Fake News or Sour Grapes

A few weeks ago, Li'l Donnie Trump made an announcement that he would unveil  his Fake News Awards. The ever petulant man child in the Oval Office and on his private golf courses has been at war with the media over perceived slights in a less than glowing assessment of his reign...er, presidency.   

I figured these so-called awards would constitute some small but real errors in reporting that were quickly corrected by the media. I guessed the list would include some opinion pieces conflated with news and at least one story that Trump just plain doesn't want to admit is a thing, like Russian collusion. 

So how did these so called Fake News awards turn out?  


“1. The New York Times’ Paul Krugman claimed on the day of President Trump’s historic, landslide victory that the economy would never recover.”

Paul Krugman's piece was an opinion column, not a news report. And yeah the economy continued to do well through 2017. So Krugman's OPINION, not NEWS, was incorrect in the short term. But the impact a President might have on the economy isn't usually felt until later into his term.   

“2. ABC News’ Brian Ross CHOKES and sends markets in a downward spiral with false report.”

Brian Ross got his timeline wrong, claiming that former national security adviser Michael Flynn, who had just pleaded guilty, was expected to testify that President Trump instructed him to contact Russian officials shortly after the election. ABC News corrected the error and Ross was suspended for his mistake.  



“3. CNN FALSELY reported that candidate Donald Trump and his son Donald J. Trump, Jr. had access to hacked documents from WikiLeaks.”

The Washington Post, The Wall Street Journal and NBC News quickly reported that CNN had gotten it wrong. CNN admitted the error: "The new details appear to show that the sender was relying on publicly available information. The new information indicates that the communication is less significant than CNN initially reported.”

“4. TIME FALSELY reported that President Trump removed a bust of Martin Luther King, Jr. from the Oval Office.”

This was a tweet from a reporter, not an actual news report. And the reporter tweeted a correction less than an hour after the original tweet.

“5. Washington Post FALSELY reported the President’s massive sold-out rally in Pensacola, Florida was empty. Dishonest reporter showed picture of empty arena HOURS before crowd started pouring in.”

AGAIN: This was a tweet from a reporter, not an actual news report. And was corrected.  



“6. CNN FALSELY edited a video to make it appear President Trump defiantly overfed fish during a visit with the Japanese prime minister. Japanese prime minister actually led the way with the feeding.”


AGAIN: This was a tweet showing Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and Trump tossing spoonfuls of fish food into a Koi pond. What went viral was a clip of Trump appearing to quickly pour his entire box of food into the pond. But then it turned out that Abe went first. 


The CNN report noted: “The move got Trump some laughs, and a smile from Abe, who actually appeared to dump out his box of food ahead of Trump.”


I remember this story and yes, there was such mileage on the internet that Trump just got bored and dumped out all his fish food. But that fell apart when everyone got their story straight and Prime Minister Abe dumped his fish food first.


I don't think there was any indication that CNN edited anything, that the concept that Trump may have dumped his fish food first came from how the video feeds were released to reporters.



“7. CNN FALSELY reported about Anthony Scaramucci’s meeting with a Russian, but retracted it due to a ‘significant breakdown in process.’”


CNN screwed up, fixed it and issued a correction. Among the consequences for the error was the firing of three employees.    



“8. Newsweek FALSELY reported that Polish First Lady Agata Kornhauser-Duda did not shake President Trump’s hand.”


Newsweek screwed up, basing its report on a clip where Kornhauser-Duda appear to walk past Trump’s outstretched hand to shake Melania Trump’s hand. An extended clip was released, showing she then shook Trump’s hand.  Newsweek corrected the story.


Vanity Fair should complain to the Fake News Awards as they made the same error and did not get recognition for it? Vanity UNFAIR!  



“9. CNN FALSELY reported that former FBI Director James Comey would dispute President Trump’s claim that he was told he is not under investigation.”


ONCE MORE: CNN screwed up, fixed it and issued a correction.





“10. The New York Times FALSELY claimed on the front page that the Trump administration had hidden a climate report.”


OK, maybe the Fake News Awards has something here?  


The climate report was in fact publicly available for seven months. The Times did issue a correction with this line: "The report was uploaded to a nonprofit internet digital library in January but received little attention until it was published by The New York Times.”


Except that was not quite completely true. The Washington Post had written months earlier about the climate report, just not on the front page.


And finally....




“11. And last, but not least: “RUSSIA COLLUSION!” Russian collusion is perhaps the greatest hoax perpetrated on the American people. THERE IS NO COLLUSION!”


OK, so Trump and his Republican toadies keep trying to push the narrative there is no collusion. Fine and dandy if they want to believe that. But reporting on this story is not fake news. Special prosecutor Robert Mueller, appointed by the Trump administration, continues his investigation, as do congressional committees led by Republicans.


In short, this accusation of fake news against Trump is just a matter of reporting on a story that Trump does not like. If Mueller and the congressional committees conclude there was no collusion, the media will report that. I'm sure Trump will not call that fake news.


If Mueller and the congressional committees conclude there was collusion, the media will report that. I'm sure Li'l Donnie will suck on his thumb and pout that the media is being mean to him. 


All in all, most of the winners in the Fake News Awards were legitimate errors in fact that were followed by corrections. At least two reports led to persons involved being fired or suspended. There were mistakes, there were corrections to those mistakes and there were consequences for making those mistakes.  


It is an ethical standard that Trump has no understanding of. 


Mostly, this inane exercise just underscores how petty and thin skinned Trump is. Of course, his base will just see a list of errors made against their guy which is the whole point of the Fake News Awards, just to stir up the base. 


For everyone else with eyes and a working brain, this isn't a matter of fake news; this is just sour grapes from a petulant man-child who has no business being the president.