Much has been made lately by the mainstream media regarding the epidemic of "fake news."
The past week alone has seen hundreds of articles in the mainstream media online and in print bemoaning the "fake news" phenomenon. A Google News search for the term retrieves roughly 610,000 results in under a second.
"This is a political witch hunt as journalists try to find someone to blame and silence for Donald Trump winning."
But as the liberal hysteria surrounding "fake news" increases, so too is the mainstream media campaign to smear right-of-center media outlets with the moniker.
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"Fake news" is yet the latest iteration of "racist," or "bigot," or "conspiracy theorist" -- misused terms used to to silence the voices the progressive powers-that-be would rather not be heard.
"There is 'fake news,' Dan Gainor, Media Research Council's Vice President of Business and Culture, told LifeZette. "The problem is the media wants to define it as whatever they don't like. Major media outlets like The Washington Post and LA Times are claiming legitimate conservative sites fall into that category and that's entirely false."
"Fake news is whatever people living in the liberal bubble determine to be believed by the right," as Fox News host Tucker Carlson tweeted on Monday.
This becomes even more apparent when one examines the patently false narratives and stories peddled by the mainstream media over the past few years.
Allegedly respectable media organizations have time and time again reported hate crime hoaxes as true without even the slightest attempt at verification. Rolling Stone infamously ran an expose titled "A Rape on Campus" about a rape that in fact never occurred.
"Honest" journalists at CNN, MSNBC and the like have claimed repeatedly -- without any solid evidence -- that opposition to President Obama and support for President-elect Donald Trump are both fueled by racism. They have asserted and continue to assert that WikiLeaks is an agent of Russian intelligence, insisted Hillary Clinton did not behave unethically whilst secretary of state, and that Trump's campaign was built on "hate."
They spent weeks insisting that Donald Trump either sexually-assaults women or advocates for the sexual-assault of women based on a tape which clearly showed that he was in fact making a comment -- albeit incredibly vulgar -- about the strength of some women's desire to be with rich, powerful men.
Indeed, they have also spent years fuelling the false narrative of systemic police racism in America, even going so far as to report -- based on a single, unreliable witness statement and zero police verification -- that petty criminal Mike Brown was killed with his "hands up," pleading "don't shoot." The reality was that Brown was shot while assaulting a police officer and trying to take that officer's weapon.
For months, every liberal-leaning media organization in the country repeated without question that "hands up, don't shoot" narrative.
"'Fake news" was born in August 2014 in Ferguson MO. when @MSNBC @nytimes @washingtonpost @CNN all propagated the Hands up, Don't shoot lie," tweeted Milwaukee County Sheriff David Clarke on Tuesday.
For weeks, every liberal-leaning media organization in the country repeated without question that "hands up, don't shoot" narrative. "Only sure facts, according to police, is Mike Brown was unarmed and fleeing with hands up," tweeted Sally Kohn at the time.
"The very same outlets that told us Hillary Clinton was guaranteed to win the election and that 'Hands Up, Don't Shoot' happened now claim to be arbiters of 'truth' -- they aren't," said Gainor. "This is a political witch hunt as journalists try to find someone to blame and silence for Donald Trump winning."
