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CJR: The QAnon cult is growing and the media is helping

Berry Craig
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Thanks to David Nickell, AFT Local 1360, for sending us this.

By MATHEW INGRAM

Columbia Journalism Review

Stocks and bonds may be weak, but we’re still in a raging bull market for one commodity, and that is disinformation. That’s thanks in large part to the fact that President Donald Trump creates and distributes so much of it himself, both through his Twitter account but also in his official statements and briefings from the White House. Trump’s promotion of fringe conspiracy theories—like the one he repeatedly tweeted about involving former Congressional candidate Joe Scarborough and the death of a former campaign worker, or a video about a supposed cure for COVID-19 from a doctor who believes that some diseases are caused by demons—and similar behavior by Trump supporters and advisors, including his son Donald Jr., have helped to fuel the continued growth of a digital disinformation ecosystem. 

Read more here.