Mainstream journos are freaking out at Mark Zuckerberg following news that Facebook might make them compete on a slightly more equal playing field with Breitbart News.
The mass mainstream media meltdown was sparked by reports that Facebook will include Breitbart News in its new “Facebook News,” feature, which delivers news stories to Facebook users from a handpicked selection of 200 trusted news sources.
The full list of the 200 publishers has yet to be released, but early reports indicate that left-leaning and mainstream sources far outnumber right-leaning ones. Nevertheless, journos are still mad at the inclusion of Breitbart News.
New York Times writer Charlie Warzel said Facebook was “ignorant of the realities of the pro-trump media information war.”
Left-wing blogger Judd Legum, a former Hillary Clinton campaign staffer, said Facebook was conferring “legitimacy” on the “far-right.”
CNN smear specialist Oliver Darcy said Breitbart News is known for “misinformation.”
Replies to Darcy’s tweet showed ordinary Twitter users had a good idea of what websites “known for misinformation” might be on Facebook’s news tab.
The director of “social strategy” at Conde Nast called Facebook’s decision “outrageous.”
The editor-in-chief of the Information, a tech news website, called Breitbart’s inclusion “unfortunate.”
Left-wing advocacy groups were also upset. Sleeping Giants, which specializes in harassing the advertisers of conservative media with smears, accused Breitbart News of “unfettered racism, sexism, and violence.”
With Nostradamus-like prescience, Media Matters editor-at-large Parker Molloy said she was “looking forward to getting my tweets added to some dumb listicle that’s like “Lefties Lose their Minds Over Balance” (because they view this as balance).”
“Every day, Breitbart disseminates conspiracy theories about immigrants and LGBTQ people,” said the official account of Immigration Equality, which has sued the Trump administration four times over its immigration policies.
Left-wing clergyman Chuck Currie, whose Twitter header image features a picture of himself sporting a hoodie with the slogan “Jesus was a refugee,” called Facebook an “enabler of hate.”
Mark Zuckerberg has reportedly defended Facebook’s decision, saying “I think you want to have content that represents different perspectives.”
Are you an insider at Reddit or any other tech company who wants to confidentially reveal wrongdoing or political bias at your company? Reach out to Allum Bokhari at his secure email address allumbokhari@protonmail.com.
Allum Bokhari is the senior technology correspondent at Breitbart News.
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