George Graham

Making up the News

One of the far right’s favorite ploys is accusing political opponents of dirty deeds they have done or are planning to do.

The “fake news” meme is an example.

I’m sure you agree that there’s fake news in circulation. But you also have to agree it’s coming overwhelmingly  from the right.

And it’s not just the crazy web sites that are guilty. Fox News is also a hotbed of misrepresentation and outright lies.

A lawsuit filed against Fox by private detective Rod Wheeler exposes the ugly depths to which the cable channel’s “journalists” sink in support of their right-wing agenda.

As reported Tuesday by Brian Flood of The Wrap:

Fox News and a Donald Trump supporter worked together to make up a story about the murder of Seth Rich, a former Democratic National Committee aide, in order to distract viewers from growing concerns regarding Russian collusion, according to claims made in a lawsuit that has been obtained by The Wrap.

The Fox story (which has become a favorite conspiracy theory among Trump supporters) includes fabricated quotes attributed to Wheeler in an effort to blame Rich for leaking politically damaging DNC emails.

In the lawsuit, Wheeler meticulously documents the way Fox News concocted their fake news story.  The detective said when he confronted Fox reporter Malia Zimmerman about fabricated quotes attributed to him, she said her boss wanted them in her story.

Fox contended that Rich was murdered because he leaked the emails.  The news channel later retracted the story, but the fake news had already spread to the conservative propaganda network.

I have no idea who shot Rich. Police investigators say it was a botched robbery attempt but no suspects have been cited and there’s a lot of skepticism about that explanation.

But I’m sure Rich wasn’t murdered because he leaked DNC emails.

The intelligence community unanimously concluded that Putin’s minions hacked the DNC website and released the emails to sabotage Hillary’s campaign for the presidency.

And I think the Fox folks stooped really low when they falsely accused the young man of being a leaker.

As a spokesman for Rich’s family put it:

It’s sad but unsurprising that a group of media outlets who have repeatedly lied to the American people would try and manipulate the legacy of a murder victim in order to forward their own political agenda.  I think there’s a special place in Hell for people like that

Read The Wrap’s story

About the author

gwgraeme

I am a Jamaican-born writer who has lived and worked in Canada and the United States. I live in Lakeland, Florida with my wife, Sandra, our three cats and two dogs. I like to play golf and enjoy our garden, even though it's a lot of work. Since retiring from newspaper reporting I've written a few books. I also write a monthly column for Jamaicans.com