Fact Check: USA Today and CNN are clickbait sites pretending to be factual news

CNN faked a protest photo in an article in 2016

The claim: USA Today and CNN are unbiased factual news sites

For some reason, despite sharing articles worthy of supermarket tabloids, or faking a protest photo to get higher article views, people continue to believe that USA Today and CNN are real news sites.

Sure, CNN has been busted several times for completely fake news coverage, and USA Today is buying up all the local newspapers across the country in an effort to generate more revenue through clickbait and profiting off tasteless minute-by-minute coverage of dead celebrities.

But after all of these years of consistently being fooled by USA Today and CNN, surely they'd be required to put some sort of disclaimer on their sites if they're not reporting factual news, right?

Newspapers and Cable News aren't required to tell the truth

News media in fact is under no obligation to present the truth when reporting news, and in fact intentionally misleads viewers/readers to get better viewership, leading to higher paying sponsors.

In fact, the news organizations only need to prevent from committing libel or slander directed towards a person or organization, and they're absolutely within the confines of the law.

In fact, the FCC has even made clear that they will only step in if the fake news is going to cause "immediate harm". Otherwise, they're powerless to force news organizations to tell the truth.

Sadly, you had to learn this from a satire site

We often joke that we're more honest than CNN or other major news outlets. This is in fact true. Unlike major news outlets, we actually tell you when our articles are satire (which is 99% of the time). Ironically, CNN has even confirmed that 75% of Americans can't identify fake news (which is probably why CNN takes advantage of this).

And by the way, all of the major news outlets fake news. They only apologize when they're actually caught.

Our Rating: False - USA Today and CNN are not factual news sites

Unlike most of our articles, this one is actually not satire.

EDITORIAL: The Fake War on Fake News

The Hagerstown Report is satire. In fact, this is probably the only serious post you'll ever read on this site.

However, I think it's time to get something off my chest. As a satire writer and supporter of liberty, I'm currently terrified by this whole "war on fake news". I am absolutely terrified that satirical criticism of events and politicians will quickly become taboo, labeled as "trouble making", and satire writers targeted for trying to make people think and do their own research.

I purposely make Hagerstown Report articles extremely off-the-wall and unbelievable, and yet some people still believe them! I don't write these articles to trick people, I write these articles to entertain while also pointing out serious issues in our society. Are we so blinded now, believing everything we read, that we don't take the time to question if what we're being told is accurate or not?

You see, the war on "fake news" isn't really a war on fake news. Traditional news media is dying, because in-part people don't trust mainstream media anymore.

And why should they? When major news corporations scream about fake news, but then have to quietly issue retractions about their own fake news articles, perhaps it's time people around the world started doing research on their own, weighing multiple sources before deciding what's real or how they should feel about it.

When anyone can be considered a journalist thanks to social media, the real media is struggling to stay relevant.

Don't get me wrong, there are problems with people spreading false information. However, this isn't a new problem. Let's not forget this country was founded, in part, due to fake news and over-exaggerations regarding the British firing on unarmed civilians in Boston. Compare this incident to recent BLM protests and you start to realize that we have a very long history of stretching the truth for political gains. I don't say this because I am against any of these causes, but only in an attempt to objectively look at what's happening in this country.

The problem with all of these arguments about "fake news" is that people are complaining "the Government should do something!" or "Facebook should do something!".  Allow me to translate this into something a bit more meaningful: "Someone (in authority) should do something (censorship) because I'm too lazy to do my own research, and want everything spoonfed to me."

You don't want that! You don't want the government or the media or someone in authority to "do something".  It won't end well! If you truly want someone in authority to make sure only "the truth" is published, you won't end up with the truth, but merely a bunch of lies presented as the truth, with no ability to refute the evidence! Just ask North Korea's citizens how that's working out for them.

For a people to be truly free, they must be independent thinkers. Do your own research, don't rely on someone else to tell you what's going on, or you're only just going to end up buying into whatever agenda they're spoon feeding you.

Now Launching a Partnership with KCNA!

HAGERSTOWN, MD - In response to recent accusations that our news service is only intended to take "pot shots" at local government officials, The Hagerstown Report is proud to announce the launch of a partnership with the Korean Central News Agency of North Korea to provide readers only the best content and "truthiness".

The Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) is the state news agency of North Korea that was established on December 5, 1946.

KCNA not only provides news about North Korea, but also spends time exposing the "lies and propaganda" of western journalism.

The Hagerstown Report feels it is our duty to ensure than only high quality "truthiness" is presented to our readers, and this partnership with KCNA will help to ensure journalistic integrity.

No nuclear weapons were launched while writing this article. The Hagerstown Report is a satire website.