Scope of This Article and Defining Fake News
Most people I encounter tend to agree that CNN is untrustworthy; however, there is a significant deal of disagreement revolving around why that is. Those who subscribe to the idea that they are fake news - like myself - have a cynical view of CNN because we believe there is sufficient evidence to demonstrate that they quite literally, fabricate their news in order to deceive their audience. On the other hand, there are people who feel like CNN, along with most of the mainstream media, are untrustworthy because they use deceptive tactics other than unabashed lying as a means of conveying a narrative that they seek to propagate. These people presume that CNN uses framing effects, omissions, the timing at which news is reported, and other underhanded tactics as a means of conveying a dishonest narrative that is politically expedient; but importantly, lying is not in this reservoir of duplicitous strategies. And yes, as you may have noticed, these are not mutually exclusive views. People in the former category can also claim to be represented by the latter category (aside from the view that CNN doesn't lie) but never vice versa.
So this post is for those of you who fall into that latter category. I want to provide you with evidence that CNN truly is fake news. I will adduce two pieces of evidence in support of this claim, each of them taking the form of news stories characterized by lying. Lying here, does not mean dispersing misinformation on its own; rather, lying is going to mean promulgating false information WHILE BEING AWARE that this is exactly what is being done.
Exhibit A: Coverup for Cuomo's Covid Catastrophe
What are the facts of the case? Chris Cuomo, a CNN anchor, was diagnosed with Covid-19 on March 31st. Cuomo, and CNN more broadly, had established themselves as Covid puritans and watchdogs; as people who righteously (more like self-righteously) followed the prescriptions from the medical professionals and policed others through public shaming methods to do the same. Cuomo himself, was at the very forefront of all this sanctimonious clamor at the time that he contracted the virus, and continued to be well after.
Throughout the duration of Cuomo's illness, he continued working with CNN, live on air, claiming he was never going to leave his basement, nor had he already, because that would be irresponsible and put other people at risk of capturing the virus. He lied.
On April 7th, while Cuomo was still sick with Covid-19, he was caught outside of his quarantine space by an elderly biker. The biker told Cuomo he shouldn't be outdoors with his virus, and Cuomo approached the man (who was in the high risk category for Covid outcomes) and accosted him. On April 15th, CNN aired a video of Chris Cuomo coming out of his basement where he had ostensibly been quarantining the entire time. Cuomo was speaking about how good it felt to finally see his family again and to be able to do things outside again. CNN knew that the implication in all of this - that Cuomo hadn't been outside of the basement preceding the recording - was a farse, but they didn't care. They still gave him a platform to lie on, and they have never retracted any information provided by their network, that indicated Cuomo was not confined to his basement for the entirety of his ailment's course.
Exhibit B: The Peaceful, Non-violent, Graceful Arsonists of BLM
BLM engaged in a violent protest that resulted in a building being set ablaze. Afterwards, a fake news CNN anchor told what I am deeming the "world's most blatant lie"; in the most unfunny, unironic fashion possible, the reporter featured in the video below, told his colleague that the protest from which the fire he was standing right in front of resulted, was "generally not unruly". This of course, falls in line with the infamously stupid category of arguments that paint the work of BLM as "mostly peaceful" on the grounds that most BLM protestors don't engage in violence at BLM events. Of course, these arguments are ridiculous because measuring the peacefulness of protests isn't done exclusively on an analysis of how many individual contributors are partaking in violence; if this were the case, we would say that Ted Bundy was "mostly peaceful" or "generally not unruly" because the vast majority of his life was not spent killing people. In other words, the significance of the violence committed and the frequency at which it occurs matters a great deal in these kinds of analyses; everyone knows this at an intuitive level at least, if not at an analytical one. If you believe this CNN reporter knew this and is dismissing this framework of assessment so that he can claim the event was non-violent, you agree that he has lied, and was exemplifying fake news.
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