While the media is obsessively focused on misinformation and disinformation on the right, a shocking number of those on the left believe things that are factually inaccurate.
45% of Democrats believe the 2016 election was stolen by Vladimir Putin and the Russians.
52% of Democrats believe the Supreme Court recently outlawed abortion in the United States.
64% of MSNBC viewers believe that Florida banned the word “gay” in schools.
The reason mainstream media outlets let the misinformation and disinformation on the left slide is because they believe it. Let me explain:
Humans are really good at self-deceptive rationalization. The elites, MSM, liberals want so desperately for the model of the world in their head to be right they deceive themselves.
However, the audience matters. How is it there audience doesn't question? They certainly hear counter arguments.
Howie Mandel hosts a game show on Netflixs, Bull Sh*t. They ask trivia questions. The contestants looks to be 30 somethings. Some questions are pretty esoteric. But one question was how long does light take to reach Earth from Jupiter?
43 minutes, 2 weeks, 3 months, 4 years
The contest answered 4 years, 4 light years. That is the distance to Alpha Centari the closest star. How is it an adult doesn't have some concept of planetary distance?
People are profoundly ignorant. A hallmark of the Dark Ages.
How much of the MSM letting misinformation remain to be perceived as truth is because they so desperately want to believe it themselves, and how much is exercising control over ignorant, intellectually lazy sheep?
How much is the "journalist" themselves fearing if people don't see them as infallible they will lose their audience?
Look at the reaction to changes at CNN and Politico. If the media was about reporting and analyzing the news, you would not see such a strong emotional response to those organizations trying to become more moderate.
For so many in media, journalism is no longer about reporting objective truth but reinforcing a narrative that journalists feel is true. That allows journalists a lot of latitude and flexibility with respect to the truth if their allegiance is to the narrative