked to manipulate voting results. Then there were things like most of the vote tabulating machines mysteriously “breaking down” in Detroit on Election Day with those lost votes for Clinton contributing greatly to Trump winning Michigan by only 13,000 votes.
But the election wouldn’t have been nearly so close without fake news. Fake news sites portrayed Hillary as running a child prostitution ring out of a Washington D.C. restaurant (Pizzagate), claimed she was hiding fatal health problems, and she was planning to turn over control of the nation to an international cabal of wealthy financiers.
I can see some advantages of writing fake. No tedious fact checking or research. But if I’m going to transfer over into writing fake news, I need some help. First, I need to understand why fake news is more fun than real news. The child porn thing reminded me of John Kerry’s Swiftboating where the Republicans attacked one of Kerry’s strongest assets, being a war hero. Clinton has spent a lifetime fighting for the rights of women and children, so attack her on her strengths.
It doesn’t have to make sense. Why would anyone who can make $200,000 per speech be involved in child prostitution? But even Trump’s pick as National Security Advisor tweeted about alleged Clinton sex crimes.
Meanwhile, the real news is that Donald Trump appeared in Playboy porn movies. Sure, he wasn’t naked. People would gag at that. Instead, he appeared briefly in movies that exploited women who were naked and committing sex acts.
The real news is that Donald Trump has been accused in a federal lawsuit filed in New York of repeatedly raping a 13-year-old girl more than 20 years ago, allegedly at parties hosted by billionaire Jeffrey Epstein, a convicted sex offender. The teenager claims Trump threatened her and her family if she ever revealed the rape.
So, why is it people seem to discount the rape allegation and the many other women who have come forward to discussed unwelcome sexual advances from Trump, including a credible report from a People magazine reporter who told her former journalism professor and a number of other people about it at the time?
One of the more effective “fake news” efforts involve gruesome videos showing babies being ripped apart in supposed late-term abortions. And then there was the “fake news” about Planned Parenthood “selling baby parts.”
So, to learn how to be effective at fake news, I think the first thing you have to do is make sure the target is female. Sexism is alive and well in the U.S. Trump was considered “manly” because he bullied his opponents, and encouraged a witch hunt at rallies with supporters chanting, “Lock her up!” After the election Trump called his own supporters nasty, mean and vicious. Evidently that is a good thing?
Trump supporters also wanted Clinton jailed for what they called “pay for play” in allowing people who donated to the Clinton Foundation to have appointments with her as Secretary of State. At least proceeds from the Clinton Foundation help the needy. Meanwhile Trump has used $258,000 from one of his non-profit foundations to benefit his for-profit businesses.
And now we have seen that Trump’s cabinet’s picks are largely billionaires with no political experience who contributed millions to elect him. That is “pay to play” times 100.
Well, I’m not sure if this career change will work for me. That is because I support women’s rights and racial, economic and social justice. And I couldn’t dream up any fake news about Trump that could possibly be worse than the real news about the man who bullied his way to the presidency with the help not just of the Russians, but people in America (including 53 percent of white women and 63 percent of white men) who just don’t trust a woman – even one with decades more political experience than the male to be President.
Excellent!!!! Thanks…..right on point.