Chuck Todd used his Meet the Press program Sunday on NBC to attack “fake news” — and blamed Russian disinformation, rather than shoddy journalism, for convincing Americans not to trust the mainstream media.
His show, featuring guests whom he described “top players in journalism, diplomacy and technology,” claimed that “Russian tactics” of “truth manipulation” have migrated right here to the United States.”
Todd’s primary culprit: the Trump administration, which he noted on day one pushed “an easily disprovable lie about his inaugural crowd size.”
He ignored the other “day one” lie: that Trump was colluding with Russia, a lie the media pushed relentlessly.
Todd’s first guest was New York Times executive editor Dean Baquet, who admitted earlier this year that his newsroom had been built around the Russia story for two years.
Todd did not ask Banquet about that: instead, he asked Baquet about whether “the truth itself is on trial,” an idea with which Baquet enthusiastically agreed.
Psaki Hurries to Walk Back Calling Trump a ‘Predator’ on Live TV
Mosaic Discovered at World’s Oldest Christian Worship Site Speaks of Divinity of Jesus
Newsom’s fight to stay relevant ahead of 2028 may be his toughest test yet
Mountains of paper to climb: House faces heavy backlog in bills thanks to shutdown
“Patriot Weekend” and counter protests of inflatable animals at ICE facility in Portland
Funniest Moments Between Trump and RFK Jr – President Has Quite a Sense of Humor
Michigan adopts sex education standards recommending students be taught gender identity, sexual orientation
Trump drops Marjorie Taylor Greene endorsement, calls her a ‘ranting lunatic,’ hints at backing primary rival
Charlotte promises to resist pending federal immigration raids: ‘Campaign of terror’
Zohran Mamdani tells 1M social media followers to boycott Starbucks amid ongoing worker strike
Antifa members indicted in Texas ICE facility riot, attempted murder of officer
Kai Trump Bounces Back from Rough LGPA Debut: ‘A Lot of Pressure On Her’
DHS Accuses Federal Judge of ‘Putting the Lives of Americans Directly at Risk’ as He Orders Release of 615 Illegal Aliens
Explosive new documentary probes ’80-year global coverup’ of UFO secrets
Woman Pleads Guilty to Stealing $272,205 from a Church, Seemingly Avoids Prison Time
Next, Todd turned to Martin Baron, the executive editor of the Washington Post — another paper that pushed the Russia collusion hoax, and which also led the way in trying to debunk Rep. Devin Nunes (R-CA)’s effort, recently vindicated, to expose the truth about the FBI’s abuse of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) courts.
Baron complained: “We live in an environment where people are able to spread crazy conspiracy theories and absolute falsehoods and lies.” He blamed social media — not the conspiracy theories validated by his own paper.
Baron also griped that Americans had become “numb” to the supposedly “15,000 false or misleading claims” by the president that his paper has been tracking. Not only are many of those supposedly false “claims” actually true, or defensible differences of opinion, but the Post is seemingly numb to the major anti-Trump lies it has pushed.
Todd asked Baquet if journalists would have to “market” the idea that they are there to tell the truth — in the course of continuing to push the idea that Russian propaganda, not media malpractice, is to blame to public mistrust.
Baquet said that he and Baron needed to continue “very aggressively defending our institutions, defending the truth and defending our important role in democracy.”
Again, no mention of the corrosive effect that the Russia hoax has had on our democracy — or the role that the media has played in the ongoing impeachment debacle over Ukraine, including the Post‘s own misreporting of leaked testimony from closed-door hearings in the House Intelligence Committee.
Todd would not admit that the media’s leading institutions had failed by their own standards — only that they might be “culturally” out of touch with the rest of America.
Psaki Hurries to Walk Back Calling Trump a ‘Predator’ on Live TV
Mosaic Discovered at World’s Oldest Christian Worship Site Speaks of Divinity of Jesus
Newsom’s fight to stay relevant ahead of 2028 may be his toughest test yet
Mountains of paper to climb: House faces heavy backlog in bills thanks to shutdown
“Patriot Weekend” and counter protests of inflatable animals at ICE facility in Portland
Funniest Moments Between Trump and RFK Jr – President Has Quite a Sense of Humor
Michigan adopts sex education standards recommending students be taught gender identity, sexual orientation
Trump drops Marjorie Taylor Greene endorsement, calls her a ‘ranting lunatic,’ hints at backing primary rival
Charlotte promises to resist pending federal immigration raids: ‘Campaign of terror’
Zohran Mamdani tells 1M social media followers to boycott Starbucks amid ongoing worker strike
Antifa members indicted in Texas ICE facility riot, attempted murder of officer
Kai Trump Bounces Back from Rough LGPA Debut: ‘A Lot of Pressure On Her’
DHS Accuses Federal Judge of ‘Putting the Lives of Americans Directly at Risk’ as He Orders Release of 615 Illegal Aliens
Explosive new documentary probes ’80-year global coverup’ of UFO secrets
Woman Pleads Guilty to Stealing $272,205 from a Church, Seemingly Avoids Prison Time
“I think we cannot dismiss everybody who supported Donald Trump,” Baquet offered, somewhat generously.
The rest of the program was devoted to the idea that Russian disinformation, and distrust of the media spread by Trump and the Republicans, was to blame for declining public confidence in journalism.
Not once did Todd look at the media’s role in pushing conspiracy theories in a barely-disguised effort to take down the president.
Story cited here.
