News

The "Fake News Awards" announced on the Republican National Committee website and touted by President Donald Trump pose a conundrum: Does it really count if the news organization admits error?Everyone makes mistakes - and the point is not to play gotcha. News organizations operate in a competitive arena and mistakes are bound to be made. The key test is whether an error is acknowledged and corrected.Trump almost never admits error, even has he has made more than 2,000 false or misleading statements. So with that context, here's an assessment of the "awards:""1. The New York Times' Paul Krugman claimed on the day of President Trump's historic, landslide victory that the economy would never recover."Krugman, of course, is a columnist. So it's a bit odd to feature an opinion as fake news when it's not really news, just opinion.Krugman wrote: "We are very probably looking at a global recession, with no end in sight. I suppose we could get lucky somehow. But on economics, as on everything … [Read more...] about Fact check: Trump’s ‘Fake News Awards’ focused on reports that were wrong — and quickly corrected

Here's a sentence that perfectly describes the media hellscape in which Americans now live: Mere weeks after he hid in a closet to avoid being murdered in a school shooting, 18-year-old Parkland massacre survivor David Hogg is now the subject of the smear website HoggWatch.com, which has published multiple articles comparing him to a member of the Hitler Youth.The site is the brainchild of Mike Adams, the Alex Jones-aligned founder of the Natural News clickbait empire. Adams has been having something of a public meltdown since YouTube pulled his channel from its website last month for "violating community rules," possibly over complaints that Adams pushes dangerous anti-vaccination conspiracies. He's responded by complaining that "tyranny has arrived in America" and promising to create his own, right-wing version of YouTube.But in the meantime, Adams and the other writers at Natural News, which has 2.7 million Facebook followers, created HoggWatch.com, a website devoted to … [Read more...] about The “Natural News” Guy Created an Entire Website to Smear David Hogg

Chris Long was not happy when Fox News host Laura Ingraham took a shot at LeBron James' intelligence on the air Thursday night after the NBA superstar criticized President Donald Trump on an ESPN podcast this week. And as the outspoken Philadelphia Eagles defensive end and two-time Super Bowl winner often does, Long called foul on Twitter. James and Golden State Warriors forward Kevin Durant weighed in on the president during a pre-recorded conversation with ESPN's Cari Champion in January. "The No. 1 job in America, the point person, is someone who doesn't understand the people, and really don't give a f**k about the people," James said in the video.Calling the comments "barely intelligible" and "ungrammatical," Ingraham advised James to just "shut up and dribble.""I’m numb to this commentary – like. Must they run their mouths like that?" Ingraham said on her show. "Look, there might be a cautionary lesson in LeBron for kids. This is what happens when you … [Read more...] about Eagles’ Chris Long skewers Fox News for LeBron James smear

John Oliver’s latest episode of “Last Week Tonight” gave the host ample opportunity to address those viral videos of news anchors across the country reciting a promo script warning against “false news,” as mandated by telecom giant Sinclair Broadcast Group. In case you missed it, Sinclair owns about 200 news stations across the country, including four in Pennsylvania – WOLF (FOX56) in Wilkes-Barre; WHP (CBS21) in Harrisburg; and WJAC (NBC6) in Johnstown. Lately, the owners of the conservative-leaning broadcast media group has been forcing all of its newsrooms to read the same script on air, chiding other media for perpetuating fake news.During Sunday’s episode, Oliver spent about four minutes skewering Sinclair’s blatant right-wing agenda, highlighting other “must-run” stories the company's stations have broadcast – Sinclair previously was best know for a politically and racially charged directive that each of its … [Read more...] about John Oliver takes on the Sinclair ‘false news’ promo that’s invading local newsrooms

WASHINGTON (AP) — Guest lineups for the Sunday TV news shows:ABC's "This Week": National security adviser John Bolton.NBC's "Meet the Press": To be announced.CBS' "Face the Nation": Secretary of State Mike Pompeo; Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C.CNN's "State of the Union": Bolton; Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt.; Rep. Val Demings, D-Fla."Fox News Sunday": Pompeo. … [Read more...] about Sunday news shows