It's no surprise that the year "fake news" entered our vocabularies was a controversial one for media. NewsBusters' Curtis Houck joins Cheddar to break down the year's most polarizing press events. We consider how to hold journalists accountable without vilifying them.
Houck points to Vice President Al Gore's marketing strategy for his documentary "An Inconvenient Truth 2" as an instance of dishonesty. He also revisits the media's decision to use Big Bird as a symbol of PBS' budget cuts. Despite headlines saying the government was killing the children's character, Sesame Street is still airing on PBS.
Finally, Houck reveals some of the most infamous media mistakes of the year. From Brian Ross' false reporting about the Michael Flynn guilty plea to CNN's misrepresentation of Anthony Scaramucci's Russia ties, Houck says the media lost significant credibility in 2017. We also consider the apparent double standard different networks are taking in their approaches to punishing erring journalists.
U.S. District Judge David Ezra stopped short of ordering Texas to dismantle the wrecking-ball sized buoys on the Rio Grande but called them a threat to safety and relationships between the neighboring countries.
Four months after a civil trial jury found Donald Trump sexually abused and defamed advice columnist E. Jean Carroll, a federal judge has ruled still more of the ex-president’s comments about her were libelous. The decision means an upcoming second trial will concern only how much more Trump has to pay Carroll.
Sentencing of former Proud Boys national chairman Enrique Tarrio for a plot to attack the U.S. Capitol in a failed bid to stop the transfer of presidential power after Donald Trump lost the 2020 election.
