It is maddening that the most egregious examples of disinformation and its variants come from the MSM and the government accusing us of the same. 

While alternative conservative media and internet sleuths have done an excellent job exposing their every malfeasance, somehow these entities are still mostly getting away with it, not changing their behavior, with low-information voters often unaware and still trusting mainstream media and government broadcasts and material. 

A coherent strategy is needed. 

First some definitions (the links are from Wikipedia and the examples are my own):

Disinformation: “False information deliberately spread to deceive people.”

Examples: Trump-Russia collusion; the claim that the Hunter Biden laptop was Russian disinformation; the claim that the COVID-vaccinated cannot spread the disease; (oldie but goodie) CNN reporter Peter Arnett knowingly reporting false information from Baghdad during the Iraq war in exchange for exclusive access.

Misinformation: “Incorrect or misleading information … [which] can exist [with or] without specific malicious intent.”

Example: Hamas-sourced casualty figures reported by the MSM following an Israeli military attack in Gaza.

Malinformation: “Information which is based on fact, but removed from its original context in order to mislead, harm, or manipulate.”

Examples: The Charlottesville “good people on both sides” mischaracterization; 60 Minutes replacing Kamala’s actual word-salad answer with another of her answers.

Here’s a few more of my own:

Non-information: Not reporting otherwise important information because it does not promote a favored narrative or candidate.

Examples: Biden’s mental deficiency; Kamala’s radical policies.

Non-trans(parent) information: Information reported in a non-transparent manner to avoid embarrassment or because it is counter to the narrative.  (Note: this has nothing to do with transgenderism.)

Examples: The FBI (crime statistics) or the BLS (economic measure) intentionally reporting data in an obscure or incomplete manner so that the significance is lost to the public; a newspaper making stealth edits contrary to its own policies, or making a correction deserving to be printed on the upper fold of the front page but instead appearing in small print at the bottom of page D34.

Strategy: Call them on it in all live interviews.  Interject and relentlessly challenge them without mercy in a manner making it virtually impossible for them to retort or obfuscate.  Don’t just score and move on; hold things up, rub it in, and insist on a response.  Force them to apologize for the inappropriate behavior.  If they deny the behavior, reinforce the argument.  Or get them to admit they are willing to violate core principles in order to stop Trump, deter Israel, or whatever. 

Examples: “Dana, in the Trump-Biden debate, why did you attempt to direct Joe Biden’s attention to your co-moderator with your finger, giving him an undeserved advantage which violated debate rules?”

“Why did your network give the debate topics to the Democrat candidate, which is against any semblance of debate fairness?  Why did you fact check only the Republican?  Why did you splice and dice Kamala’s answers in the tape of your interview?  With ethical lapses like these, why should we believe anything your network says?”

To NYT/WP reporters: “Aren’t you ashamed you/reporters from your newspaper won Pulitzer prizes merely for being stooges leaking whatever Trump-Russia collusion disinformation was fed to you/them by the CIA/FBI/DoJ?  You deny it?  The DoJ inspector general himself gave all the details in his report to the public of how this was a plot concocted by Hillary Clinton’s campaign and the DNC, with participation of DoJ and FBI officials, and with no substance at all.  Why won’t your newspaper issue an apology and return the undeserved Pulitzers?  Why should the American public believe anything you report if you won’t do at least that?”

In a Congressional hearing: “Director Wray, why did the FBI hide the increased crime statistics in its updated report in a way never done before?  Isn’t that dishonest?  Didn’t you do it so Democrats running for office can claim reduced crime rates under their reign rather than reveal the mess they’ve left cities in?”

“Why do you keep citing Hamas for casualty figures in Gaza when it has repeatedly inflated them to make Israel look bad?  You deny their figures are off?  What about [such and such] where they doubled/tripled the count as attested by [these] military and other experts?”

With a concerted, relentless effort maybe we’ll see results.

W.A. Eliot is a pseudonym
 

Image: Pixabay / Pixabay License