{"id":1412114,"date":"2022-03-31T08:01:25","date_gmt":"2022-03-31T12:01:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=1412114"},"modified":"2022-03-31T08:01:39","modified_gmt":"2022-03-31T12:01:39","slug":"no-pointing-out-the-medias-lies-does-not-threaten-democracy-%ef%bf%bc","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/no-pointing-out-the-medias-lies-does-not-threaten-democracy-%ef%bf%bc\/","title":{"rendered":"No, Pointing Out The Media\u2019s Lies Does Not Threaten Democracy \ufffc"},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"&quot;\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">22<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Fno-pointing-out-the-medias-lies-does-not-threaten-democracy-%25ef%25bf%25bc%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=1412114&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><div><\/div>\n<p>Last week, the University of Ottawa (yes, <em>that<\/em> Ottawa, where peaceful protesters were recently arrested and their bank accounts frozen <a href=\"https:\/\/www.wsj.com\/articles\/canadian-democracy-survive-justin-trudeau-freedom-convoy-peaceful-protest-ottawa-unacceptable-views-emergency-act-civil-liberties-11645472383\">without a court order<\/a>) hosted a virtual event unironically named \u201cJournalists Facing Mean Tweets: What It Means for Our Democracy.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Its <a href=\"https:\/\/techlaw.uottawa.ca\/events\/journalists-facing-mean-tweets?1846\">stated<\/a> purpose was to \u201cdiscuss online harassment, discrediting journalism, and what incivility means for our democratic systems.\u201d The layers of irony are truly endless and speak to just how insular and self-aggrandizing corporate media has become.<\/p>\n<p>To academic and media elites, average citizens who engage in constitutionally protected speech online represent a threat to \u201cdemocratic systems\u201d yet the federal government\u2019s use of <a href=\"https:\/\/reason.com\/2022\/02\/15\/canadian-government-uses-terrorist-financing-act-to-target-financial-support-for-freedom-convoy-truckers\/\">terrorist financing laws<\/a> to quash domestic political dissent is totally fine; that\u2019s democracy in action.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cFrom personal attacks to accusations of bias or being \u2018fake news,\u2019 negativity directed at journalists can have a serious impact on when and how credible information is shared and found,\u201d claimed the university. <\/p>\n<p>In other words, daring to notice the patently fraudulent tales spun by agenda-driven news outlets \u2014 then publicly voicing your displeasure with the propagandists responsible \u2014 is now deeply problematic.<\/p>\n<p>It\u2019s difficult to imagine any industry being more sanctimonious, out of touch, and lacking in self-awareness than the news media. But journalists and organizations that decry the rise of \u201cmisinformation\u201d and being branded \u201cfake news\u201d should look in the mirror.<\/p>\n<p>The past two years have absolutely exposed corporate media institutions in both Canada and the United States as purveyors not of mere bias but rather outright lies and falsehoods told in furtherance of a far-left political agenda. This isn\u2019t hyperbole; it\u2019s demonstrably true. And precisely <em>because<\/em> it\u2019s true is why the press has grown so hysterical and defensive as of late.<\/p>\n<p>It\u2019s been well-documented on <a href=\"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/2022\/03\/17\/after-throttling-the-hunter-biden-laptop-story-with-hacked-and-russian-disinformation-lies-propaganda-press-quietly-admit-it-was-completely-legit\/\">this website<\/a> and elsewhere how leftist media entities spread <em>actual<\/em> fake news about Hunter Biden\u2019s laptop in the weeks leading up to the 2020 U.S. presidential election. The New York Post\u2019s <a href=\"https:\/\/nypost.com\/2022\/03\/17\/the-times-finally-admits-hunter-bidens-laptop-is-real\/\">accurate reporting<\/a> on damning emails in which Joe Biden\u2019s son sought lucrative business deals overseas, seemingly in exchange for access to his then-vice president father, was labeled a \u201choax\u201d and called \u201cRussian disinformation\u201d by CNN and countless others.<\/p>\n<p>Big Tech censors went even further. Twitter suspended The Post\u2019s account for nearly two weeks while Facebook <a href=\"https:\/\/www.usatoday.com\/story\/tech\/2020\/10\/28\/zuckerberg-facebook-throttled-ny-post-article-after-fbi-warning\/3755249001\/\">throttled the reach<\/a> of the story itself. All of this was done in an effort to bury news that was unfavorable to the Democratic presidential candidate and his chances of ousting then-President Donald Trump from the White House. The New York Times has all but admitted as much, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2022\/03\/16\/us\/politics\/hunter-biden-tax-bill-investigation.html\">acknowledging<\/a> this month that the emails in question had been \u201cauthenticated by people familiar with them and with the investigation.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>This was not an isolated incident. In February 2020, Facebook censored the New York Post for an <a href=\"https:\/\/nypost.com\/2020\/02\/22\/dont-buy-chinas-story-the-coronavirus-may-have-leaked-from-a-lab\/\">opinion column<\/a> that calmly and rationally suggested Covid-19 \u201cmay have leaked from a lab\u201d in Wuhan. Remember, at the time, you were ordered by \u201cexperts\u201d and \u201cfact-checkers\u201d to believe that the virus originated from a Chinese wet market and any dissenting point of view was <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonpost.com\/politics\/2020\/02\/16\/tom-cotton-coronavirus-conspiracy\/\">dismissed<\/a> as a \u201cconspiracy theory\u201d cooked up by Republicans.<\/p>\n<p>But in May 2021, Facebook finally <a href=\"https:\/\/nypost.com\/2021\/05\/26\/facebook-reverses-ban-on-posts-claiming-covid-was-man-made\/\">announced<\/a> it would no longer be removing these sorts of posts, after President Biden ordered U.S. intelligence agencies to investigate the lab origin story more closely. By mid-summer, it was <a href=\"https:\/\/www.cnn.com\/2021\/07\/16\/politics\/biden-intel-review-covid-origins\/index.html\">reported<\/a> that officials in the Biden administration \u201cnow believe the theory that the virus accidentally escaped from a lab in Wuhan is at least as credible as the possibility that it emerged naturally in the wild.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Translation: What was once deemed a \u201cconspiracy theory\u201d by the media and Big Tech is now an acceptable position for you to hold \u2014 not unlike the fact that Covid-19 vaccines <a href=\"https:\/\/www.cdc.gov\/media\/releases\/2021\/s0730-mmwr-covid-19.html\">don\u2019t prevent transmission or infection<\/a>, natural immunity is <a href=\"https:\/\/www.cdc.gov\/mmwr\/volumes\/71\/wr\/mm7104e1.htm\">more effective<\/a> than vaccine-induced immunity alone, and cloth masks <a href=\"https:\/\/www.cdc.gov\/coronavirus\/2019-ncov\/prevent-getting-sick\/types-of-masks.html\">don\u2019t offer much protection<\/a> against the virus.<\/p>\n<p>But perhaps the most stunning example of media malpractice that\u2019s come to light is with respect to the \u201cRussian collusion\u201d hoax that engulfed the country for more than five years. Thanks to breathless propaganda, there are likely still millions of Americans who believe the utter <a href=\"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/2022\/03\/18\/spygate-101-a-primer-on-the-russia-collusion-hoaxs-years-long-plot-to-take-down-trump\/\">falsehood<\/a> that the Trump campaign colluded with Russia to steal the 2016 presidential election from Hillary Clinton. <\/p>\n<p>Of particular note: The Clinton-funded \u201cSteele dossier,\u201d which contained false and salacious claims about Trump, relied heavily on a \u201cprimary sub-source\u201d now known to be \u2014 of all things \u2014 a Russian national named Igor Danchenko. Last November, as part of Special Counsel John Durham\u2019s investigation into the origins of the Trump-Russia probe, Danchenko was <a href=\"https:\/\/www.foxnews.com\/politics\/fbi-arrests-steele-dossier-sub-source-durham-investigation\">arrested and charged<\/a> with making false statements to the FBI. Unsurprisingly, this massive revelation received virtually no coverage in the mainstream press.<\/p>\n<p>There are many journalists with platforms on cable news, social media, and beyond who lament what they perceive to be right-wing \u201cmisinformation.\u201d In fairness, no one has a monopoly on lying. But what\u2019s clear is that the most pernicious, divisive, and readily-accepted lies have indeed been coming from the left. Pointing them out in an unrelenting pursuit of the truth doesn\u2019t imperil democracy \u2014 it strengthens it.<\/p>\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator\" \/>\n<div class=\"article-author-description fst-italic\">\n  Kiyan Kassam is a conservative writer and journalist based in Vancouver. Follow him on Twitter at <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/kiyankassam\">@kiyankassam<\/a>.<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Last week, the University of Ottawa (yes, that Ottawa, where peaceful protesters were recently arrested and their bank accounts frozen without a court order) hosted a virtual event unironically named<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":575,"featured_media":2315279,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1412114","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1412114","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/575"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1412114"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1412114\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2315279"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1412114"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1412114"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1412114"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}