Sharyl Attkisson: The left invented fake news

Erik Sandberg
Newsvoice
Published in
2 min readJun 19, 2018
Sharyl Attkisson

Sharyl Attkisson is a New York Times bestselling author and host of the weekly Sunday public affairs program, Full Measure with Sharyl Attkisson. An investigative journalist, Sharyl has worked for CBS News and also as a foreign correspondent for CNN. She is a multi-award winning writer.

In 2017, she published The Smear: How Shady Political Operatives and Fake News Control What You See, What You Think, and How You Vote. Which dissected the origins of the now infamous fake news term. In an exclusive interview she explains how fake news is a propaganda phrase invented by the left that was eventually co–opted by Donald Trump.

Listen to the full interview in our weekly Newsvoice Think podcast.

According to Attkisson, the research that she carried out for her book to source the provenance of the term fake news led her to a non–profit organisation funded by Google whose parent company; Alphabet, was at the time chaired by Eric Schmidt. Schmidt was one of Hillary Clinton’s top campaign strategists and donors during Clinton’s 2016 presidential run.

“A smear artist told me that nearly every image that crosses your path on a daily basis whether it’s on the news, on a billboard or on a late night comedy show. All of it was put there for a reason, often by someone who paid a lot of money for it to be there.”

Attkisson is scathing of PR and law firms for “forwarding one narrative or one idea” which are rooted in political causes and often undisclosed. She told Newsvoice that “the smear industry” is a multi-billion industry, that looks to target personalities or those with dissenting voices that the establishment wishes to shut down.

Share Sharyl’s concern on the media getting compromised to “forward one narrative or one idea”? Be part of the media and make a difference. Help democratize the news with Newsvoice.

Journalists globally have been facing attack from their own governments and officials for just doing their job. Almost on a daily basis we hear of the jailing of journalists in countries like Turkey and China with a total of 262 imprisoned globally in 2017. Sharyl Attkisson told Newsvoice that she too has been subjected to privacy violations at the hands of the FBI and the U.S. Department of Justice. She explains the forensic evidence uncovered in the case, and her ongoing battle for justice.

You can read more about Sharyl’s work at https://sharylattkisson.com/

With Newsvoice, you can be a part of the media. Our mission is to democratize the news, and move the power over to our readers. Get involved by downloading the app, or visit us at Newsvoice.com.

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