Mark Caserta: Free State Patriot editor
6.30.17
The success of the Trump presidency appears to be making liberals uncomfortable beyond “truthful” words.
“Trump haters,” unable to leverage facts in decrying the leadership of Donald J. Trump, have been reduced to propagating “fake news” in an effort to bring him down.
In my lifetime, I’ve never seen such disregard for the fundamental principles of journalism as Americans are seeing from major news networks, like CNN, where it appears “truth, accuracy and impartiality” are no longer prerequisite to reporting.
Last week, CNN was forced to retract an editorial column on Friday that connected Anthony Scaramucci, an associate of Donald Trump, to a Russian investment fund managed by a Kremlin-controlled bank, per a column in The Hill by Julie Manchester the following day.
“On June 22, 2017, CNN.com published a story connecting Anthony Scaramucci with investigations into the Russian Direct Investment Fund,” the news organization said in a statement. “That story did not meet CNN’s editorial standards and has been retracted. Links to the story have been disabled. CNN apologizes to Mr. Scarmucci.”
Per Ms. Manchester’s piece, “the retracted story had claimed that Senate investigators were looking at the activities of the $10 billion Russian investment fund in connection to Scaramucci,” who served on President Trump’s transition team.
Now, President Trump has been quick to identify CNN as fake news, even downgrading their status to “very fake news” during an exchange with CNN’s White House reporter Jim Acosta in February. And frankly, it doesn’t get much “faker” than this story, which was totally fabricated, designed to further the false liberal narrative of Trump’s collusion with the Russians.
And it appears, Acosta and the “Clinton News Network,” as it’s been called, still harbor a grudge against the president.
Following the shooting of Rep. Steve Scalise, R-La., and two Capitol Police officers by a leftist gunman during a GOP baseball practice, Scalise was taken to a Washington hospital where he was visited that evening by President Trump and first lady Melania. The president tweeted after the visit: “Just left hospital. Rep. Steve Scalise, one of the truly great people, is in very tough shape – but he is a real fighter. Pray for Steve!”
But apparently, without taking the time to verify his sources, CNN’s Acosta jumped on a “big scoop” that the president really did not visit Scalise and tweeted: “WH official on hospital visit: ‘President Trump did not meet with Scalise and did not go into the room where Scalise is being treated.'”
Acosta was forced to delete his tweet and report the exact opposite “but not before it was captured by several Twitter users; many accusing the CNN reporter of spreading fake news,” according to a column in Breitbart, by Jerome Hudson.
Truth is a defining attribute of any individual or organization, but certainly a news provider. When a news organization can no longer be trusted to deliver the truth, they become ineffectual.
CNN has chosen to place itself in that category.
It’s time for Americans to hold fake news organizations accountable by withholding viewership and support.
Mark Caserta is a conservative blogger, a Cabell County resident and a regular contributor to The Herald-Dispatch editorial page.
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