What exactly does Kamala Harris have to do for the media to finally decide the honeymoon’s over?
It’s not just that they’re carrying water for the vice president; we’re used to the establishment media doing that for anyone who can convincingly pass as a liberal or progressive. Rather, it’s reached the point where — like the man she’s replacing atop the ticket, President Joe Biden — she’s actively insulting them.
The media finally reached their tipping point with the president when he asked them to attest to his competency both during and after the debate from hell. They declined, and the rest was history. Now, Harris is insulting them in a similar way — and it’s not just refusing to answer questions or sit for an interview anymore.
Take Sara Fischer of Axios. On Tuesday, Fisher broke a story that essentially accused the Harris campaign of engaging in a form of fake news in which it would run ads on Google which took actual stories from news sources and put new, deceptive headlines on them.
One story from the U.K. Independent, for instance, was retitled “Trump Will Pardon J6 Rioters — VP Harris Protects Democracy.” Another, from NPR: “Harris Will Lower Health Costs.” From Reuters: “Inflation Is Down.” One from the U.K. Guardian: “VP Harris Fights Abortion Bans – Harris Defends Repro Freedom.”
“It’s a common practice in the commercial advertising world that doesn’t violate Google’s policies, but the ads mimic real news results from Search closely enough that they have news outlets caught off guard,” Fischer wrote in the Tuesday piece.
Harris campaign has been editing news headlines & descriptions in search ads that make it appear as if major outlets support her
—Google believes its sponsored disclosures are enough to keep voters from being misled, but media outlets may feel differentlyhttps://t.co/dU0KFhbeuy— Sara Fischer (@sarafischer) August 13, 2024
Despite the fact that Fischer broke the piece, even she seemed to want to hedge the fact she was reporting that Kamala’s campaign was manipulating headlines in a way that, if former President Donald Trump did it, would be called “fake news.”
Is this “fake news?”
For instance: “The campaign has complied with all of Google’s rules, although a technical glitch in Google’s Ad Library made it appear as though some ads lacked the necessary disclosures Google requires when they ran. (A Google spokesperson confirmed the glitch and said it’s investigating what happened),” she wrote.
Yes, those darn Google glitches. They seem to happen so often when Harris and Trump are involved!
Another great laugh line in the initial article: “The mainstream media industry is already fighting assertions of bias. These ads, even though they comply with Google’s rules, could leave media outlets further vulnerable to charges of partisanship.”
Yes, imagine that. “Assertions” the media is biased. Heaven forfend.
It’s worth noting that even Facebook (Facebook!) has banned this practice for seven years now, yet Google continues to justify it because the fake headlines are “easily distinguishable from Search results.”
Right — which is clearly why the campaign is spending wads of cash to retitle headlines on Google Search. Because they’re so easily distinguishable as ads. I’m not sure if the spokesperson who was responsible for these words could keep a straight face as they uttered and/or typed them, but Fischer reported this without comment.
And now, she really wants you to know that seriously, guys, this is all fine!
“Harris camp doing nothing wrong and Google, which is pretty strict about banning spammy ads, doesn’t see it as a consumer harm,” Fischer wrote on X shortly after the story began going viral.
“News outlets just collateral damage in this weird ads tactic.”
Harris camp doing nothing wrong and Google, which is pretty strict about banning spammy ads, doesn’t see it as a consumer harm. News outlets just collateral damage in this weird ads tactic https://t.co/xEAiW3JWNC
— Sara Fischer (@sarafischer) August 13, 2024
Social media, as you might expect, let her have it:
Pathetic and debasing.
— Tammy Bruce (@HeyTammyBruce) August 14, 2024
“Falsely quoting outlets is good!” -Axios Reporter
— Matt Orfalea (@0rf) August 14, 2024
“Harris campaign doing nothing wrong.” Says who? Sara Fischer or the Harris campaign?
— Phil (@RealPhillyP) August 13, 2024
By contrast, she seemed more concerned about Trump’s interview with Elon Musk the day before:
👀 Seeing Trump ads on @X ahead of his interview w @elonmusk this evening https://t.co/JswI3uWitS
— Sara Fischer (@sarafischer) August 12, 2024
In an appearance on CNN, Fischer said she expected the X Spaces chat to “be like a bromance type of an interview where they’re supporting each other.”
“I think that Elon Musk will let Donald Trump speak all the falsehoods and misinformation that he wants. And he’s not a journalist and it’s not his job necessarily — does he want to be fact-checking all of the information. So I think it’s just a platform for Donald Trump to come out and say whatever he wants,” she said, adding that he “wants to rally up that sort of fringe online base, that’s what Donald Trump is doing here tonight.”
Media correspondent Sara Fischer spoke with @kasie about Elon Musk interviewing Trump tonight on X.
📺: @CNNThisMorning | @sarafischer | @axios pic.twitter.com/xDKff3ckKw
— Axios Comms (@AxiosComms) August 12, 2024
Yes, Trump sitting down for an interview with Elon Musk is a highway to “misinformation,” but actual misinformation from the Harris campaign — namely, placing Google ads for stories under unrealistically positive headlines even the U.K. freaking Guardian wouldn’t run them under — is totally OK. No liberals whining about “fake news” this time.
This is the upside-down world of the media, where boosterism for anyone who isn’t a Republican passes muster as being ethical so long as it doesn’t go too far. Putting up with Biden’s senescence after the debate was a line they wouldn’t cross; it was too insulting for even them. But this? It’s fine. Everything is fine. Just cover for the Democratic nominee.
One wonders why she even bothered to run the story in the first place. Just publish a piece titled “Kamala is Awesome!” in its stead, with “Kamala is Awesome!” repeated several hundred times to fill up the word count. At the very least, she could have saved the Harris campaign one of those Google ad buys.
