With liberal media still mostly ignoring the shockingly late Washington Post revelations that the Hunter Biden scandals involving his laptop and shady financial ties in China are real, after the media lied and claimed they were “Russian disinformation,” CNN+ host Brian Stelter had the gall to run a segment during Trustworthy Sources Everyday on Wednesday about a conference (ran by liberals) “exploring the roots of [disinformation].”
“From elections to COVID and the war in Ukraine, misinformation is everywhere. It’s like information pollution at this point. It’s part of the atmosphere choking all of us,”He lamented.
Stelter was an illustration of the differences between disinformation and misinformation when he tried to explain them.
Although misinformation is not always intentional, they can spread quickly without the intention to mislead. If I give you the wrong directions to an address, that’s misinformation. It’s not on purpose, I’m not trying to hurt you.
Note that Stelter didn’t say he misremembered the address or make a mistake while writing down the address. There was no reference to trying to correct it. Giving someone the wrong information in this context could mean you didn’t want them to be wherever that address was for your own reasons.
You know, sort of like giving the public the wrong information about the validity or existence of a scandal involving the son of a Democratic president, and which could implicate said president (aka “the big guy”).
“But disinformation is something different,” Stelter continued. “Disinformation is worse, it’s malicious, it’s wrong on purpose. It’s intended to circumvent the truth.”Ironically, he called disinformation “coming”. “from bad-faith actors, including autocracies around the world.”
Hyping this supposed “non-partisan” conference (which was incidentally headlined by former President Barack Obama and run by his former chief of staff David Axelrod), Stelter blamed former President Trump for current deceptions:
He is, naturally, now his successor. Donald Trump, tore through the White House’s guardrails for truth over four years.Now, there is some effort to rebuild them. That’s what the idea of this conference is. It’s hosted by the Atlantic and the University of Chicago’s non-partisan Institute of Politics.
Stelter kept Trump in his crosshairs despite having Axelrod available for the segment.
I feel like we’ve come a long way – maybe not in a great way in the last six years; from the time Donald Trump popularized the term “fake news” to mean anything he didn’t like. Now, there’s a much more sophisticated conversation underway about disinformation.
“Yeah, we should point out Donald Trump didn’t invent disinformation. Disinformation has been with us for a long time in history,” Axelrod said in a moment of honesty. “But it’s been turbocharged by the new technologies that allow it to be micro-targeted by big data and algorithms.”
Hmm, that sounds a lot like Twitter’s Soviet-style crackdown on the distribution of the true Hunter story and the bans on users who shared it.
Axelrod described disinformation as a “heat-seeking missile heading at the heart of democracies around the world, including ours.” And he was putting on the conference “not just to shine a light on that problem but also to Talk about possible solutions. And how we combat disinformation.”
Here’s a simple one: the media just tells the truth and stops taking political sides. But that’s likely too much of an ask.
Stelter was forced to reveal that he will be speaking at disinformation conference only after Axelrod provided his second long-winded response.
Let’s be honest. CNN is the source.
Below is the transcript. Click “expand to read:
CNN+’s Trustworthy Sources
April 6, 2022
Eastern, 11:08:36BRIAN STELTER – Now, let’s move on to a big conference in Chicago that is currently underway. Information is all around, right from election results to COVID’s war in Ukraine. It’s like information pollution at this point. It’s part of the atmosphere choking all of us.
Although misinformation is not always intentional, they can spread quickly without the intention to mislead. If I give you the wrong directions to an address, that’s misinformation. It’s not on purpose, I’m not trying to hurt you.
Disinformation, however, is something entirely different. Disinformation is worse, it’s malicious, it’s wrong on purpose. It’s intended to circumvent the truth. We’re seeing this from bad-faith actors, including autocracies around the world. As a result, democracies face increasing pressure.
That’s why a conference has started today in Chicago to examine the organized spread of disinformation and the best strategies to respond. Tonight’s featured discussion is with ex-President Obama. He’ll be on stage one day after returning to the White House for the first time in five years.
Now remember that appearance was about the Affordable Care Act, but now he’s trying to draw attention to the plague of disinformation.
Donald Trump is his successor and he has torn down four years of White House truth guardrails. There are now some efforts to rebuild them. That’s what the idea of this conference is. It’s hosted by the Atlantic and the University of Chicago’s non-partisan Institute of Politics.
David Axelrod serves as the institute’s director. David Axelrod is the director of the institute and joins us now from Chicago. David, thank you for joining us.
[Time delay issue]
DAVID AXELROD (Brian): It’s nice to have you around.
STELTER – Oh, you’re there.
I feel like we’ve come a long way – maybe not in a great way in the last six years; from the time Donald Trump popularized the term “fake news” to mean anything he didn’t like. Now, there’s a much more sophisticated conversation underway about disinformation. Now, let’s see what you can accomplish in this week.
AXELROD: Yeah, we should point out Donald Trump didn’t invent disinformation. The concept of disinformation is something that has been around for many years. But it’s been turbocharged by the new technologies that allow it to be micro-targeted by big data and algorithms.
So, we have a more complex problem today than we’ve ever had before and it’s a heat-seeking missile heading at the heart of democracies around the world, including ours.
We hope to not only shine a spotlight on this problem, but to also discuss possible solutions. We can also combat disinformation.
And I’m glad you defined it properly at the beginning. It is intentional and willful fabrications designed to ruin democratic societies and cause mistrust within institutions. This ultimately leads to the destruction of Democracies. And that’s why this is such an important discussion.
STELTER: The description of the conference – and full disclosure, I’m going to be speaking tomorrow. So, I’ll see you tomorrow there.
The organized dissemination of disinformation is what you are referring to.
AXELROD: We are looking forward to it.
STELTER. So this is not about randomly tweeting trolls. I mean, yeah, there’s a lot of issues with coordinated trolling too. But when we talk about disinformation, what we’re really now talking about are autocracies wielding these tools in way that are hurting democracy.
(…)
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