The Fake News Epidemic Is Growing

In the waning hours of the anniversary of the president’s 2018 fake news awards, we were reminded that the problem of fake news persists today. Moreover, it seems to be growing. BuzzFeed published a now debunked bombshell report alleging, “President Donald Trump directed his longtime attorney Michael Cohen to lie to Congress about negotiations to build Trump Tower in Moscow, according to two federal law enforcement officials in an investigation of the matter.”^[1] According to BuzzFeed, Cohen admitted this after Robert Mueller’s investigators independently drew the same conclusions from interviews with multiple witnesses, internal company e-mails, text messages, and a cache of other documents.^[2]

Not surprisingly, this report triggered an avalanche of frenzied analysis and reporting by nearly all major news outlets because, as the article notes, “It is the first known example of Trump explicitly telling a subordinate to lie directly about his own dealings with Russia.”^[3] As such, reporters informed us that “experts say the Trump-Cohen situation is reminiscent of [the] Nixon era,”^[4] and the prospect of impeachment was liberally discussed. In the Friday hours before 8 p.m., CNN used the words “impeach,” “impeachment,” and “impeachable” 82 times, while MSNBC floated these words 97 times.^[5] This despite being unable to independently verify the report, despite its two authors publicly disagreeing with each other regarding whether they had seen the documents in question,^[6][7] and despite one of the author’s history of scandals related to false reporting.^[8][9]

BuzzFeed is not an outlet known for its in-depth reporting. After reminding us that it was BuzzFeed that brought us headlines such as “19 Husbands Who Sent the Most Hillariously Random Texts Ever” and “10 Signs Your Cat Is a Wizard,” Tucker Carlson commented, “You might have thought, ‘How could BuzzFeed have gotten the one story that nobody else can replicate but that everybody else has been searching for?’ You might have asked yourself that question before repeating the key assertions in the story, mindlessly, and as if they were true.”^[10] Nevertheless, reputable news organizations promoted the report as their lead story, describing it with words like “bombshell” and “explosive,” somehow believing their breathless reporting and wall-to-wall coverage to be justified so long as they included the qualifier “if true.”

Several politicians capitalized on the news coverage, immediately calling for new investigations and the beginning of impeachment proceedings.^{[11][12][13][14]} Representative John Yarmuth (D-KY) Tweeted, “If true, which it appears to be, the @BuzzFeedNews report that Trump suborned perjury is an impeachable offense, and the House should begin the process.”^[15]

House Intelligence Committee chairman Peter Schiff (D-CA) promised to investigate the matter, calling the allegations a “counterintelligence concern of the greatest magnitude.”^[16] Likewise, House Judiciary Committee chairman Jerrold Nadler (D-NY) promised that because the president may have committed a federal crime, the committee’s job “is to get to the bottom of it, and we will do that work.”^[17] And House Judiciary Committee member Ted Lieu (D-CA) Tweeted, “This stunning Trump Tower Moscow story establishes a clear case of Obstruction of Justice, a felony. I’ve lost count now how many times @realDonaldTrump has engaged in Obstruction of Justice. Oh, fyi the first Article of Impeachment for Richard Nixon was Obstruction of Justice.”^[18]

However, these grandiose visions of toppling a presidency were checked when the Special Counsel’s office issued it first and only statement regarding evidence in its investigation of President Trump,^[19] saying, “BuzzFeed’s description of specific statements to the special counsel’s office, and characterization of documents and testimony obtained by this office, regarding Michael Cohen’s congressional testimony are not accurate.”^[20] Apparently, BuzzFeed’s report was so erroneous—or at the very least, misleading—with such enormous implications, that the Special Counsel’s office felt compelled to break a silence that it has maintained for two years. The magnitude of such an action is profound, and it appears to verify and underscore the charge that fake news not only exists, it is also having a significant impact upon the course of our nation.

Many of the fake news stories of 2016–17 were sophomoric or character assassinations, such as:

• Trump offends Japanese by overfeeding fish^[21][22]
• The first lady of Poland refused to shake Trump’s hand^[23][24]
• Trump’s aides can’t figure out how to use the light switches^[25]
• Melania and Barron Trump will not move into the White House^[26][27]
• Trump’s voter fraud expert might have engaged in voter fraud^[28]

The frivolous nature of these reports is evident in hindsight, though it is worth recalling that the news media and many within our nation seemingly lost their collective minds over these issues at the time. And, of course, there were political or agenda-driven fake news stories, such as:

• The GOP healthcare bill made rape a pre-existing condition^[29][30]
• Russian hackers penetrated the U.S. electrical grid^[31]
• Pulse nightclub shooter used an AR-15 rifle^[32][33]
• House of Representatives voted to repeal a law that prevents the mentally ill from buying guns^[34][35]
• A woman died before returning home because of Trump’s travel ban^[36][37]

However, the fake news stories of 2018–19 seem to be far more significant. These stories have led to changes in policy, influenced the 2018 elections, have put federal workers and their families in danger,^[38] and nearly de-railed a Supreme Court Justice nomination. Recall just a few examples:

1. Sexual harassment and rape claims against then-Supreme Court nominee Judge Brett Kavanaugh

At a time when Kavanaugh’s opponents were desperate to prove a pattern of sexual harassment, Brian Karem wrongly reported that Montgomery County investigators were investigating a second sexual assault claim against Kavanaugh from his high school years.^[39][40] Likewise, the New Yorker published Deborah Ramirez’ accusation despite admittedly being so intoxicated that she had significant memory gaps.^[41] She even told her former classmates that she couldn’t be sure whether Kavanaugh was her offender, and the New Yorker could find no first-hand witnesses or even confirm whether Kavanaugh was at the party in question.^[42]

Furthermore, NBC sat on information they had contradicting Michael Avenatti’s claim that he had a witness who could support his client, Julie Swetnick’s, allegation of Kavanaugh’s participation in gang rape activity when he was in high school.^[43] And both CNN and The Hill spread a retracted sexual assault claim by a Rhode Island man without mentioning in their report that the Jeffrey Catalan had already apologized for mistakenly accusing Brett Kavanaugh.^[44][45]

2. Mic writer claims Russian spy was in the Oval Office

“Shortly after it was revealed that a Russian spy was attempting to infiltrate right-wing networks, Mic writer Emily Singer claimed that same Russian spy was present during an Oval Office meeting with Russian diplomat Sergey Lavrov. Singer claimed Russian spy Maria Butina was spotted in a photo of the meeting, citing the fact that she has red hair like the woman in the photo. The woman in the photo is actually NSC staffer Cari Lutkins.”^[46[47][48]

3. TIME magazine’s cover addressed family separation at the border and featured Trump towering over a crying Honduran child

“Time Magazine published an infamous cover in June that showed a Honduran child crying at the U.S. border, apparently after she had been separated from her mother. The image quickly became the face of the ‘issue of family separations at the border,’ despite the fact that the child in question was never separated.

Later reports also revealed that, in contrast to common left-wing talking points, the mother and her child were not fleeing violence, and the mother had been previously deported from the U.S. In addition, the mother left three other children in Honduras and allegedly paid a smuggler to help her and her daughter cross the border illegally.”^[49]

4. The Washington Post said Martha McSally accused Kyrsten Sinema of committing treason during a debate in the 2018 Senate race^[50][51]

Martha McSally accused Sinema of supporting the treasonous actions of others, not of committing treason herself.^[52]

5. CNN reported that Trump’s lawyer, Michael Cohen, was prepared to tell Special Counsel Robert Mueller that Trump had advanced knowledge of a meeting between his son and Russians in Trump Tower^[53]

Even after Cohen’s lawyer, Lanny Davis, refuted the story, saying that Cohen had no information related to the Trump Tower meeting,^[54] CNN doubled, tripled, and even quadrupled down on its reporting.^[55]

For years, there has been a consistent pattern of fallacious or misleading news reports that have fueled highly divisive narratives that have often had real-world consequences.^[56] Particularly troubling is that the trend appears to be that these fake news stories are becoming more flagrant while also becoming more consequential. No longer can we afford to ignore fake news as a political feud between the president and the news media or as irrelevant. As noted in my book, The Fake News Epidemic and Its Perilous Trajectory, “Nobody expects the news media to be 100% accurate all the time. However, there is a consistent pattern of misrepresentation and selective reporting of the facts among many of today’s news outlets. This should concern us … not just because we rely upon these outlets for reliable information, but because this pattern could have significant spiritual consequences for our nation.”^[57]

As a nation, we risk provoking God to judgment by fostering this culture of lies (Jer. 9:1–9). “Many of our nation’s guardians of truth—journalists and reporters—have forsaken their commitment to objectively report the facts. Truth has become an acceptable casualty for the ‘greater good’ of protecting and promoting select political agendas. However, truth is not relative; it is objective. It is also an attribute of God. This is why God says in Proverbs 12:22, ‘Lying lips are an abomination to the Lord’.”^[58]

As Christians, we must take the increasing prevalence of fake news within our nation seriously. At its core, it is a spiritual fight between truth and error, but how will truth prevail if its champions choose to ignore the battle? We need not become political warriors, but we ought to hold people accountable for the veracity of what they promote and their methods of reporting. God has called His people to honesty (Exodus 23:1), and He has called us to both rejoice with the truth (1 Cor. 13:6) and to focus upon it (Php. 4:8). In Zechariah 8:16 and 19, God says, “These are the things that you shall do: Speak the truth to one another … Therefore, love truth and peace.” However, we cannot love truth if we refuse to defend it.