By now I’m assuming most of you that read this website have already seen the Project Veritas video by James O’Keefe. But in case you haven’t, here’s the YouTube video “American Pravda”:
I would give you a quick rundown, but it’s a really important video, so just give it a watch and see for yourself. It’s not very long and it tells the story of CNN much better than I ever could.
Sidenote: “Pravda” was the propaganda magazine for the communist USSR, if you were wondering.
The video, and its revelations, are being discussed on most major platforms. But in this article I want to showcase something else.
I want to put in broad daylight the mainstream media’s manipulation of the fallout from this video.
IE: How they are “fighting” it, and how they are still claiming they are the good guys.
So I picked out the top 6 stories, no bias, no handpicking. Just the Top 5 that are currently listed on Google news and Bing news. That you can check for yourself.
#1 The Hill
Notice the title.
“Anti-CNN”. As in, it’s a hit piece or something that is against CNN.
It’s a great way to frame a position. Similar to the ‘anti-abortion’, instead of ‘pro-life’. It automatically makes people frame their thoughts immediately against a topic.
The video is not against CNN. The video just shows an employee of their company talking about colluding against Trump even when there is, and never will be, any proof of Russian collusion.
It’s not “anti-CNN”. It’s just the reality about CNN spoken by an employee thereof. The damage was done by CNN’s own fake news broadcasting system.
Inside the article we get:
The first sentence says that a NYTimes rep pointed out “obvious flaws”. He pointed out one flaw, that it was just one CNN employee on camera, and he can’t represent the whole company.
However, what this video does is it provides a clear insight into the company and their culture as a whole, seeing as it’s coming from a senior producer. So no, he did not “point out obvious flaws”, he pointed out one minor flaw that doesn’t really change the impact of the reporting.
They then go on to say that:
O’Keefe is notoriously untrustworthy
This is simply an assault on character. Instead of a rebuttal.
We’ll be seeing plenty more of that in the Top 6 here.
#2 Think Progress
The White House just said that people should watch the video.
And they should, it’s unbiased, video-proof evidence of CNN talking about how they are Fake News.
They are definitely not using it to “attack the press”. The press did that themselves when they sought profits over honest reporting. When CNN acted like this.
If anything, the press has been attacking the White House as CNN’s own spokesperson said in the video:
It’s a witch hunt
Again, this title “frames the question“. The negative “attack the press”, is clear evidence of that.
Instead of combating the video and arguing a point, they use logical manipulation to control the narrative.
Within the article, we get this beauty (it’s pretty much their only ‘rebuttal’).
The first paragraph is just an attack on character.
The second is an attack on character w/ no correlation.
What does it matter that he got charged with an unrelated crime? Oh, that’s right. Simply to make him look like a bad guy. There is no other reason for it to be there.
He could have killed 100 people. It still wouldn’t change the impact of the video, nor would it make it any less reliable. In Stefan Molyneux’s words: not an argument.
And really, this is the best you could do? He entered somebody’s office, and now the video is bunk? Come on, at least give me something worth rebutting.
#3 Washington Post
This one is old (19 days), I know. But it still came up in search.
A video damaged liberal icons, so let’s sue him!1!!1
That’s a great argument.
#4 Democrat Underground
I wish these losers would stay underground.
Attack on character.
Again.
#5 Breitbart Unmasked
This particular article is hilarious because the author argues with himself.
It’s a great example of assault on character and a straw man fallacy.
Assault on character through:
James O’Keefe, the turd in the fetid punch bowl known as Project Veritas
And straw man fallacy through the following:
“AHA! SEE? CNN THINKS THE WHOLE THING IS BULL! WE HAVE A CNN PRODUCER SAYING SO! ON CAMERA! THEY ARE SO BUSTED NOW THAT… what?”
- CNN is standing by their producer.
No, really, that is what the author does.
The. Entire. Freaking. Article. Go read it.
He makes up some things he “thinks” O’Keefe is thinking, and then refutes them.
But two problems with this:
- Who cares what O’Keefe is thinking? It’s a video shot showing CNN is fake news. O’Keefe does not matter in the slightest. He’s a great guy for getting it out there, but the video in itself does not rely on him being a moral crusader and being completely right all the time. It doesn’t matter about him or his thoughts at all.
- Has this author never heard of straw man? He is the textbook definition of it. Make up an argument that is easier to refute than the video and target the strawman instead of the original video.
#6 Media Matters
Interesting title choice.
First paragraph is an assault on character.
Second paragraph is an assault on character and also, sadly, has no arguments.
It is a shameful tactic. Watch this video as for why it is a shameful tactic.
But this part I find extraordinarily hilarious:
and one that doesn’t account for warranted, extensive reporting on an undeniably important story
The senior producer at CNN literally said that the top story they talk about is all bunk. There is no story. It’s a made-up plot to get ratings. If there was even the slightest chance of a connection, it would have been leaked already.
So how does a fake story created to get ad clicks “warrant extensive reporting”?
Something you people make up in your heads and repeatedly talk about for 6 months is not an important story. It’s click bait.
And then we go back to assault on character. How lovely.
Conclusion – American Pravda
I wish I could say that this is some astonishing discovery, but it’s not.
This kind of reporting is exactly what the mainstream media has done for decades.
I’ve already demonstrated 18 instances of the media distorting everything in their power. And done rebuttals on plenty of them.
But still, whenever a story like this comes out, I love to go to the other side of the political aisle with some popcorn.
Because it’s always the same: framing, straw man, assault on character, and diversions.
The next time another story like this breaks, pay attention to these small things. You’ll start to notice them all the time.
And with that ability, you can point them out to other people as well. The more people that know these common manipulation tactics, the more resistant our side becomes.
It’s a crazy world we live in. It’s even crazier when you realize we have to share it alongside people with manipulator power, like CNN and all of these “news” organizations listed above.
