Clinton's Defeat and the Fake News Conspiracy

http://www.counterpunch.org/2016/12/19/clintons-defeat-and-the-fake-news-conspiracy/
Date Written:  2016-12-19
Publisher:  Counterpunch
Year Published:  2016
Resource Type:  Article
Cx Number:  CX20182

Debunking the scapegoating of 'fake news' by the corporate media following the 2016 US elections as a tactic by the media and Democratic party establishment to avoid blame for Hillary Clinton's election loss.

Abstract: 
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Excerpts:

An assessment of the losing side's claims should be considered separately from the issue of who won the popular mandate. It is irrelevant that Clinton gained more votes than Trump. For good or bad, the US has operated an inherently unrepresentative electoral college since the 18th century. That has provided plenty of time to demand electoral reform. Concern about the electoral college now, only because it elected Trump, is simply ugly partisan politics, not political principle.

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The media have suddenly woken up to the supposed threat to western democracies posed by "fake news". The implication is that it was "fake news" that swept Trump to power. A properly informed electorate, on this view, would never have made such a patently ridiculous choice as Trump. Instead, Clinton would have been rightfully crowned president.