Well before the election, journalists already were expressing their concerns about the effect a Trump presidency would have on press freedom, so it’s no surprise that even President Obama suddenly is expressing concerns about “fake news.”
It’s now that the public should be most concerned: when the president himself assumes people are too easily duped by well packaged “active misinformation” and frets that “we won’t know what to protect,” journalism really is in trouble. How about staying out of it if you’re not going to protect it all?
How soon until the administration comes down on fake news site CBSNews.com?
According to CBS News, @StephenGutowski is alt-right. LOL. https://t.co/0wcF8U8212
— Bobby P (@Panzenbeck) November 19, 2016
If it's CBS it has to be credible, right?
— Robert Diggle (@RobHeel) November 20, 2016
It’s particularly ironic that Washington Free Beacon staff writer Stephen Gutowski was outed as a member of the alt-right by trusted source CBS News. After all, it was Gutowski who busted award-winning journalist Katie Couric for using deceptive editing techniques in her anti-gun documentary to make a well informed gun rights group appear clueless. That, folks, is as fake as fake news gets, and Gutowski was the one to call it out.
Unbelievable. Remove me from this article, @CBSNews. https://t.co/CjURXIGq8U
— Stephen Gutowski (@StephenGutowski) November 19, 2016
fake news!
— Julio Rosas (@Julio_Rosas11) November 19, 2016
https://twitter.com/QuincyM/status/800126997934522368
So how did Gutowski end up associated with the alt-right? Like many others, he joked in a tweet about the ridiculous outfit Lady Gaga wore to a last-minute Clinton campaign rally.
Lady Gaga, dressed as some sort of futuristic Nazi, is speaking at a Clinton rally as the first votes are cast.
— Stephen Gutowski (@StephenGutowski) November 8, 2016
Gaga is known for ridiculous outfits, but her Michael Jackson tribute really did resemble a Nazi uniform, just as some of Hillary’s getups look like something raided from Mao Zedong’s closet.
Andrea Park of CBS News compiled a number of tweets under the headline, “Lady Gaga’s jacket draws Nazi comparisons from alt-right,” writing, “Gaga wore a black buttoned military jacket with a red armband, and the alt-right quickly compared her to a Nazi.”
Also swept up in CBS News’ report was comedian Tim Young.
Lady Gaga dressed like a Nazi for the final #Hillary rally… Seems legit. pic.twitter.com/iLvaKOrHPr
— Tim Young (@TimRunsHisMouth) November 8, 2016
Hey guys, I found a problem with your fake news theorem https://t.co/3nxzfCaWSl
— Stephen Miller (@redsteeze) November 20, 2016
https://twitter.com/BecketAdams/status/799252577644924928
CBS News has since appended an editor’s note: “Tweets by comedian Tim Young and Free Beacon staff writer Stephen Gutowski have been removed from this article. Neither are associated with the alt-right.”
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