The Kamala Harris campaign altered the headline to make it look more favorable. If that doesn't fit the definition of misinformation, nothing does. But the defenders of democracy in our corporate media seem hardly to care.
Axios reported early Tuesday that the Harris campaign had quietly sponsored Google search ads directing to stories from nearly every major news outlet in the country, except the campaign changed the headlines and subheadings to make the stories appear to be strong endorsements.
For example, one advertisement Guardian The campaign used the headline “VP Harris Fights Abortion Bans – Harris Protects Reproductive Freedom” with a subheading: “VP Harris is a champion for reproductive freedom and will block President Trump's abortion ban.”
Hours later, the Axios reporter who broke the story denied his scoop on Twitter, and Harris' campaign was quick to clarify that they had “done nothing wrong.”
The Harris campaign did nothing wrong, and Google, which is pretty strict about banning spam ads, doesn't see it as a consumer harm. News organizations are just collateral damage in this strange advertising strategy. https://t.co/xEAiW3JWNC
— Sarah Fisher (@sarafischer) August 13, 2024
Phew, that's a relief.
Now that the campaign has escaped justice, the entire media, whose integrity has been tainted, can safely steer clear of or downplay the matter. Of course, they are rooting for Harris, they just hope the campaign doesn't make it obvious.
The campaign used the same trick with articles like this one: Independent UK, NPR, Associated Press (AP), USA Today, PBS, CNN, CBS News, Reuters and time. However, Axios points out that this is just the tip of the iceberg, and that other outlets were also used.
However, CBS, NPR, Time and PBS all appear to have completely ignored the story, as do NBC and ABC.
When contacted by The Daily Caller, spokespeople for Reuters and AP would comment only to say they were unaware of what the campaign had done. The AP said it “does not permit such advertising on our website,” while Reuters said it was “investigating the matter.” (Related: Exclusive: Harris campaign and Google could face lawsuit over fake news headline scheme)
To my credit, Independent He condemned the tactics used by the election campaign: “It is completely wrong to run fake headlines. Independent “We strongly oppose this brand as we believe it undermines the integrity of politics and journalism,” the spokesperson said.
But the media coverage began with the idea that the campaign had “sponsored a backlash,” meaning the main story was not about what the campaign had done but about Republicans launching nasty attacks.
The Guardian offered an even weaker response: “We understand that some organisations want to associate themselves with our trusted brand, but we need to ensure that the brand is used appropriately and with our permission,” a spokesperson for the publication said.
USA Today also covered the story but downplayed it as “real news content” that simply provided “customized headlines and descriptions.” Don't worry, Google “experts” say this is “common.”
CNN did not appear to cover the story in print, but did cover it on air, and former White House communications director and current CNN commentator Kate Bedingfield offered a vague defense of the campaign, claiming that “there was nothing unethical going on.”
Axios caught the Harris campaign buying Google ads that rephrased media headlines as fake news.
CNN's Kate Bedingfield tries to defend this, but looks crazy: Before her job at CNN, Bedingfield was Biden's White House communications director and deputy campaign manager for the 2020 presidential election. pic.twitter.com/jzpSeGWH6B
— Paul D. Tucker (@thackerpd) August 15, 2024
The media will move on to the next story within hours, if they even report on it at all. This one won't be talked about because of who is involved and who is on the political side. But we all know what would happen if the Trump campaign was caught doing the same thing. This would be front page news for every media outlet in the country.
Breathless reporting brings incremental updates to the story for days, with journalists bringing in experts to comment on this “dangerous spread of misinformation,” how it’s an “existential threat,” and how corporations and lawmakers “must do more” to silence “harmful speech” and “protect our democracy.”
But none of this will happen because it's the Harris campaign's fault, which just goes to show that these journalists don't care about journalistic integrity anymore, because they're not even really journalists. They're political activists, and they're willing to give their lives if it will get them their goals.
