{"id":2784,"date":"2020-05-23T14:03:16","date_gmt":"2020-05-23T14:03:16","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/lonecandle.com\/?p=2784"},"modified":"2020-05-23T14:03:16","modified_gmt":"2020-05-23T14:03:16","slug":"the-fake-obamagate-scandal-shows-how-trump-hacks-the-media","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lonecandle.com\/?p=2784","title":{"rendered":"The fake \u201cObamagate\u201d scandal shows how Trump hacks the media"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

\n\n“Consider this Axios tweet<\/a> stating that \u201cBiden\u2019s presence on the list could turn it into an election year issue, though the document itself does not show any evidence of wrongdoing.\u201d But Biden\u2019s name on a document<\/a> is only an election issue if the press treats it like one. And if the \u201cdocument itself does not show any evidence of wrongdoing,\u201d why the hell are we talking about it? Again, we\u2019re talking about it because Trump talked about it and now it\u2019s a legitimized \u201cstory.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This is the latest example of zone-flooding, a phenomenon I described at length back in February<\/a>. The strategy was best articulated (in America, at least) by Steve Bannon<\/a>, the former head of Breitbart News<\/a> and chief strategist for Donald Trump, who in 2018 reportedly said: \u201cThe Democrats don\u2019t matter. The real opposition is the media. And the way to deal with them is to flood the zone with shit.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This is a new form of propaganda tailored to the digital age and it works not by creating a consensus around any particular narrativebut by muddying the waters so that consensus isn\u2019t possible. And it\u2019s all the more difficult because even the most scrupulous, well-intentioned coverage can easily fall into the trap of flooding the zone.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

My concern in February was that zone-flooding had created a media environment in which the facts of Trump\u2019s impeachment trial would be utterly meaningless. No matter how the trial played out, no matter what was uncovered, no single version of the truth would be accepted. And that, sadly, is how it played out<\/a>.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

…<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“The media, then, is caught in a loop. Trump \u2014 or one of his supporters \u2014 says something we all know is absurd and false. The rest of the right-wing media and members of the GOP establishment add to the cacophony. And then we dignify the absurdity with coverage that treats it as worthy of rebuke. And in the process, we amplify the false narrative we\u2019re debunking and flood the zone with more and more shit. That leaves people confused and exhausted, unable to discern fact from fiction and inclined to disengage altogether or, even worse, retreat further into partisan bubbles.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The press has always sought to conquer lies by exposing them. But that doesn\u2019t work anymore. There is too much misinformation, too many claims to refute, too many competing narratives. And because the decision to cover something is almost always a decision to amplify it, the root problem is our very concept of \u201cnews\u201d \u2014 what counts and what doesn\u2019t.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

…<\/p>\n\n\n\n

” Obamagate is another example of this systemic failure. Here we have \u2014 and I can\u2019t say this enough \u2014 a complete non-scandal. There\u2019s no \u201cthere\u201d there. It\u2019s pure misinformation. But we\u2019re still talking about it. And I\u2019m writing this piece about it. This is a massive problem. Even though I\u2019m trying to point up a flaw in our system, I\u2019m still somehow participating in the mess I\u2019m hoping to clean up. This is the paradox we\u2019re all up against.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

https:\/\/www.vox.com\/policy-and-politics\/2020\/5\/16\/21258788\/obamagate-trump-flynn-bannon-flood-the-zone<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

“Consider this Axios tweet stating that \u201cBiden\u2019s presence on the list could turn it into an election year issue, though the document itself does not show any evidence of wrongdoing.\u201d But Biden\u2019s name on a document is only an election issue if the press treats it like one. And if the \u201cdocument itself does not show any evidence of wrongdoing,\u201d why the hell are we talking about it? Again, we\u2019re talking about it because Trump talked about it and now it\u2019s a legitimized \u201cstory.\u201d
\nThis is the latest example of zone-flooding, a phenomenon I described at length back in February. The strategy was best articulated (in America, at least) by Steve Bannon, the former head of Breitbart News and chief strategist for Donald Trump, who in 2018 reportedly said: \u201cThe Democrats don\u2019t matter. The real opposition is the media. And the way to deal with them is to flood the zone with shit.\u201d<\/p>\n

This is a new form of propaganda tailored to the digital age and it works not by creating a consensus around any particular narrative but by muddying the waters so that consensus isn\u2019t possible. And it\u2019s all the more difficult because even the most scrupulous, well-intentioned coverage can easily fall into the trap of flooding the zone.<\/p>\n

My concern in February was that zone-flooding had created a media environment in which the facts of Trump\u2019s impeachment trial would be utterly meaningless. No matter how the trial played out, no matter what was uncovered, no single version of the truth would be accepted. And that, sadly, is how it played out.”<\/p>\n

…<\/p>\n

“The media, then, is caught in a loop. Trump \u2014 or one of his supporters \u2014 says something we all know is absurd and false. The rest of the right-wing media and members of the GOP establishment add to the cacophony. And then we dignify the absurdity with coverage that treats it as worthy of rebuke. And in the process, we amplify the false narrative we\u2019re debunking and flood the zone with more and more shit. That leaves people confused and exhausted, unable to discern fact from fiction and inclined to disengage altogether or, even worse, retreat further into partisan bubbles.<\/p>\n

The press has always sought to conquer lies by exposing them. But that doesn\u2019t work anymore. There is too much misinformation, too many claims to refute, too many competing narratives. And because the decision to cover something is almost always a decision to amplify it, the root problem is our very concept of \u201cnews\u201d \u2014 what counts and what doesn\u2019t.”<\/p>\n

…<\/p>\n

” Obamagate is another example of this systemic failure. Here we have \u2014 and I can\u2019t say this enough \u2014 a complete non-scandal. There\u2019s no \u201cthere\u201d there. It\u2019s pure misinformation. But we\u2019re still talking about it. And I\u2019m writing this piece about it. This is a massive problem. Even though I\u2019m trying to point up a flaw in our system, I\u2019m still somehow participating in the mess I\u2019m hoping to clean up. This is the paradox we\u2019re all up against.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[13],"tags":[820,221,819,136,11,556,134,170],"class_list":["post-2784","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-article-share","tag-bullshit","tag-donald-trump","tag-fake-news","tag-media","tag-news","tag-obama","tag-propaganda","tag-trump"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lonecandle.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2784","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lonecandle.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lonecandle.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lonecandle.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lonecandle.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2784"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/lonecandle.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2784\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2785,"href":"https:\/\/lonecandle.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2784\/revisions\/2785"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lonecandle.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2784"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lonecandle.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2784"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lonecandle.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2784"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}