NEW YORK POST | POST EDITORIAL BOARD | NOVEMBER 7, 2017
PHOTO CREDIT | REUTERS

Were they trying to prove President Trump right about “fake news”? Several top media outlets came out looking very fishy after a rush to embarrass him.

In Japan for his Asia tour, Trump on Sunday did a photo op feeding some koi with Prime Minister Shinzo Abe. The two men spooned out some food, then Abe dumped the rest of his small box into the lake, and Trump followed suit.

But a UK paper, the Guardian, ran an online account that played to the Ugly American stereotype, suggesting Trump had just bungled the ceremony, under the headline “Trump dump: president throws entire box of fish food into precious koi carp pond,” with the subhead “While his host, Japan’s prime minister Shinzo Abe, spoons small amounts of feed, the US leader gives the fish a large feast.”

Hours later, it corrected the report to “Fishy business: Trump and Abe dump fish food into precious koi pond.” [KBSOS comment: the link includes video of the event] But US media jumped in to repeat the misreporting.

ABC News’ video showed only Trump upending his box of fish food; a CNN video did the same. And CBS tweeted out similarly misleading photos.

The memes and gifs went viral on anti-Trump social-media feeds — even as outrage over the distortions later fed pro-Trump feeds.

Whenever you’re wondering how America got so divided, don’t forget about “responsible” media institutions that can’t let truth stand in the way of the quest for clicks.


A sampling of biased Youtube video titles:


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Last Updated on July 26, 2024 by Real KBrett