This morning, CNN tweeted a new clever ad and coined the hashtag #FactsFirst.
The ad mocks the Trump administration’s dangerous discrediting of mainstream media outlets like CNN, urging that we ignore that discourse and pay attention to the facts, which CNN has been giving its viewers all along.
The voiceover says,
“This is an apple. Some people might try to tell you that it’s a banana. They might scream, ‘banana, banana, banana’ over and over and over again. They might put ‘BANANA’ in all caps.”
The ad then addresses the fact that some people might play into the idea that mainstream media really is ‘fake,’ or in this case, that the apple really is a banana. But it’s not.
It’s an apple, and CNN is legitimate reporting. The ad reads like it’s breaking something down to a kindergartner. Because it is.
Trump labels any person or news outlet that produces content he doesn’t like as ‘fake,’ and this is borderline authoritarian. It’s been said a million times since November: a free press is essential to America’s democracy.
Trump has told CNN reporter Jim Acosta he is fake news to his face. CNN host Don Lemon shut down a conservative pundit for accusing his show of being fake news. These reporters have studied journalism at accredited institutions and don’t go on television and read lies from a teleprompter. That Trump has emboldened this idea and other people repeat it is so wild.
Our mainstream media outlets that report the news are completely different than sites your aunt might have shared on Facebook that have names like ‘Freedom Eagle’ or something. Sites that report Miley Cyrus was deported after posting an Instagram crying over Trump’s election (something I saw with my own eyes on Facebook.)
CNN, NBC, and the other outlets that Trump has condemned and threatened to license (super not cool with the U.S. Constitution, by the way) are not ‘fake.’ It’s disappointing that this is even an ad strategy for a major news outlet in 2017.
Check out the complete ad below.
“Some people might try to tell you that it’s a banana.” #FactsFirst pic.twitter.com/LbmRKiGJe9
— CNN (@CNN) October 23, 2017
