Attacks on truth

Since the 2016 election season, when the term “fake news” was rampant, the media took advantage of the fact that words could be manipulated to brand subjectivity as the truth. “Fake news” originally signified articles, which usually appeared online, and were presented as news stories but contained false and/or misleading information. Yet the term was quickly seized upon to represent the entire mainstream media since many people saw their entire journalistic approach as being “fake” and not representing what individuals were actually feeling and experiencing. The disagreement over this term shows how these words can be manipulated. The term “alternative facts” (branded by Kellyanne Conway in 2017) exemplified how those with different agendas could try to present their opinions as factual.

The issue erupted especially during the COVID-19 era, when “misinformation” and “disinformation” were widely employed. The two terms were constantly conflated and became an excuse for big media to brand opposing viewpoints as dangerous lies, and also for Big Tech to censor users who weren’t echoing government talking points. Meanwhile, the mainstream media emanated Big Pharma talking points without following normal journalistic fact-checking standards.

COVID showed how truth tellers were often silenced and even punished as media and tech platforms propagated Big Pharma talking points instead of trying to get to the bottom of what was happening.  Honest Media intends to spotlight the difference between the truth, and media attacks on differences of opinion.