Media Misinformation

Went Past Media Hook

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Article in Common Dreams by Julia Conley, 8/21/26

Headline:  “In Post-Primary Media Tour, Angie Nixon Refuses to Take Corporate Media’s Bait on Hasan Piker, DSA”

Subhead: “I am actually focused on Florida and making sure that I’m talking to voters here, to uplift their needs and their concerns,’ said the progressive Democrat. ‘And so that’s what my focus is going to be over the next 76 days.”

“The corporate media has spent months helping to push the narrative that progressive Democratic candidates are anti-American and have radical foreign policy views . . .”

“But Nixon (D-13) suggested Thursday night she prefers to discuss her desire to represent working Florida residents’ interests in the Senate over the topics that news anchors are eager to talk about. . .”

Read the full article at:

https://www.commondreams.org/news/angie-nixon-senate

 

Media Run Toward Fake Poles?

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Article in Status by Brett LoGiurato, 8/21/26

Headline: “The Media’s Fake Poll Flub”

Subhead: “A fake polling firm fooled Rupert Murdoch’s California Post and local outlets, exposing how quickly bogus numbers can become news and raising fresh questions about reporting standards.”

“Earlier this week, the California Post, the fledgling Los Angeles-based tabloid of Rupert Murdoch’s News Corporation, reported a shocking story about a bogus poll from a fake firm called ‘Median Strategies’ that fooled everyone up to the city’s mayor, Karen Bass.

“The story featured a comment from Bass, whose office demanded that those behind it face the ‘full force of the law.’ It ended with a comment from a veteran political consultant who said that ‘whoever is responsible for this ought to be exposed.’. . .”

Read the full article at:

https://www.status.news/p/california-post-fake-poll-mistake

His Master’s Voice

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Article in Media Matters by Matt Gertz, 8/19/26

Headline:  “Fox & Friends, echoing GOP memo, runs cover against ‘far-left’ data center opposition”

“Republican leaders who fear that the furious, bipartisan backlash against AI data centers could cost their party in the midterm election are getting help from their loyal propagandists at Fox News. On its flagship morning show, the network’s hosts and contributors are attempting to convince viewers to support data centers by telling them that the ‘far left’ is behind the opposition. . .”

Read the full article at:

https://www.mediamatters.org/index%2Ephp/artificial-intelligence-and-data-centers/fox-friends-echoing-gop-memo-runs-cover-against-far-left

Mainstream Media Distortion?

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Article in Common Dreams by Roger Bybee, 8/7/26

Headline:  “Establishment Media: Narrow Wisconsin Loss for Hong I​s Massive Defeat for the Left”

Subhead:  “Her defeat was welcomed by conventional media and pundits impatiently awaiting some sign that a wave of progressive victories was finally being halted by sensibly moderate Midwestern voters. But is this accurate?”

“Mainstream media voices reflexively advising ‘moderate’ politics for the Democrats have unveiled a comfortably reassuring explanation of the razor-thin 3,796-vote defeat of democratic socialist Francesca Hong. . .”

Wisconsin’s Democratic gubernatorial primary provided the opportunity to serve up a pre-baked narrative favored by many journalists. Following democratic socialist Francesca Hong’s narrow defeat. . . ‘The socialists met their match,’ The New York Times concluded smugly. . .”

Read the full article at:

https://www.commondreams.org/opinion/media-wrong-hong-s-defeat

Avoiding Shot in the Dark

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Article in Status by Brett LoGiurato, 8/14/26

Headline:  “The Media’s Vaccine Hesitancy”

Subhead:  “Donald Trump’s executive order attempting to gut the childhood vaccine schedule was built on debunked science. Too much of the news media’s coverage treated it as a political dispute.”

“. . .the position pediatric medicine has been forcibly pushed into over the past decade, or even longer—having to defend established science to the public because of the rampant mis-and-disinformation poisoning the public discourse.

“That is also the kind of posture the press should have taken this week when Donald Trump signed an executive order that aims to drastically reshape the childhood vaccine schedule. Unfortunately, much of the news media. . .”

Read the full article at:

https://www.status.news/p/trump-vaccine-order-media-coverage-mmr

Take Political Media With a Grain of. . .

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Article in Daily Kos by Weinsch, 8/14/26

Headline:  “Listen to Political Media — But Listen Carefully”

“Folks who are new or sporadic voters should avoid a mistake that many make: Don’t put too much faith in political media. . .”

” it’s fair to say that the political media craves drama. It makes things more interesting for them. Whether it’s the primaries or the general election, the job is much easier for these folks if a theme or narrative develops into which daily or weekly news fits. The campaign becomes a novel with a beginning, middle and conclusion (or “denouement,” as we learned in high school) instead of an endless series of repetitive and disconnected short stories. . .”

Read the full article at:

https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2026/8/14/800084505/community/listen-to-political-media-but-listen-carefully/

Media Distort New Movements?

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Article in FAIR by Raina Lipsitz

Headline:  “Corporate Media Portray DSA’s Grassroots Organizing as a Sinister Conspiracy”

“. . .The ‘takeover’ language is telling: The corporate press sees any assertion of agency on the part of everyday people as a threat to establishment interests. The Free Press (7/21/26) sounded the alarm in an article headlined ‘What the Movement Taking Over the Democratic Party Wants.’ And Fox News (7/27/26) went further with a story headlined ‘[US Rep. Steve] Scalise Warns ‘Bolshevik Revolution’. . .”

Read the full article at:

https://fair.org/home/corporate-media-portray-dsas-grassroots-organizing-as-a-sinister-conspiracy/

Press Sec. Leaves Final AI One for Media

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Article in AlterNet by Sarah K. Burris, 8/12/26

Headline: “Karoline Leavitt torn apart after her exit note is flagged for being AI:

“. . .Status News reporter Natalie Korach caught a brief note at the end of Leavitt’s post: ‘Interesting flag at the bottom of this post: “Made with AI.” ‘

“Latika M. Bourke, of the Australian daily digital newspaper ‘The Nightly,’ also spotted the note, highlighting it with the large eyes emoji.

“CBS News night assignment editor Ryan Sprouse also noticed the AI note.

” ‘Karoline Leavitt is leaving the White House to lie elsewhere,’ cracked Mrs. Betty Bowers. . .”

Read the full article at:

https://www.alternet.org/karoline-leavitt-ai-2677695246/

Don’t Worry, They’re Only Journalists

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Article in Poynter by Tom Jones, 8/12/26

Headline:  “Opinion | Trump left Air Force One because of a threat. Journalists stayed aboard.

Subhead:  “Presidents have used decoys before. What’s different this time is that the press didn’t know.”

“. . .while journalists and some White House staff thought they were riding on the same plane as Trump, they were not.

“The New York Times’ Maggie Haberman, Eric Schmitt and Zolan Kanno-Youngs wrote, ‘Reporters on the older plane were not told that Mr. Trump had not flown with them from Turkey to an air base in Britain, making them unwitting participants in the ruse and leaving them, along with some White House staff members, to serve as unknowing decoys.’ ”

Read the full article at:

https://www.poynter.org/commentary/2026/trump-air-force-one-decoy-reporters-threat/

Rt. Media Burrito Rage!

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Article in Media Matters by Jack Winstanley, Gideon Taaffe & Hanne MacDonald, 8/11/26

Headline:  “Right-wing media’s affordability burrito brawl”

Subhead:  “After a post complaining about a $20 burrito went viral, some right-wing figures accused those dismissing concerns about affordability of “giving the finger to voters” and driving them ‘into the arms of the socialists’ ”

“Last week, Turning Point USA’s Andrew Kolvet’s post about a college student noting the high price of a burrito sparked a debate among conservative commentators over whether food affordability is a real issue for voters.

“While some dismissed concerns over an expensive burrito, advising those complaining to ‘cry me a river’ and cook food at home, other right-wing personalities noted such responses were equivalent to ‘giving the finger to voters’ and accused those commentators of “trying to gaslight us into being happy that it’s unaffordable.”

Read the full article at:

https://www.mediamatters.org/daily-wire/right-wing-media-figures-push-back-other-conservatives-mocking-concerns-about