George Graham

Faking out the Media

I like Don Lemon. He seems to be fair and reasonable. But he does have his candid moments. Last night, for example, he told a guest on CNN:

If you don’t want to participate in the news stories of this network, then don’t come on and participate.

And, moments later, he cut the show short to shut the guest up.

Not text book “journalism.” But I can understand why Lemon decided he’d had enough.

The guest was Paris Dennard (above, left), a former staffer in the George W. Bush administration, and he was doing one of those numbers Trump supporters do on the media. He was trying to make out that Lemon’s interview with him – yes the one they were doing at that very moment – was “fake news.”

How annoying is that?

If you have been following the Trump campaign, you must know who is spreading “fake news.” It’s Trump and his acolytes, of course.

From “alternative facts” to supporters supposedly representing the African American community (but actually promoting a defunct criminal cult) the Trump propaganda machine sprays lies with abandon.

I’m sure the Trump propagandists don’t expect you and me to believe their obvious lies. They’re counting on the low-information Americans, who are easily confused.

And if they can spread enough confusion, they can discredit the entire news industry – real and fake.

It’s an old trick but it works.

The best thing to do is what Lemon did. Stop listening.

Click for the news 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