We Tracked Down A Fake-News Creator In The Suburbs. Here's What We Learned

npr.org ^ | 11/23/2016 | Laura Sydell

[dirtboy]

[snip]

Coler is a soft-spoken 40-year-old with a wife and two kids. He says he got into fake news around 2013 to highlight the extremism of the white nationalist alt-right.

"The whole idea from the start was to build a site that could kind of infiltrate the echo chambers of the alt-right, publish blatantly or fictional stories and then be able to publicly denounce those stories and point out the fact that they were fiction," Coler says.

[snip]

When did you notice that fake news does best with Trump supporters?

Well, this isn't just a Trump-supporter problem. This is a right-wing issue. Sarah Palin's famous blasting of the lamestream media is kind of record and testament to the rise of these kinds of people. The post-fact era is what I would refer to it as. This isn't something that started with Trump. This is something that's been in the works for a while. His whole campaign was this thing of discrediting mainstream media sources, which is one of those dog whistles to his supporters. When we were coming up with headlines it's always kind of about the red meat. Trump really got into the red meat. He knew who his base was. He knew how to feed them a constant diet of this red meat.

We've tried to do similar things to liberals. It just has never worked, it never takes off. You'll get debunked within the first two comments and then the whole thing just kind of fizzles out.

[KarlInOhio]

How many D+9 polls were published by these same media outlets that are concerned with fake news today?

[Valpal1]

Exactly what I was thinking, the left doesn’t just create virtual fake news, they go out and commit crimes trying to create real news coverage that fits their narrative.

[euram]

I don’t know how many liberals I’ve met that still say that Palin said, “I can see Russia from my house.”

[DanZ]

They roll in it the same way that, for example, people here roll in fake news about the Pope.

It is truly a disgrace that this Pope is a Marxist.

1. the Church will recover, as it has in the past from previous bad Popes

2. As with all Marxists - Do not support the Church with $$$ for the time being

[Right Wing Assault]

NPR, a pestilence.

[ClearCase_guy]

Did they interview Dan Rather and Brian Williams for this story?

[AbolishCSEU]

Only thing worthwhile:

Car Talk
This Old House

that is all.

[McGruff]

Wish they would have spent as much time tracking down some of those Obama’s Birth Certificate stories.

[MileHi]

We've tried to do similar things to liberals. It just has never worked, it never takes off. You'll get debunked within the first two comments and then the whole thing just kind of fizzles out.

Unadulterated BS.

Happy Thanksgiving

[Gay State Conservative]

NPR reporting on “fake news”? Good God...there's gotta be at least a dozen layers of irony *there*.

[Resettozero]

I didn’t suggest shutting down either NPR or PBS. Just removing old decision-makers and replacing with a new batch of (hopefully) more honest and better-trained people than the global-minded bunch running these fiascos now. A big trimming of the budget and dismissal of all those begging for money 24/7/365.

[Empire_of_Liberty]

Sorry, no restart. End both, now. At least any and all government funding. What “they” could do privately is their own business. But tax-funded Liberal propaganda has had it’s chance.

Besides, the more people we get out there paying taxes instead of rolling in them, the more people we get on our side.

[AbolishCSEU]

I have no problem with shutting down PBS and NPR and completely defunding them.

Move the only two worthwhile shows to a different network IMHO>

[Noumenon]

“I have exactly ONE liberal friend on facebook who makes any kind of effort to debunk left-wing fake news. The rest cheerfully roll in it like a dog on a fresh turd.”

Now THAT is a nice turn of phrase. I am so stealing it.

[HANG THE EXPENSE]

Liberals are like crotch crickets.Its so great when you get rid of them.

[Resettozero]

Sorry, no restart. End both, now. At least any and all government funding. What “they” could do privately is their own business. But tax-funded Liberal propaganda has had it’s chance.

The facilities belong to us, the American taxpayers; not to anyone else. Use the existing greatly-trimmed-down facilities for the benefit of keeping AMERICANS truly informed and not propagandized. Keep the baby and raise it a different way than these current abortionists are doing.

[dirtboy]

I don’t know how many liberals I’ve met that still say that Palin said, “I can see Russia from my house.”

And when you tell them that Palin actually was a very principled, effective and popular governor who took on and took out corrupt interests in Alaska, they look at you as if you are from Mars.

[Oratam]

"It isn't news unless we say it is!"

--Corrupted Legacy Media Outlets

[Bryan24]

What is the difference between a “Fake News” website and ABC/NBC/CBS/CNN/MSNBC/PBS/AP/FOX/etc.. websites?

The MSM is more dangerous. They give you part truth and part lie. They use the truth part to “confirm” the story and the lie to further the agenda.

[G Larry]

Libs get really PO’d when you tell them they could have sold the rights to Barney and made enough profit to never need public funding.

They have no response to the concept of getting off the taxpayer dime.