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Regarding national news in the Village News

Just under four years ago we were introduced to the term “alternative facts” by the Trump Administration. Alternative facts, as if there exists a parallel universe in which two contradictory propositions can both be true.

What is the harm in repeating these alternative facts, even if they have been disproven over and over? We can ask the parents of the tragic Sandy Hook shooting, who were forced to sue InfoWars’ Alex Jones, who maliciously claimed that the massacre was a hoax. We can ask the families of the five people, including a policeman, who died in the Jan 6 seditious attack on the U.S. Capitol, which was inspired by the president and his advisers’ rhetoric.

Unfortunately, the Village News has engaged in the same type of dissemination of falsehoods and “alternative facts” for the past couple of years.

Last month, a full month after the November election, an election which the President’s own AG and own election security czar both stated were free of measurable fraud, an election certified in each of the challenged states by Republican state officials, the Village News filled its National news page with three positive articles about the lawsuits involving the president’s unsubstantiated claims of election fraud. If the reader had beamed down from another planet, they would believe that the president's court challenges were successful.

At that time, his legal team was 1-50 on court challenges, with his lawsuits rejected and ridiculed by federal judges, many of them Trump-appointed.

On other occasions the publisher, Ms. Reeder, has spread widely-debunked and dangerous conspiracy theories claiming the Measles vaccine causes autism.

In her piece from Jan. 7, she prints easily proven falsehoods. In comparing COVID-19 to the Spanish Flu she states that “we lost nearly the same annual number of people as an average flu season.” There are 10,000-60,000 annual deaths from the flu. To date, there have been 390,000 deaths attributed to COVID-19 in the U.S.

Obviously not “the same.” She states, “we have learned more about how herd immunity works.” We have, but not the way she means. We’ve learned that if the U.S. had followed the advice of the President’s COVID-19 advisor, radiologist Dr. Atlas, we would lose 2.5-4 million Americans by the time we achieved herd immunity.

The most recent VN use of disinformation is last week’s Reeder article that claims Antifa is responsible for the Jan 6 riot, and attempted insurrection, not Trump supporters. Antifa, designated by the FBI as an ideology, not an organization, somehow managed to coordinate the most successful attack on the US Capitol since 1812 and pin the blame on law-abiding Trump supporters, who apparently stayed outside.

This theory would be interesting if it had not been debunked many, many times, including by the FBI and even the usually loyal Trump sycophant Rep. Kevin McCarthy, who stated that there is zero evidence of Antifa involvement.

More than 100 have been arrested for breaching the Capitol, including members of the far-right Oath Keepers and the Far-right provocateur “Baked Alaska.” Proud Boys and other extremist groups had for weeks chatted on social media about utilizing violent measures to disrupt the Constitutional process of election certification, but sure, let’s blame it on Antifa.

Real facts matter. They are crucial in responsible journalism. We have recently seen the consequences of the absence of this play out nationally. Our local paper need not be divisive – it doesn’t need to engage in misinformation or disinformation, in fact it doesn’t need a “National” news section at all.

There are hundreds of sources for national news, both print and online. If one is seeking conspiracy theories, they can search out QAnon or InfoWars. I’m sure there’s conversation there now about Bill Gates implanting 5G antennas inside us via the COVID vaccine.

I believe that most local readers are interested in local news, news that you can’t find anywhere else. The Village News should either return to that community service or consider selling the paper to someone who is.

Jeff Ekgan

 

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