Frittering Away American Democracy, One Tweet At A Time (UPDATED)

Many media outlets appear to have learned nothing from how Putin puppet Donald "Not Exonerated" Trump used them to amplify his rancid messaging in 2016, or perhaps they don't give a damn:

Major media outlets failed to rebut President Donald Trump's misinformation 65% of the time in their tweets about his false or misleading comments, according to a Media Matters review. That means the outlets amplified Trump's misinformation more than 400 times over the three-week period of the study -- a rate of 19 per day.

The data shows that news outlets are still failing to grapple with a major problem that media critics highlighted during the Trump transition: When journalists apply their traditional method of crafting headlines, tweets, and other social media posts to Trump, they end up passively spreading misinformation by uncritically repeating his falsehoods.

The continuing passivity of many major media -- whose truth- telling is supposed to be one of democracy's guardians against a would- be autocrat like Trump -- in clearly disputing Trump's Niagara of lies signals that the run- up to the 2020 election will be marked by the same both siderism and false equivalencies that gave us our "young, vibrant" presnut.

The worst offenders?  The Hill, with 3.25 million Twitter followers, which passes along Trump lies and misinformation without rebuttal or context 88 percent of the time;  the main Twitter feed for ABC News, with 14.3 million followers, failing to dispute Trump 74 percent of the time;  CBS News, with 6.71 million followers, failing to dispute 87 percent of the time; and NBC News, with 6.52 million followers, failing to dispute 52 percent of the time.  MSNBC?  Even the "librul" cable network's Twitter, with 2.41 million followers, failed to dispute 55 percent of the time.  With friends like them...

Among the better media:  the Washington Post Twitter feed, which failed to dispute only 11 percent of the time.

Not mentioned in the article was the New York Times, but we can offer some anecdotal evidence from the past week that would suggest placing them squarely in the offender camp:

"Instead of calling Trump’s lie a lie, the Times used the euphemism 'revived an inaccurate refrain' in a tweet that was widely mocked." https://t.co/6S5AFjVqXC Via @dangillmor

— Jay Rosen (@jayrosen_nyu) April 29, 2019

Then we have perhaps the most dogged flogger of the "Hillary's emails!" nothingburger inserting a phony Trump "spying" narrative in a tweet about why the FBI was alarmed at the Trump campaign's ties with Russia:

NEW: The decision to aim a US gov't investigator at a presidential campaign official shows the level of alarm inside the FBI during the '16 election and gives ammunition to Trump who claims the FBI spied on his campaign. w/@adamgoldmanNYT @MarkMazzettiNYT https://t.co/13n4mqjJXT

— Michael S. Schmidt (@nytmike) May 2, 2019

These smug corporate media and their jaded "journalists" are the same ones Masha Gessen warned about, those that choose to fall in line to preserve their access.  The difference is that now we've seen the damage they've done, and they're being called out more forcefully and systemically.  Whether that's enough or not remains to be seen. But as Jonathan Swift wrote in 1710, "Falsehood flies, and the Truth comes limping after it" -- and he didn't say it on Twitter.

UPDATE:  Schmidt's tweet/ story pleased a certain "young, vibrant person." Mission accomplished: access protected.

Finally, Mainstream Media is getting involved - too “hot” to avoid. Pulitzer Prize anyone? The New York Times, on front page (finally), “Details effort to spy on Trump Campaign.” @foxandfriends  This is bigger than WATERGATE, but the reverse!

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) May 3, 2019

Let The Retrospectives Begin! (Cont.)

We'll do one more round of this before we turn the page to what is bound to be a decisive year in our nation's history. As always, please go to the links for the full articles.

Mark Sumner at Daily Kos looks back at what was lost in one short (but in most ways excruciatingly long) year:

What’s amazing now is just how far away events from a year ago feel. At this time last year, Barack Obama was still president. The EPA was still staffed by scientists engaged in protecting the nation’s air and water. The United States was still a signee of the Paris agreement, still a respected member of the world community, still a trusted ally and valued member of NATO. The Department of Justice was still fighting to protect voter’s rights, educational access, and workplace equality. The Department of Energy was overseeing record increases in renewables and record cuts in pollution. The Internet was still protected by Net Neutrality rules. And you had never heard of Anthony Scaramucci, Rob Goldstone, George Papadopoulos, or Natalia Veselnitskaya.  

There were also a few regulations in effect a year ago that are gone now. Like, it was still illegal to sell mattresses that could catch on fire from a dropped cigarette. Gas fireplaces had to meet minimal efficiency standards. A class of pesticides known to be carcinogens were banned around children. Coal waste couldn’t completely obstruct flowing streams and rivers. Restaurant workers got to keep their own tips. Oil companies had to report on how much methane they allowed to leak into the air. And it was illegal to kill wolf pups and baby polar bears while they were snoozing in their dens with mom. 

Oh, and regulations to improve safety and reduce environmental impact from fracking were underway … those were killed yesterday, just to round out the year.

Sumner then provides some additional retrospectives from other observers in his round- up.

Media Matters has collected 10 of the most egregious pronouncements on climate change and the environment by right- wing media;  gas giant "Oxycontin Rush" Limbaugh shows up twice on the list, including this particularly loony episode:

As Hurricane Irma barrelled toward Florida, Limbaugh spun conspiracy theories and told his listeners that hurricane warnings are part of a scheme to benefit retailers, the media, and people like Al Gore who want to "advance this climate change agenda." Notably, Limbaugh didn’t have any skepticism about the danger Irma posed when it came to his own well-being, as he fled from his Florida home to Los Angeles before Irma made landfall. It's not the first time Limbaugh has spouted irresponsible conspiracy theories about hurricane forecasts. He was criticized last year for doing the same thing during Hurricane Matthew, earning himself a spot on the 2016 edition of this list.

Ian Millhiser at Think Progress looks back and gives thanks... that "We are ruled by stupid goblins who lack basic math skills":

There are many reasons why the apocalypse never came. The Resistance to Trump began early in his presidency, with a series of massive demonstrations that emboldened his opponents. Groups like Indivisible seized upon this energy, channeling rage at America’s groppenführer into a sophisticated grassroots lobbying campaign. Women and voters of color organized. Black voters in Alabama did the unthinkable — electing a Democrat to fill Jefferson Beauregard Sessions’ old Senate seat. 

But the Resistance could not have achieved so much without one crucial ally — incompetence. Time and time again, Trump and many of his fellow Republicans revealed that they have no idea how to govern. They understand little about policy. They turn their backs on key potential allies. And they seem allergic to the very idea that politics is a game of coalition building. 

America is a healthier, wealthier, far safer place today than it would have been if Republicans weren’t so godawful at their jobs. 

Unfortunately, we can't rely on these numbnuts to continue to fail, because in so many important ways they've already succeeded in changing our country for the worse. So, we must all make a resolution to continue to resist them, to organize against them, and come November 6, vote their asses out of every office in the land that we can.