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The mainstream media like to pretend that they “speak truth to power”. The reality is that they do nothing but speak lies for power.
The mainstream media also like to pretend that they are standing up to “the corporations” — when, in fact, they’re just another corporation.
And they behave just as badly, for just the same, selfish reasons.
When they’re under fire, they behave no differently from chemical or drug companies. Why? Because they don’t see coming clean as being in their self-interest.
Among other things, the truth can tarnish the brand and jam them up in court. So they often deny, stonewall, close ranks, and attack their critics. Two things media companies have that other businesses don’t is the ability to deliver news instantly and the mantle of moral authority.
It’s the latter that concerns media companies more even than winding up in court. If media companies were forced to admit that they’ve lied, again and again, they would have no moral high ground from which to pontificate.
“Russiagate” has been one of the biggest lies peddled by the mainstream media since Walter Duranty lied that there was no famine in the Ukraine. As it happened, the New York Times was the instigator of that lie, too. Clearly, they’ve learned nothing about journalistic integrity in the last 100 years.
Just like Duranty’s Stalinist propaganda, the mainstream media knew Russiagate — and especially the Steele dossier which stood at its centre — was a lie. But it suited their interests to keep lying and lying, so they did. Because, far from punishing them for lying, their consumers rewarded them.
When non-media companies make unforced errors, the fallout is punishing — lost sales, congressional hearings, lawsuits and management shakeups. When journalists fumble in the manner of the Steele dossier, however, the immediate reaction is rewarding — blockbuster stories, clicks, ratings and ad sales.
The longer-term consequences tend to manifest as a vague generational erosion in credibility, which is happening now in the acceptance of the “fake news” battle cry.
Journalists are genuinely shocked, now that they’re being confronted on the streets and taken to task for their lies. They are incapable of even conceiving that they’ve even done anything wrong.
Finally, there is the self-regard of some journalists convinced that theirs is a chosen profession. They are incapable of thinking that they could be as wrong as the people and institutions they cover.
On the few occasions where I have played a role in encouraging a media outlet to kill a proposed story, the disappointed journalists often allege that their story was spiked because their target lied or used its vast power to intimidate the press.
But we know now that Russiagate was a lie, and that the Steele dossier was a lie, and that the media knew it was a lie, but pushed it anyway. Their excuse is that they were serving the greater good and, hey, they meant well.
Imagine executives of a pharmaceutical company responding to claims that their drug injured or killed people by conveying that they tried hard to make a good drug, but — oops.
The Australian
The mainstream media whine that their industry is in decline. They clutch their pearls when Donald Trump calls them fake news.
And they will never, ever, admit that he was right.
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