Everyone knows that, except that an increasing number of people have forgotten. For the purpose of this piece, I’m using the word “Pravda” to refer to all fake news designed to push an agenda. For example, Fox “News” is republican Pravda. Breitbart is far right wing whackadoodle Pravda.
If you’re reading this, you know who all the right wing propagandists are so this piece is about left wing Pravda. It’s growing, and it’s making me sad. I see more and more fake “news” becoming increasingly popular on social media.
If you follow me on Facebook or Twitter, you may have realized that I never post anything from (for example) Share Blue. Why? Because they’re not journalists. Share Blue was created by the democratic establishment to push their agenda. So when you read an article on their site, you should know that they don’t exist to inform. They exist advance the DNC’s agenda.
I only share articles from credible, journalistic sources but as with everything, there are some caveats. Before I get to that, let me spell out what a “credible, journalistic source” is. It’s basically any long established newspaper in the world. Your local paper is a credible, journalistic source. They all publish news stories from the AP or Reuters and they also have opinion pieces from either syndicated columnists or local writers. Newspapers are good because the “news” section is separate from the “opinion” section so it’s harder to confuse the two than it is online. That’s not to say that credible journalistic outfits can’t have a bias. They absolutely can, which is why I read multiple different sources. A journalistic outfit’s bias usually manifests not in how they report, but what they report. The Guardian is an excellent left leaning newspaper in the UK. They’re left leaning not because they twist the news to push a lefty agenda. They’re left leaning because they tend to select stories to report on from a liberal perspective. That does not mean that the stories they publish aren’t well sourced and demonstrably accurate. They are a very reliable left leaning source.
I do share articles from credible aggregators. An example of a credible aggregator is Raw Story. Raw Story only aggregates stories that demonstrate that left is best! They do not peddle bullshit stories that are full of distortions and lies, and they always either link to, or disclose the original source of their stories.
I do occasionally share links from credible blogs that I trust because I have been reading those bloggers for years and they have a good track record of good analysis. More often than not, I will share a news story that was the basis for an interesting blog that I read. Examples of blogs that I rely on to inform myself are Empty Wheel, Digby, David Dayen (who writes for dozens of different publications), and Driftglass (for perspective).
I absolutely stay from left wing garbage sites, some of which I’m going to list because I see them everywhere and they annoy the fuck out of me. If I see another retweet or link to the Krassenstein grifters, I’m going to scream. Please click on that link. These guys are shady as fuck. They went from profiting from some pretty heinous grifting to suddenly being “resistance leaders”. They are grifters, and I have no use for the hyperbolic bullshit that they peddle. If Trump is about to be indicted by Mueller, I’m going to wait for The Washington Post to tell me. I don’t need to get it from two shady characters who call themselves “Hill Reporters” even though they’re nowhere near the hill, not affiliated The Hill (that fine establishment mouthpiece), and they’re not fucking reporters.
Another one I despise is the click baity (and frequently wrong) Palmer Report. This guy specializes in peddling (or furthering) total bullshit about the Russia investigation. All you have to do, is look at 1 weeks worth of stories from a year or more ago to find how wrong his “news” is. But people keep sharing his crap with no regard to his track record. Credible left leaning outlets are starting to call this guy out for his bullshit. Marcy Wheeler (empthwheel) is doing some really in-depth analysis on the Russia investigation, stitching together empirical facts to tell us what’s happening and she’s got 149,000 followers on Twitter. Palmer, who appears to have no regard for the truth because that won’t get him the clicks, has 249,000 followers. WHY?
Dctribune.org is pretty new (it was just registered in Ontario, CA 4 months ago), but it’s already getting social media traction. Most of their stories are 100% baseless but they’re anti-Trump so they get shared.
Here’s what I don’t get about these sites: Trump is doing so much fakakta shit every single day, what use does anyone have for the manufactured crap? How is it possible for liberals to be on the right side of history, and still have the taint of Pravda on them?
It’s maddening, and you all need to stop it. You’re making me unnecessarily bitchy about stupid bullshit I don’t have time for.
I figured out the formula for getting millions of readers and social media followers years ago, but I don’t want to run a stupid meme factory or peddle hyperbolic headlines for clicks. If I post a tweet that says, “Melania feels bullied. I don’t care, do you” I can get thousands of retweets. But if I post an article about the fuckery in Wisconsin, 3 people will be bothered to share that link.
It’s fucking pathetic and you can’t look down at Fox News viewers if you’re peddling the same kind of crap.
