As Facebook and Google revise their algorithms to target fake news sites, let’s hope our information overlords dedicate equal vigor to screening out fake narratives from mainstream media outlets.
They can start with the half-million web hits defaming Stephen K. Bannon as anti-Semitic.
First, the obligatory disclaimer clearing a good man being defamed. I have known Steve Bannon for nearly two decades. During that time, we have enjoyed frank dinnertime conversations about public policy and political philosophy. He’s never uttered a single word that would suggest any racist or anti-Semitic views.
The mainstream media would know this if they bothered with some real reporting.
“I have worked with Stephen K. Bannon, President-elect Donald Trump’s new chief strategist and senior counselor, for nearly six years at Breitbart News,”attests Joel Pollak, Senior Editor-at-Large at Breitbart News. “I can say, without hesitation, that Steve is a friend of the Jewish people and a defender of Israel, as well as being a passionate American patriot and a great leader.”
Pollak’s defense of Bannon carries added significance. An Orthodox Jew, Pollak wrote his Master’s thesis in Jewish Studies on “the troubled status of Jews in an increasingly anti-Israel, and antisemitic, post-apartheid South Africa.”
He adds, “It defies logic that a man who was a close friend, confidant, and adviser to the late Andrew Breitbart — a proud Jew — could have any negative feelings towards Jews.”
Even the Anti-Defamation League has begun to back away from its attacks. “We are not aware of any anti-Semitic statements from Bannon,” the organization concludes.
The mainstream media made a fatal error in constructing this bogus narrative. Stephen Bannon’s work at Breitbart.com, which is being used as Exhibit A in the media’s indictment against him, is a Jewish-American success story.
“They say that we are ‘anti-Semitic,’ though our company was founded by Jews, is largely staffed by Jews, and has an entire section (Breitbart Jerusalem) dedicated to reporting on and defending the Jewish state of Israel,” Breitbart News CEO Larry Solov and Editor-in-Chief Alex Marlow said back in August, when Hillary Clinton’s campaign first placed the anti-Bannon narrative.
Are we to believe that a raging anti-Semite secretly harbored anti-Semitic views while working alongside a team of Jewish writers and editors, or that Breitbart.com’s outspoken, alt-right provocateurs have suddenly become timid wallflowers?
“Calling Steve Bannon an antisemite is a witch-hunt,” explains nationally syndicated radio talk show host and Jewish-American Dennis Prager. “It’s just a libel, it’s fabricated, the whole thing is fabricated.”
Conservatives should ask ourselves why. Why has the mainstream media targeted Bannon with this fabricated story?
Bannon’s crime was providing us deplorables with an alternative source for news. In October, Breitbart News generated more than 240 million page views from 37 million unique visitors. Much of that success is owed to the vision established by Bannon as the alternative media outlet’s Executive Chairman.
The Steve Bannon witch-hunt has had nothing to do with racism or anti-Semitism. It’s the mainstream media’s attempt to regain control.
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