Even the Post — not exactly noted for its Trump friendliness — called NBC out for not only publishing demonstrably fake news, but also for sticking to its story after the news was found to be false.
We know Trump did visit the troops, of course, in both Iraq and Germany, unless there is a major conspiracy whereby he did it from the comfort of the White House.
Will NBC tell us that the shadows in the videos don’t line up? That the flag was waving incorrectly? Are they Iraq-visit truthers? Iraq landing conspiracy theorists? Maybe Lee Harvey Oswald acted in concert with President Trump to shoot John F. Kennedy.
Maybe.
What we do know is that NBC has not apologized, nor retracted its grotesque fake news story.
They did put a little disclaimer on it: “Something something surprise visit. Not our fault. Please don’t shoot the messenger.”
But the damage — intentional damage — was already done.
The damage was supposed to be incurred by President Trump and his administration, as so many news stories are fashioned to do nowadays. Instead, it backfired, leaving yet another mess for the media, and specifically, for NBC.
It’s no surprise trust in the media has been declining for some time.
According to Gallup, “the percentage of Americans who said they have a great deal or a fair amount of trust in the media fell from 54 percent to 32 percent” between 2003 and 2016.
Sixty-nine percent of U.S. adults surveyed said their trust in the news media decreased over the past decade. Just percent say their trust has increased.
This week’s incident muddied those already murky waters further.
While few were to know that Air Force One would take off in the dead of night from Joint Base Andrews, NBC was so eager to criticize the president — getting one more dig in at him over the Christmas period — that they couldn’t even wait until Christmas was well and truly over to take their shot. Well, they missed.
Even the Washington Post concurred, writing at the end of an opinion piece: “Correct the piece, NBC News, or prepare to stand legitimately accused of propagating fake news.”
NBC weren’t the only ones this week to humiliate themselves over the president’s Iraq visit this week.
CNN commentators — the infamous Jim Acosta included — spent time on air discussing the ethics of the president of the United States signing baseball caps (some with “Make America Great Again” emblazoned across them) for serving members of the military.
Their bosses won’t be happy, insisted one CNN commentator. There needs to be an investigation, said another. What utter tosh.
Their reactions and talking points over a visit to U.S. soldiers is quite something to behold.
They have gone to ridiculous lengths to implicate the president in something untoward — anything. Even something as innocuous as signing a cap.
Let the impeachment proceedings begin!
Surely this is the gravest deception ever foist upon the American people!
Some soldiers wanted their commander in chief’s autograph, and posed happily with MAGA hats. The horror of it all.
Meanwhile, no one in the media really cares about the waves of illegal immigrants entering the United States.
Is it really any wonder that we — across the Western world — have so little faith in our media overlords?
Can it really be that surprising to the one-time masters of the universe at this point, that they have sufficiently abused the trust of the public to the extent that many are just switching off completely?
I, for one, as someone who regards journalism as a noble profession stacked with ignoble operators, have lost all sympathy for these people.
To NBC and CNN, to quote the president of the United States: You are fake news.
Raheem Kassam is a fellow at the Claremont Institute and the Middle East Forum. He is the author of two bestselling books: “No Go Zones” and “Enoch Was Right.”
The views and opinions expressed in this commentary are those of the author and do not reflect the official position of The Daily Caller.