“The 2024 Presidential Campaign Saw a Massive Disinformation and Misinformation Campaign, …
I had the pleasure of attending the very interesting conference on Free Speech in Crisis & the Limits of the First Amendment at Yale Law School on Friday and Saturday; I was invited to participate on the Media Environment panel, for which the description was:
It is widely believed that a profoundly broken media system is responsible for bringing the current administration into power, and for critics, the political crisis it has unleashed. Is this correct? And if so, what is to be done about it? How can public opinion be harnessed to serve constitutional purposes in the new media landscape? How can and should the media system be reformed? And what can free speech law do about any of this?
We were all asked to write up to about 2000 words on our topics, and here was my submission.
[* * *]
The 2024 presidential campaign saw a massive disinformation and misinformation campaign, which likely helped bring the current administration into power. Leading media organizations failed to stop it in time. Indeed, some of them were complicit, through inadequate investigation and perhaps even willful blindness, in the misinformation. We thus face an urgent question, raised by the workshop organizers: “How can and should the media system be reformed?”
I’m speaking, of course, of the campaign to conceal President Biden’s mental decline—a campaign that was only conclusively exposed by the June 27, 2024 debate. At that point, little time was left for deciding whether the President should be persuaded to step aside; for the actual persuasion; for the selection of a replacement; and for the replacement’s attempt to persuade the people to elect her.
Had the Administration leveled with the public earlier, or had the media exposed the concealment earlier, there would likely have been time for a full primary campaign, in which Democratic voters could have made their choice about whom to run against Donald Trump.[1] Perhaps that candidate would have been more effective than Kamala Harris. Or perhaps the candidate would have still been Harris, but a Harris who was seen as having more legitimacy with the public. “Democracy Dies in Darkness,” the Washington Post tells us. It appears that the Democratic Party’s prospects died in this particular darkness.
The single most consequential fact of the 2024 Presidential campaign had thus been largely hidden for a long time, including from (and, perhaps unwittingly, by) the media organizations whose job it is to inform us. Indeed, this a fact not just of immense political significance, but also central to national security: If President Biden was indeed cognitively impaired, that bore on his ability to make decisions as President, not just his ability to be re-elected.
When, for instance, Trump and Vance spread unfounded rumors of Haitian immigrants eating cats and dogs, the media rightly blew the whistle. But when some media outlets tried to point out the evidence of Biden’s likely incapacity, others didn’t pick up on the investigation—and, indeed, sometimes pooh-poohed the investigation.
As late as mid-June 2024, the White House and many of its supporters characterized videos of Biden apparently freezing up and seeming confused as “cheap fake” disinformation created by his enemies.[2] Only Biden’s televised debate performance on June 27, 2024 made it impossible to deny there was something badly wrong. It seems likely that many of the supposed “cheap fakes” actually accurately captured Biden’s cognitive slippage, especially since the slippage apparently went back a good deal before the debate.[3] And even if some particular videos had indeed been disinformation from his enemies, the fact remains that the media failed to adequately identify the disinformation from his friends. Indeed, isn’t it shocking that so many White House reporters appear to have learned thanks only to the nationally televised debate and not to their investigative journalism?
Of course, reaching the truth on this question wasn’t easy. Biden insiders apparently tried hard to conceal the facts (that’s the disinformation part). And indeed it’s not surprising that people who are both personally loyal to a President and rely on the President’s success for their ongoing careers would want to conceal such facts. In our fallen world, we can’t expect much candor from political insiders. And I expect most journalists
Article from Reason.com
The Reason Magazine website is a go-to destination for libertarians seeking cogent analysis, investigative reporting, and thought-provoking commentary. Championing the principles of individual freedom, limited government, and free markets, the site offers a diverse range of articles, videos, and podcasts that challenge conventional wisdom and advocate for libertarian solutions. Whether you’re interested in politics, culture, or technology, Reason provides a unique lens that prioritizes liberty and rational discourse. It’s an essential resource for those who value critical thinking and nuanced debate in the pursuit of a freer society.
