Sunday, August 29, 2021
Disinformation (unpublished letter to Harvard Magazine)
Harvard Magazine ran an article on disinformation in its previous issue which prompted a lengthy response from me. The latest issue features a number of published letters to the editor in response, with even more letters online, but none of them were mine. It probably was too long for publication, but at the very least I can publish it here:
To the Editor (yourturn@harvard.edu):
“Can Disinformation Be Stopped” (July-August, p. 28) provides an interesting discussion of who or what is most responsible for spreading disinformation, but it fails to discuss the key question — who determines just what is disinformation? Joan Donovan, for example, suggests that Facebook et al. should be “required to provide important news to their users.” Would that have included “news” back in 2003 that Iraq had weapons of mass destruction, perhaps the most consequential case of disinformation in the last century, one that led to the deaths of an estimated million people? After all, Secretary of State Colin Powell assured the United Nations that "Every statement I make today is backed up by sources, solid sources. These are not assertions. What we're giving you are facts and conclusions based on solid intelligence."
But that was a bald-faced lie, deliberate disinformation. Powell certainly knew it at the time, since he was reliably reported to have said about at least some of the material, “I'm not reading this. This is bullshit," and to have removed "dozens of pages" of alleged evidence. And U.S. intelligence services knew it at the time, since we also know that the German intelligence services had told them before Powell’s speech at the U.N. that President Bush had mischaracterized Curveball's information [sic] when he warned before the war that Iraq had at least seven mobile factories brewing biological poisons.
There were those of us at the time, including this writer, who warned at the time that what we were hearing was deliberate disinformation. But the “mainstream consensus” was that the case for WMD was a “slam-dunk”, so according to Donovan, Facebook would have been required to inform its users of that, and, going further, should have suppressed the countervailing view with “selective silence.”
“Selective silence” also happens to be one of the least recognized, but just as insidious, form of disinformation, something I have called “Fake News By Omission,” the idea that not telling people about something that is true misinforms them about reality just as much as telling them something that isn’t true (“Fake News”). An excellent example of this occurred after the 2019 Presidential elections in Bolivia. Evo Morales won the election, but his opposition cried fraud, based on a Trump-style claim that votes that were counted later were different than votes that were counted earlier and hence prima facie proof of “fraud” (and here, it wasn’t even a case of his opponent winning, just of whether Morales’ plurality was or was not 10 points higher than his nearest opponent). With the OAS and U.S. government backing the opposition, the military carried out a coup, forcing Morales out of the country and putting the ultra-right wing Jeanine Añez into power, a change which had profound effects on the subsequent history of Bolivia (but fortunately was recently reversed with the election of Luis Arce).
Where does “Fake News by Omission” come in? Because shortly after the election, the respected Center for Economic and Policy Research (CEPR) conducted a detailed statistical study proving that there was nothing anomalous about the election results whatsoever, just the normal outcome of a system where, e.g., rural results come in later than urban ones. But that study got the silent treatment from the American mass media, and the coup took place. Four months later, after the coup was firmly entrenched, the Washington Post carried out its own study which corroborated the results of the CEPR study.
And an almost identical scenario is unfolding in Peru. That election, which took place three weeks ago as I write this, saw leftist Pedro Castillo winning with a majority of votes, and, once again, his opponent making Trump-like fraud claims based solely on the change in percentages as the counting proceeded, a perfectly normal scenario. And three weeks after the election, both the New York Times and the Washington Post are practicing “selective silence”. Neither has yet reported Castillo’s victory in its news pages, opening up the possibility of the U.S. government supporting a coup should one happen, with most Americans completely unaware of Castillo’s victory.
Another aspect of disinformation omitted from the article is its role as a tool of the U.S. government in demonizing our supposed “enemies”, just as in the extreme case of Iraq back in 2003. In the most recent case, the U.S. government seized (thereby shutting down) 36 websites associated with the government of Iran, including the English-language website of a completely conventional news outlet, PressTV, accusing them of spreading “disinformation”. Of course PressTV presents news from the point of view of the Iranian government, just as not only the Voice of America but also CNN, ABC, NBC, CBS, the New York Times, the Washington Post, and every other “mainstream” news outlet presents news from the point of view of the U.S. government. That doesn’t make it “disinformation” and, in fact, if one reads the DNI report on which this seizure was based, there’s not even a claim that any disinformation was spread by these websites. So here we have the U.S. government spreading disinformation that PressTV and other Iranian sites were spreading disinformation. Will that disinformation be suppressed by Facebook (or by the New York TImes or Washington Post)? Of course not, because it’s U.S. government-endorsed (and, in this case, originated) disinformation.
We have another perfect example of the complexity of this issue ongoing right now. Months ago, when Donals Trump was still President, the news media treated the “Wuhan lab escape” theory of COVID-19’s origin as a conspiracy theory that needed to be (and was) suppressed. Suddenly we find that theory all over the media, not because any significant new information has come to light, but because the theory has now become useful to the U.S. government as part of its developing new Cold War against China.
The subject of disinformation is complex, and inherently political, and ignoring that complexity and that political aspect gets us nowhere.
Tuesday, December 31, 2019
The worst, most misleading, and funniest headlines of 2019
Worst, Most Misleading & Funniest Headlines of 2019
Broadcast Dec. 27, 2019
#1 Story of the year (as every year): Fake News By Omission, the stories that weren’t covered by the corporate media and were thereby kept hidden from the public:
- The OPCW Whistleblower story which cast serious doubt on the claim that the Syrian government used chemical weapons in Douma, a claim which was used to justify a major U.S. assault on Syria, and as part of the continued demonization of the Syrian government. A Newsweek reporter actually resigned several weeks ago because Newsweek refused to run his story. Daily Mail was the only mainstream publication to run a story, as has Tucker Carlson on Fox..
- Two studies from the Center for Economic and Policy Research, which, just to be clear, are regularly cited in the WaPo, NYT and other major newspapers:
- The study which revealed that 40,000 Venezuelans have died from U.S. sanctions (report was back in April and only covered from August 2017 through 2018, so the numbers are undoubtedly much higher now).
- The studies which showed there was no fraud in the Bolivian election (mentioned once in the WaPo in an op-ed)
#2 Story of the year: The totally imbalanced coverage of demonstrations in countries which are U.S. “friends” vs. U.S. “enemies”, highlighted by the overblown, breathless coverage of the protests in Hong Kong, featuring utterly misleading headlines like:
- Hong Kong Officer Fires Shot, and Police Use Water Cannons at Protest (forgot to mention that the shot and water cannons were a response to protesters swinging rods, and throwing bricks and firebombs).
- Tear gas returns to Hong Kong as police disperse authorized protest (except the tear gas was used against people who weren’t on the authorized route and were throwing bricks)
- Mainland Chinese Soldiers Take to Hong Kong Streets for First Time During Protests (they did indeed — dressed in T-shirts and shorts, to clean up the streets)
- Flaming arrows and petrol bombs: Inside Hong Kong protesters' 'weapons factories' (filled with admiration for the resourcefulness of the protesters, a totally different tone than if they had gotten an “inside look at ISIS weapons factories).
- And just this week: “Is This Frog a Hate Symbol or Not?”, where the NYT pretends that Hong Kong protesters have no idea that Pepe the Frog is a major symbol of racist white nationalists in the U.S. and that they just coincidentally picked the same symbol for their protests. https://www.nytimes.com/2019/12/24/opinion/pepe-frog-hate-speech.html
#3 Story of the year: The trashing of Tulsi Gabbard, featuring headlines like:
- ‘I’m Full Tulsi’: Inside Tulsi Gabbard’s Wild Bid to Make Trouble in 2020
- Tulsi Gabbard Thinks We’re Doomed
- What, Exactly, Is Tulsi Gabbard Up To?
- Tulsi Gabbard’s White Pantsuit Isn’t Winning (the article which claimed her white pantsuit invoked avenging angels, flaming swords, and cult leaders).
- Can hanging out with Tulsi Gabbard fans help us understand what her deal is?
- Russia's propaganda machine discovers 2020 Democratic candidate Tulsi Gabbard
- Tulsi Gabbard’s Campaign Is Being Boosted by Putin Apologists. The Hawaii congresswoman is quickly becoming the top candidate for Democrats who think the Russian leader is misunderstood.
The article cited exactly three of those “Putin apologists”. One was Stephen Cohen, probably the foremost Russian scholar in the U.S. Another was “Goofy Grapes”, allegedly an RT employee, who apparently qualified as one of the nation’s “leading Russophiles”.
#4 Story of the year: The Mueller report
- Front pages the day after the Mueller report drops in April:
- WaPo: Mueller lays out evidence against Trump on obstruction, Russia
- NYT: Mueller Details Multiple Contacts with Russians and Trump’s Efforts to Thwart Inquiry
- Mercury News: Evidence Against Trump Detailed
The goal posts have been moved so far they’re not even in sight. “Collusion”? It’s in the second subhead in the NYT, an article way down the page on the WaPo, and nowhere at all in the Mercury News. Lead story in the WaPo only mentions conspiracy in the fifth paragraph, and then only to quote Trump. Mercury News lists “Mueller’s 8 key findings”, none of them being “no collusion”.
- WaPo in November: The Mueller Report Illustrated: The Obstruction Investigation
- What if the Obstruction Was the Collusion? On the New York Times’s Latest Bombshell (from lawfareblog) (This literally makes no sense. Why would you collude with Russia to obstruct an investigation into something that didn’t happen? And what did Russia do to aid the obstruction anyway?)
- Comey says there was 'real sloppiness' in Carter Page FISA warrants (also described in the media as “errors” and “mistakes”, never as the felonies that they were.
#5 Story of the year: Russia Derangement Syndrome
- Americans Steal Kremlin’s Playbook, for Clicks and Profit (as if clickbait was a Russian invention, and the story is actually about an American businessman hiring Macedonians)
- Trump may not be a Russian agent. He’s just a Russian stooge.
- 25 times Trump was soft on Russia (19 of the 25 were things Trump said, not things he did; the whole article was brilliantly rebutted by Caitlin Johnstone in an article actually connected to reality entitled “25 times Trump was dangerously hawkish on Russia”
- Russia is openly honing its fake-news skills in Africa (not a word in the article describing a single piece of “fake news”)
- Trump wanting to buy Greenland is yet another sign of Putin’s puppetry.
Apparently Russia wants Greenland’s oil and gas so Putin told Trump the U.S, should buy it. - Even one of Trump’s favorite foods has a hidden Russia connection
In which we learn that Anastas Mikoyan (then minister of food) came to US in 1936 to study mass production methods and brought back 25 hamburger machines to the USSR. - Putin’s private army — Russia tightens grip on Africa, but Moscow doesn’t want to admit it.
250 Russian mercenaries in the Central African Republic apparently constitutes Russia’s “grip” on Africa. - Journalism sheds light in Russia and China. No wonder their despots hate it.
This WaPo editorial literally ran the day after the U.S. finalized its extradition request for Julian Assange. - Russian documents reveal desire to sow racial discord — and violence — in the U.S.
If the headline wasn’t bad enough, the article actually suggested that Russian influence threatens to “undermine the country’s territorial integrity and military and economic potential.” - There’s a new alleged Russian spy. It’s a beluga whale.
Yes, this was a serious article. - YouTube recommended a Russian media site thousands of times for analysis of Mueller’s report, a watchdog group says
The video on the RT site was of Chris Hedges (an American, and former New York Times reporter) interviewing Aaron Maté, also an American. - Russia’s other plot. Vladimir Putin wants to influence more than elections. Inside his growing empire of rogue states.
With an ominous picture of Putin leaning over the globe, with Soviet red stars over nine countries. Nonsense with a dose of anti-Communism for good measure. - Is Masha and the Bear a Putin stooge? Critics claim cartoon with 4.18m subscribers is made by Kremlin to subvert children
- The GOP has become the Soviet party
Media still hasn’t grasped that the Soviet Union doesn’t exist and that Russia is not Communist. - The culmination of Russiaphobia, from the NYT this week in a series of three different headlines over the same article (!): https://www.nytimes.com/2019/12/23/world/europe/russia-putin.html
- Latest: Putin’s Russia, Punching Above Its Weight, Keeps Adversaries Off Balance
- Second: Russia is a Mess. Why is Putin Such a Formidable Enemy?
- Original: It's Putin's World. We Just Live in It.
Candidates for Funniest headline of the year:
- Visit to Arlington Cemetery reminded Donald Trump Jr. of all his family’s sacrifices,’ he writes (those sacrifices? Missing out on business opportunities)
- Mars shock: Space race erupts as China unleashes devastating plan to find life before NASA
- Cory Booker read Rosario Dawson a 250-page bedtime story about World War II
- ‘C’est moi’: Mitt Romney admits to running secret Twitter account under the alias ‘Pierre Delecto’
- Mitt Romney said everyone in the Senate is 'really nice' except for Bernie Sanders, who 'just kind of scowls'
- Frederick Douglass photos smashed stereotypes. Could Elizabeth Warren selfies do the same?
- Hillary Clinton, seated at a mock Resolute Desk, reads her once-controversial emails at a Venice art exhibit
- Massachusetts police ask residents to refrain from crime until after the heat wave passes
- Peter Thiel’s comments about spies in Silicon Valley have some basis in reality, but no evidence
- US energy department rebrands fossil fuels as ‘molecules of freedom’
- Lawyers for Noah’s Ark theme park are suing its insurance company for rain damage
- CNN Anchors reveal how they disrupt the status quo
Not a headline but the most jaw-dropping media outrage of the week (and probably the year), in an article about a military helicopter crash in Venezuela:
Originally read: “Pressure has been mounting on Maduro to step down following elections in January in which voters chose opposition leader Juan Guaidó over him for president.”!!! The article has two authors, and presumably also editors and proofreaders.
Friday, June 28, 2019
Headlines for June 28, 2019
Click here to listen to this week's segment on Loud & Clear Radio.
Headlines with an * are the ones we managed to fit in in our allotted time slot.
Headlines with an * are the ones we managed to fit in in our allotted time slot.
Worst, Most Misleading & Funniest Headlines for June 28, 2019
*After a tense week, Trump strikes an unusually friendly tone toward Iran
1st paragraph: “President Trump said Saturday that he is comfortable with his decision to call off U.S. military strikes, adding that he is “not a warmonger.” He also said he could imagine a future where the U.S. is Iran’s “best friend.””
12th paragraph: “Trump said additional U.S. sanctions will soon be applied to Iran…Bolton and others have made no secret that a goal is to cripple Tehran’s oil-dependent economy.”
Another example of how the corporate media pretend sanctions are some kind of diplomacy, rather than a vicious war directed at civilians.
Compare to…
Trump Plans New Iran Sanctions
*As sanctions bite in Cuba, the U.S. — once a driver of hope — is now a source of pain
To read this headline, and indeed the entire article, you would think the hostile U.S. policy towards Cuba started under Trump. No mention that sanctions have been in effect since 1960! There’s a brief reference to how Cuba was “largely shut off from the United States for more than a half-century”, but no mention of how that was so.
*What’s Wrong With Palestinian Surrender?
Knowing when to give up is often the first step to making peace.
NYT gives Israel (Danny Danon is Israel’s ambassador to the United Nations) a platform to extol the benefits of Palestinians surrendering their rights in return for “peace”, swapping the “peace” of the grave for the “peace” of the slave (“submission” in Danon’s words).
*Trump Takes On China and Persia at Once. What’s to Worry About?
Persia? Who else but Tom Friedman. At the very least, if you’re going to talk about “Persia”, you could mention that when Iran was called Persia was the last time it attacked another country. No, that would be too much to ask. Instead we get grotesque lies like “Iran…is led by a narrow-minded, aging cleric who’s been focused on acquiring the most important technology of the 20th century, nuclear weaponry, to help it dominate its region, push the U.S. out and win a struggle with the Sunni Arabs over who is the rightful heir to the Prophet Muhammad from the seventh century — Shiites or Sunnis.”
*Russian accounts pushed fake Rubio tweet warning of British spy threat to US elections
Very first sentence: “A network of suspected Russian accounts promoted a fake tweet purportedly sent by Sen. Marco Rubio.” Then “While the fake tweet does not appear to have picked up significant traction online, it did form the basis of a story by RT, the Russian state-backed media company, in August 2018.
RT's German language service posted an article…”
Not wrong or misleading or even funny ha-ha, but still interesting…
*The average American worker takes less vacation time than a medieval peasant
"Economist Juliet Shor found that during periods of particularly high wages, such as 14th-century England, peasants might put in no more than 150 days a year. As for the modern American worker? After a year on the job, she gets an average of eight vacation days annually."
"The tempo of life was slow, even leisurely; the pace of work relaxed," notes Shor. "Our ancestors may not have been rich, but they had an abundance of leisure."
Still this week’s “Fake News by Omission” story:
So Who Is Reporting That Trump Sanctions Have Killed Thousands of Venezuelans?
https://fair.org/home/so-who-is-reporting-that-trump-sanctions-have-killed-thousands-of-venezuelans/
After almost two months, Reuters finally reported on the CEPR study that estimated 40,000 Venezuelan deaths as a result of U.S. sanctions. No indication of how far their story reached, but it certainly wasn’t as far as the nightly network news or anything with any reach.
From coup leaders to con artists: Juan Guaidó’s gang exposed for massive humanitarian aid fraud
Dan Cohen’s extensive report for the Grayzone, based on a report by the staunchly anti-Maduro PanAm Post editor-in-chief Orlando Avendaño.
Venezuelan prosecutor: Opposition leader linked to crimes
The story was covered by AP, albeit with few details (the whole article is 123 words, vs. 2500 words in Dan Cohen’s article, and the implication that this all originates with a prosecutor who is a Maduro ally. But in the most important media – WaPo, NYT, and the network evening news broadcasts, not a word about this scandal. You can find the AP story in the NYT online by searching specifically for it, but not by going to the “World” section or the “Americas” section. Basically it’s buried.
