While CNN traditionally leads the “fake news” pack, the award this week goes to NBC News, and specifically, it’s little-watched sister network MSNBC.
First, network host Lawrence O’Donnell reported the thinly-sourced news that Deutsche Bank had allegedly confirmed that it possessed tax returns that were subpoenaed by Democrat lawmakers busy probing the president’s finances (because, you know, there isn’t anything more important for Congress to be doing), as well as those of his family.
“A source close to Deutsche Bank says Trump’s tax returns show he pays very little income tax and, more importantly, that his loans have Russian co-signers. If true, that explains every kind word Trump has ever said about Russia and Putin,” O’Donnell tweeted in a message that had not been deleted as of this writing.
https://twitter.com/Lawrence/status/1166529030352510976
In fact, that was false. Later, during his program, O’Donnell apologized — after the president’s lawyers sent him a “you better retract that or else” legal threat.
“I should not have said it on air or posted it on Twitter. I was wrong to do so. This afternoon attorneys for the president sent us a letter asserting the story is false. They demanded a retraction. Tonight we are retracting the story. We don’t know whether the information is inaccurate. But the fact is, we do know it wasn’t ready for broadcast, and for that I apologize,” he said.
Actually, O’Donnell should not have said it at all — on the air or on Twitter — until he had some confirmation, like journalists are supposed to do. (Related: If you think “death camps” were an exaggeration, a Washington Post writer just declared, “We have to burn down the Republican Party.”)
‘Mainstream’ journalism in America is dead
The president responded, accurately: “The totally inaccurate reporting by Lawrence O’Donnell, for which he has been forced by NBC to apologize, is NO DIFFERENT than the horrible, corrupt and fraudulent Fake News that I (and many millions of GREAT supporters) have had to put up with for years. So bad for the USA!”
https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/1167041192539959296
Next, MSNBC was forced to reverse claims that “children born to U.S. service members outside of the U.S. will no longer be automatically considered citizens. Parents will have to apply for citizenship for their children in those situations.”
That claim was made in a now-deleted tweet from NBC News national security correspondent Ken Dilanian. He responded a while later with this explainer:
Correction: Experts who have looked at new USCIS policy say it applies if a service member adopts a child overseas, but children born to service members on deployment would still automatically get citizenship. I deleted tweets with the incorrect info.
https://twitter.com/KenDilanianNBC/status/1166819546789023745
At least he deleted his incorrect information, unlike O’Donnell.
As Reason writer Nolan Brown explained, “The change will not apply to children born to any U.S. citizens serving in the military or otherwise working abroad. It will apply only in cases of foreign adoption by U.S. citizen parents, or children born to parents who were not U.S. citizens at the time of the child’s birth. A Department of Defense spokesperson said the shift would affect about 100 children annually.”
Clearly, this week’s fake news award goes to the Peacock Network, but NBC certainly isn’t alone. Between that network, CNN, The New York Times, the Washington Post, and the rest of the establishment press, it’s no wonder the media’s reputation is in shambles in the Trump era and trust in media is at an all-time low.
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