Nearly 60% of Americans Think the Media Are Liars and That Is as Good as It Is Going to Get

In the aftermath of the Capitol riot on January 6, we were inundated with multiple stories about the nefarious acts carried out there. There was the story of men prowling the Capitol with zip ties. No one ever talked to them but the media let us know that they were surely on the hunt to kidnap members of Congress. That turned out to be a lot less than accurate, see Remember That ‘Zip Tie’ Guy Capitol Riot Story? Turns out That’s Not Quite True Either. We were regaled with tales of “kill teams” searching for Mike Pence and Mitt Romney, a story that was amplified by Nebraska VichyCon Ben Sasse. Now we find out those stories were false. We were told that many of the people in the Capitol were armed with guns. Thus far there have been zero people in the Capitol charged with any kind of a firearms violation. There is the whole saga of deceased Capitol Police officer Brian Sicknick. Sicknick, we were assured, had been beaten on the head with a fire extinguisher and died in an intensive care unit. The truth appears to be that Sicknick was at the riot, returned to his office, texted his family he was fine, did not file any kind of injury report or criminal complaint, and died at his desk. A month after the event, after a narrative was firmly established, the New York Times got around to printing a retraction, see NYT Retracts Story First Published on Jan. 8 That Capitol Hill Police Officer Was Killed by a Fire Extinguisher Thrown by Protesters. Finally, there is the shabby and disgraceful revelation that the leftwing rioter was on the payroll of two news organizations as he filmed the execution of Ashli Babbit, see Leftist Videographer John Sullivan Was Paid by Major Media Organizations for Footage of the Capitol Unrest. Glenn Greenwald, who is definitely of the left, has this excellent takedown of media coverage of January 6.