Not long after the conclusion of the 2016 election, leaders at Facebook and Google announced they would be trying to crack down on “fake news” that became common on their sites. They defined “fake news” as stories fabricated wholesale that appeared on legitimate-looking sites designed to trick people into thinking they were reading about something that happened.
Conservatives have been skeptical of these efforts, and rightfully so. Google, Facebook and other tech companies have not exactly engendered trust with conservatives recently. Just in the last year, Facebook was revealed to have been curating its “trending” stories section in an anti-conservative direction, and Google fielded complaints that their platform was biased against then-candidate Donald Trump.
In response, many conservatives claim the fight against “fake news” will end up as a witch-hunt that delegitimizes conservative voices across some of the biggest platforms on the Internet, and that these criticisms of “fake news” could just as easily be applied to what people consider to be mainstream media.
But those criticisms from conservatives miss the mark. Yes, the mainstream media is biased, because most people who work for mainstream outlets are liberals. Yes, the mainstream media gets stories wrong far too often. Yes, the mainstream media credulously reports things that should be more deeply reported. And yes, especially, the mainstream media needs to get their own house in order and rebuild their credibility before tut-tutting everyone else about the news media environment.
Conservatives have an opportunity, however. While the “fake news” scourge is likely overstated and most certainly did not decide the election by misinforming people en masse, the conservatives who have been working to build legitimate news operations would do well to distinguish legitimate news operations from fake ones, rather than attempt to muddy the waters and cast aspersions on the entire enterprise of news reporting.
The Washington Examiner, National Review, The Daily Caller News Foundation and other conservative outlets endeavor to produce gold-standard news reporting. There’s a major difference between those and fake news sites such as Ending The Fed and Daily News Posts, which published stories this year claiming the pope endorsed Trump and that Secret Service agents acknowledged that President Obama is a gay Muslim.
(Disclaimer: My employer, the Franklin Center, is a nonprofit that publishes Watchdog.org, a great resource for real news, as well.)
Conservatives have worked hard to build legitimate reporting operations, and there is a wide variety of alternatives to the mainstream media out there for conservatives who don’t trust the establishment media. However, because some people are purposefully attempting to blur the lines between fake news and legitimate journalism, the conservative news infrastructure is going to suffer.
Real news is costly, expensive and less sensationalistic than the fake news clickbait generators that have become prevalent. Fake news sites harm the credibility of all non-mainstream media and take oxygen away from those who are practicing legitimate journalism. Conservatives who want a legitimate media that help inform the public should applaud the battle against fake news, even if some of those who are waging it — Google, Facebook, and other tech companies — need to be closely monitored as well.
Kevin Glass is a contributor to the Washington Examiner’s Beltway Confidential blog. He is director of outreach and policy at The Franklin Center and was previously managing editor at Townhall. His views here are his own. Thinking of submitting an op-ed to the Washington Examiner? Be sure to read our guidelines on submissions.
