Ten Basic Forms Of Fake News Used By Major Media

news mediaBy Jon Rappoport

The basic purpose of these ten forms is the presentation of a false picture of reality.

You could find more forms, or divide these ten into sub-categories.

The ten basic forms are:

* Direct lying about matters of fact.

* Leaving out vital information.

* Limited hangout. (This is an admission of a crime or a mistake, which only partially reveals the whole truth. The idea is that by admitting a fraction of what really happened and burying the biggest revelations, people will be satisfied and go away, and the story will never be covered again.)

* Shutting down the truth after publishing it—includes failing to follow up and investigate a story more deeply.

* Not connecting dots between important pieces of data.

* Censoring the truth, wherever it is found (or calling it “fake news”).

* Using biased “experts” to present slanted or false “facts.”

* Repeating a false story many times—this includes the echo-chamber effect, in which a number of outlets “bounce” the false story among themselves.

* Claiming a reasonable and true consensus exists, when it doesn’t, when there are many important dissenters, who are shut out from offering their analysis.

* Employing a panoply of effects (reputation of the media outlet, voice quality of the anchor, acting skills, dry mechanical language, studio lighting, overlay of electronic transmissions, etc.) to create an impression of elevated authority which is beyond challenge.

These are all traditional forms and methods.

Here’s an example of a big story that deployed all ten forms of fake news: the Swine Flu pandemic of 2009.

In the spring of 2009, the World Health Organization (elevated authority beyond challenge) announced that Swine Flu was a level-6 pandemic—its highest category of “danger.” In fact, there were only 20 confirmed cases at the time (direct lying about “danger”). And W.H.O. quietly changed the definition of “level-6” so widespread death and damage were no longer required (another aspect of direct lying).

The story was, of course, picked up by major media outlets all over the world (echo chamber effect, fake consensus, never connected dots re W.H.O. lies), and quite soon, Swine Flu case numbers rose into the thousands (direct lying, as we’ll soon see).

Medical experts were brought in to bolster the claims of danger (biased experts; important dissenters never given space to comment).

In the early fall of 2009, Sharyl Attkisson, then a star investigative reporter for CBS News, published a story on the CBS News website. She indicated that the CDC had secretly stopped counting the number of Swine Flu cases in America. No other major news outlet reported this fact (omitting vital information).

Attkisson discovered the reason the CDC had stopped counting: the overwhelming number of blood samples taken from the most likely Swine Flu patients were coming back from labs with: no trace of Swine Flu or any other kind of flu. Therefore, a gigantic hoax was revealed. The pandemic was a dud, a fake.

Despite Attkisson’s efforts, CBS never followed up on her story (shutting down the truth after exposing it). Never probed the lying by the CDC (failure to connect dots). In a sense, CBS turned Attkisson’s story into a limited hangout—a further investigation would have uncovered acres of criminal behavior by both the CDC and the World Health Organization, to say nothing of the governments and media outlets that supported these lying agencies. The mainstream press essentially censored Attkisson’s revelations.

Then, about three weeks after CBS published Attkisson’s story, WebMD published a piece in which the CDC claimed that its own (lying) estimate of 10,000 or so cases of Swine Flu in the US was a gross understatement. Truly, there were 22 MILLION cases of Swine Flu in the US (doubling-down on lying).

And that was that.

Which leads to an 11th form of fake news: if one lie doesn’t quite fly, tell a much bigger lie.

And these mainstream sources are currently shouting and bloviating about independent media spreading fake news. I guess you could call that number 12: accusing their opponents of committing the crimes they are, in fact, committing.

(To read about Jon’s mega-collection, Power Outside The Matrix, click here.)

The author of three explosive collections, THE MATRIX REVEALED, EXIT FROM THE MATRIX, and POWER OUTSIDE THE MATRIX, Jon was a candidate for a US Congressional seat in the 29th District of California. He maintains a consulting practice for private clients, the purpose of which is the expansion of personal creative power. Nominated for a Pulitzer Prize, he has worked as an investigative reporter for 30 years, writing articles on politics, medicine, and health for CBS Healthwatch, LA Weekly, Spin Magazine, Stern, and other newspapers and magazines in the US and Europe. Jon has delivered lectures and seminars on global politics, health, logic, and creative power to audiences around the world. You can sign up for his free emails at NoMoreFakeNews.com or OutsideTheRealityMachine.


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19 Comments on "Ten Basic Forms Of Fake News Used By Major Media"

  1. Activist post is one of the premier sites for fake news, including this article:

    The author writes “In the spring of 2009, the World Health Organization (elevated authority beyond challenge) announced that Swine Flu was a level-6 pandemic—its highest category of “danger.” In fact, there were only 20 confirmed cases at the time….The new analysis “confirms that the H1N1 virus killed many more people globally than originally believed,” said study author Lone Simonsen, a research professor at The George Washington University in Washington, D.C. ”

    “The swine-flu pandemic of 2009 may have killed up to 203,000 people worldwide—10 times higher than the first estimates based on the number of cases confirmed by lab tests, according to a new analysis by an international group of scientists.” livescience.com

    Here is he Wikipedia summary of the controversy over number of deaths, with 8 primary sources.

    “According to the latest WHO statistics (as of July 2010), the virus has killed more than 18,000 people since it appeared in April 2009, however they state that the total mortality (including deaths unconfirmed or unreported) from the H1N1 strain is “unquestionably higher”.[18][24] Critics claimed the WHO had exaggerated the danger, spreading “fear and confusion” rather than “immediate information”.[25] The WHO began an investigation to determine[26] whether it had “frightened people unnecessarily”.[27] A flu follow-up study done in September 2010, found that “the risk of most serious complications was not elevated in adults or children.”[28] In an 5 August 2011 PLoS ONE article, researchers estimated that the 2009 H1N1 global infection rate was 11% to 21%, lower than what was previously expected.[29] However, by 2012, research showed that as many as 579,000 people could have been killed by the disease, as only those fatalities confirmed by laboratory testing were included in the original number, and meant that many of those without access to health facilities went uncounted. The majority of these deaths occurred in Africa and Southeast Asia. Experts, including the WHO, have agreed that an estimated 284,500 people were killed by the disease, much higher than the initial death toll.[30][31][32].”

    Unless you are able to show the primary sources are fraudulent, you must reject this article as a prime example of fake news.

    • BORING !! Thanks I ran out of sleeping pills. But the first few sentences of that big rant were enough to make anybody yawn and fall asleep. PS Go back to your desk at DHS

    • Your information is coming from WHO and Wikipedia? The only thing missing is the link to snoopes!

      • What are your sources? Perhaps you do not understand that in scholarship, a source is only as good as its primary sources. Wikipedia gives primary sources and when lacking, tells you.

        What are your sources to refute WHO?

        You are using the classic logical fallacy of kiling the messenger without dealing the message.

    • In the US the flu kills twice as many people as AIDS each year. Worldwide the flu kills 250,000 to 500,000 people a year.

      So it’s hardly a pandemic if 284,000 died of swine flu in one year. Taking the higher numbers from the Lancet’s report which includes cardiovascular deaths affected by the flu, there were approximately respiratory 575,000 deaths connected to flu viruses. That’s not a pandemic.

      It’s been seen that flu shots produce the flu. Yet the CDC and others don’t report those kinds of statistics.

      • AS the term is used, pandemic means an epidemic which has spread beyond a nation or region. It’s less the numbers than the spread.

        It appears you are opinionated so it’s a waste of time present evidence.

        “The Spanish flu epidemic of 1918-1919.. Many historians site this as the most devastating epidemic in recorded history because more people died from complications — estimates run from 30 to 50 million.”
        The 1957 flu killed 70,000 Americans.

        The 68 flu killed about 35,000 Americans.

        Flu shots cannot give you the flu.

        No need to respond: I know you reject all this. BTW, I am curing my cancer with B-17 (apricot seeds) and mitoqu plus a vegan diet.

        • Good for you curing your cancer naturally! Not familiar with mitoQu or mitoQ either, until looking it up just now. Sounds good.

          Vegan diets can be good. An exception would be if the cancer patient has muscle wasting and loss of appetite. In that case a vegan diet would accelerate cancer growth.

          Yes, I do disagree, not with your numbers, but on the attempt by governments to change the definition of what a pandemic is. Probably every flu is found in multiple countries. So calling a flu pandemic based only on that yardstick does’t reveal much if anything.

          Flu shot do give people the flu all the time unless you have your head in the sand. Too often a family will get a flu shot and everyone in the family gets sick with the flu soon after – except for the one person in the family who didn’t get one.

          No flu shots here – and no flu for probably 40 years.

          • Before vaccinations, the worst flu outbreak killed tens of millions. You are benefitting from those who control the disease. I note you provide no sources. To me, that means you are expressing an opinion…..not a fact. I think you are indulging in wishful thinking, backed up perhaps by rank amateurs.

            Mitoq is not exactly natural: it is produced to target cancer cells and return mitochrondrial function including cell death. It has no side effects or dangers. I don’t know if my last two PSA scores (down from .7 to 6.3, then 5.8 in 90 days) are from the mitoq or the apricot seeds, or both.

            I am 75, on a vegan diet for 15 years, vegetarian for 50. I have had exactly one very minor cold (raw throat for a day and stuffed nose) since becoming a vegan. With my cancer, there have been no symptoms, zero.

            I refuse flu shots because my diet keeps my immune system healthy.

            Most people have crap diets and so lack natural immunity.

            I find your claims lacking in any support. I welcome credible sources to back them up. l

          • Sounds good. I’ve read where a doctor prescribed about 400 mgs of CoQ10 and a few other supplements to 38 cancer patients. After a couple years none had died and some were cancer free.

            If you’re interested, you might wan to use a nasal spray called Sinus Buster. It’ provides capsaicin which gets into the bloodstream quickly. Capsaiscin is great for any cancer.

            BTW, your claim that others are giving me protection by getting flues and flu shots is magical thinking. Over the years there have been countless people sharing how they were the only family member not to get a shot and the only ones who stayed well.

            God gave us brains and awareness to pay attention. The over reliance on so called studies can lead to surrendering our own powers of observation.

            The cure for scurvy came from two sailors who got well from eating citrus. Every doctor accepts those findings. But today, thousands of studies showing the benefits of a protocol don’t get translated into practice.

            If the cure for scurvy hadn’t happened when it did and it were still around, doctors would be prescribing chemo for it.

          • Mitoq is about 30 times more potent than CQ10.

            A raw vegan guru (Eric Rivkiin) gave me capscaisin he had grown and I sprinkle it on my food. I am taking about 20 other supplements such as selenium, Vit B15, A, E, boron, magnesium etc etc.

            I tried a 4 month cannabis regimen ingesting a thick extract of 2 lbs of organic bud, which totally knocked me out, but did not reverse the cancer. It did lay me so low I barely ate and lost 35 lbs (many vegans can get tummy fat galore) to a no healthy weight of 175 for 6′.

            I had prostate cancer 11 years ago, tried all kinds of natural cures, oriental medicine, acupuncture, DCA, etc but it didn’t work so I had my prostate removed and then had 8 years of 0.0 PSA, then 2 years ago it recurred to a measurable level……I will have another PSA in a month to see if it is still in reversal. I am healthy and full of energy that amazes people. In the past month, I have had 25 articles published (political analysis). Go see at Quora.com and opednews.com under my name.

            My conventional oncologist is totally on board with my current treatment….so long as it is working.

            What is behind your online name? Are you a doctor? I have a few doctor friends, one a psychiatrist , the other an oncologist from Serbia.

          • Very good, Dale. You’re on top of it.

            “The Doctor Who Cures Cancer” is the title of a book I wrote about Emanuel Revici, M.D. He was born in Romania, and lived the last 50 years of his 101 year life in NYC.

  2. Another fantastic Expose and Rubric by Jon Rappoport. Thank you! I have already circulated this specific article to many others. Jon has the ability to synthesize and reproduce information succinctly, and his list, albeit not numbered, is clear and exact. This is how critical thinking protects us. Because there has been so little authenticity and clarity in the News for decades, I have tended to read more and more and more, so that I am withholding judgment until I have seen all I can. So when news is first reported, then shut off, I search for it elsewhere. When news is censored by pay offs, I find it elsewhere. When news seems “directed”, I search elsewhere. Do I believe the statistics and writings of the CDC or WHO or any other alphabet agency? No. I keep reading and searching, and I do that because I have seen over the decades that CDC and WHO etc. etc. are not honest.

  3. Excellent. I bookmarked this one. And I’m sharing it on my Facebook page. Well done.

  4. Stop Bush and Clinton | January 6, 2017 at 8:42 am |

    There’s another one that’s related to some of those 10, but probably worthy of a mention of its own given how commonly they use it: Tell the truth about what a liar said.

    Examples include “According to an intelligence official who wanted to remain anonymous, Russia stole the US election.”, “The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights published a statement saying Assad is committing a genocide against his own people”, or “Sources close to George W. Bush say Iraq has loads of weapons of mass destruction and is ready to launch them at us any minute now.”

    Such statements are not technically lies (after all, it’s just reporting the truth about what someone said), but doesn’t call out the person/organization making the claims as liars — most people will simply assume what has been said is the truth even though not even the “news” media made that claim.

  5. It will be interesting to see how the new Ministry of Truth runs its operations that we have yet to feel? I’ll add a 12th mode and that is the dis-creditation of the messenger as (fill in the blank but “a looney conspiracy theorist’ is a big one) so that their message becomes tainted before anyone in the public even delves into the information.

  6. Great article and so very true!

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