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Media Matters: How the right works to "create stories"
Link to tweet
Matthew Gertz
This is in reference to a Microsoft Word doc whose text features internal inconsistencies and grammatical errors purporting to be an affidavit from an "ABC whistleblower" published by a random pseudonymous X poster with a history of unhinged statements. https://mediamatters.org/fox-business/maga-runs-wild-random-posters-abc-whistleblower-claims
This is in reference to a Microsoft Word doc whose text features internal inconsistencies and grammatical errors purporting to be an affidavit from an "ABC whistleblower" published by a random pseudonymous X poster with a history of unhinged statements. https://mediamatters.org/fox-business/maga-runs-wild-random-posters-abc-whistleblower-claims
MAGA runs wild with random poster’s “ABC whistleblower” claims
How the right works to “create stories”
Written by Matt Gertz
Published 09/16/24 2:15 PM EDT
A wildly flimsy internet rumor launched by a random pro-Trump X poster about an “ABC whistleblower” who purportedly claims that the network rigged the September 10 presidential debate went viral in MAGA spaces over the last several days, with Donald Trump and his allies floating congressional investigations and potential regulatory retribution against ABC News in response.
The right-wing pundits and Republican politicians pushing the story don’t actually know who the “ABC whistleblower” is, if their claims are credible, or even if the person actually exists — but the purported document supposedly supports their preferred narrative that ABC News’ moderators were biased, so they’re running with it.
The saga, while laughable, shows the right's ongoing tendency to embrace and elevate anything that confirms their worldview. Sen. J.D. Vance (R-OH) laid out that strategy in a Sunday interview on CNN, admitting that he pushed a debunked, racist, and demagogic claim about Haitian immigrants eating pets because he wants to “create stories” that drive news coverage of immigration.
In the instance of the absurd “whistleblower” claim, Trump's allies trotted it out as they tried to cover for his flailing September 10 debate performance. Right-wing media figures lashed out at ABC News and its moderators David Muir and Linsey Davis with deranged invective and absurd conspiracy theories. And Trump himself said in an interview the following morning that “they ought to take away their license,” reiterating his support for government retribution against news outlets that displease him.
/snip
How the right works to “create stories”
Written by Matt Gertz
Published 09/16/24 2:15 PM EDT
A wildly flimsy internet rumor launched by a random pro-Trump X poster about an “ABC whistleblower” who purportedly claims that the network rigged the September 10 presidential debate went viral in MAGA spaces over the last several days, with Donald Trump and his allies floating congressional investigations and potential regulatory retribution against ABC News in response.
The right-wing pundits and Republican politicians pushing the story don’t actually know who the “ABC whistleblower” is, if their claims are credible, or even if the person actually exists — but the purported document supposedly supports their preferred narrative that ABC News’ moderators were biased, so they’re running with it.
The saga, while laughable, shows the right's ongoing tendency to embrace and elevate anything that confirms their worldview. Sen. J.D. Vance (R-OH) laid out that strategy in a Sunday interview on CNN, admitting that he pushed a debunked, racist, and demagogic claim about Haitian immigrants eating pets because he wants to “create stories” that drive news coverage of immigration.
In the instance of the absurd “whistleblower” claim, Trump's allies trotted it out as they tried to cover for his flailing September 10 debate performance. Right-wing media figures lashed out at ABC News and its moderators David Muir and Linsey Davis with deranged invective and absurd conspiracy theories. And Trump himself said in an interview the following morning that “they ought to take away their license,” reiterating his support for government retribution against news outlets that displease him.
/snip
An idea of a "story" is hatched and cycled, and recycled through its own RW news ecosystem. There *has* to be a proper name for this, beyond the obvious "spin cycle." I hope a better term is coined for it.