Conspiracy promoters deny fake news while accusing mainstream media of it

Evidence

Farah argues, though, that he’s not the one making stuff up. “I deplore fake news,” he wrote to me, “which is a real phenomenon in what you would call ‘mainstream’ sources like CNN, the New York Times and the Washington Post, as well as in the news media.” He didn’t consider that he himself promoted conspiracy theories—despite absolutely, definitively promoting conspiracy theories. — Anna Merlan, Republic of Lies, 105

Categorization

• XREF: The denial pattern matches vault claims about how groups project their own disinformation onto out-groups — parallels the ‘yelling lying about Islam’ dynamic and the blame-shifting noted in anti-Muslim discourse chapters. — connects to: Conspiracy peddlers privately act on the truths they publicly deny — Anna Merlan, Republic of Lies, 995; Conspiracy believers valorize distrust of mass media as proof of undeceived insight — Michael Barkun, A Culture of Conspiracy: Apocalyptic…, 98; The ‘fake news’ charge asserts press bias rather than literal fabrication of stories — Russell Muirhead and Nancy L. Rosenblum, A Lot of People Are Saying: The New…, 131 (+2 more)

Broader Connections

• Conspiracy peddlers privately act on the truths they publicly deny #expands (0.80) — Anna Merlan, Republic of Lies, 995
• The phrase fake news is ascribed to whichever outlet is politically opposed #expands (0.80) — Sander van der Linden, Foolproof, 723
• The ‘fake news’ charge asserts press bias rather than literal fabrication of stories #qualifies (0.78) — Russell Muirhead and Nancy L. Rosenblum, A Lot of People Are Saying, 131
• Conspiracist logic makes denial itself confirm the conspiracy #expands (0.75) — Russell Muirhead and Nancy L. Rosenblum, A Lot of People Are Saying, 56
• Conspiracy believers valorize distrust of mass media as proof of undeceived insight #expands (0.72) — Michael Barkun, A Culture of Conspiracy, 98