Last week, Van Jones spread around a truly pathetic Photoshop of Fox News asking, “Was the Russian meteor a plot by President Obama to prove that global warming is real?”
It was such an obvious Photoshop that Jones was forced to tweet an admission of his willfully ignorant mistake (before deleting the evidence of his screw-up).
But that didn’t stop “real journalist” James Fallows from rating it “mostly true” (in his fantasies) and, really, isn’t that good enough for you Faux News viewers?
#protip from @jamesfallows: You can publish any falsehood you want with the disclaimer "Is it 'true'? I don't know." http://t.co/3ilBEz5J
— James Taranto (@jamestaranto) February 20, 2013
Writing at The Atlantic, Fallows asked, “How much of this illustration, now zooming around the Internet, is actually ‘true’? I don’t know.” Ah, yes. The ol’ “don’t know, don’t care” disclaimer.
@jamestaranto @JamesFallows You don't even need to be tech-savvy to tell that's an obvious photoshop. Is this his first time on a computer?
— Matt Berry ☘️ (@mttbry) February 20, 2013
Sure, Fallows could have read the freakin’ Google and actually debunked the Photoshop as Twitchy did last week.
@BuzzFeedAndrew @jamesfallows @daveweigel Odd you didn't think to just google it b4 posting. https://t.co/wSX6ijul. 1st result answers Q
— Dan Amira (@DanAmira) February 20, 2013
Or he could have looked at the image and noted the obviously fake text and “Election HQ” logo. But you know, journalism.
https://twitter.com/JamesFallows/status/304059432587902977
Fallows doesn’t need you plebs to tell him how to do his job.
https://twitter.com/JamesFallows/status/304059895806836736
Hey, James, any thoughts on the CNN anchor who asked if global warming can cause asteroids? Hint: Not a Photoshop.
Update: Fallows did issue an update noting that the Fox image is fake. He linked to Twitchy’s original post debunking the painfully obvious Photoshop, but it doesn’t look like he’ll be linking to this Twitchy post anytime soon.
https://twitter.com/NPR_Not_Neutral/status/304306393555550208
Hat tip: @NPR_Not_Neutral
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