Immigrants; Eating Dogs and Cats

Editorial – updated

“Misinformation” is today’s polite media term for “lies” now lubricating the Trump-for-President narrative. It is also the fuel for a machine of talking heads both in and out of the cable and internet media spaces serving as the campaign’s echo chamber.   The most recent example of Trump campaign “misinformation” claims is about immigrants eating their neighbors pets in Springfield, Ohio.

“In Springfield they’re eating dogs,” the former president said, referring to an Ohio city dealing with an influx of Haitian immigrants. “They’re eating the cats. They’re eating … the pets of the people that live there. And this is what’s happening in our country, and it’s a shame.”

Although, thoroughly debunked, and based on unfounded rumors and racist stereotypes, new polls show lots of Trump backers “still” believe Trump’s pet-eating cause and effect claims about Haitians, as well as plenty of other unhinged claims.

The origin of the dogs and cats being eaten by immigrants originated from unverified social media posts and comments at local meetings, and amplified by right-wing figures in the media after the Trump campaign picked-up on the story and ran with it.

Despite the lack of evidence, the rumor has been roundly promoted by prominent Republican figures, specifically Donald Trump and his running mate JD Vance during campaign events, and the one and only recent Harris-Trump national debate.

The spread of these rumors has led to increased tensions in Springfield, including bomb threats against schools and government buildings.  Both Springfield’s mayor and Ohio’s Republican governor have spoken out against these false claims and emphasized the positive contributions of the immigrant community.

It’s important to note that these types of unfounded rumors can have serious consequences, fueling xenophobia and potentially inciting violence against immigrant communities. Responsible discussion of immigration should focus on factual information and policy debates rather than spreading unsubstantiated claims and lies.

Today’s media hardly resembles the investigative and truthful news reporting period of the Watergate years. Instead, we to live in a media echo chamber of false narratives replacing news and investigative reporting, once the primary and verifiable domain of national broadcasting outlets.

Investigating and informative news outlets in various forms are now competing with talk show formats masquerading as TV & Internet news outlets. Today’s media lacks the necessary investigative and truthful reporting required to support a free and open democratic society, and media sponsors seem to like it that way.

Meanwhile, corporations have also discovered profitability in selling products and ideas as news, and news as infotainment. The arrival of AI tech applications will only accelerate this disturbing trend, and truth telling is paying the price of an increasingly misinformed public.

Another problem are the various forms of false news stories currently circulating on social media. One recent example alleged that Kamala Harris was involved in a 2011 hit-and-run accident in San Francisco. The fake news  manufactured and was the work of a covert Russian disinformation operation, according to Microsoft.  Researchers found that the group created a video, paid an actor to appear as the alleged victim, and spread the video report  through a fake website of a nonexistent San Francisco news outlet named KBSF-TV.  The Russian disinformation group responsible, Microsoft dubs Storm-1516, is described as a Kremlin-aligned troll farm, and exemplifies the growing public challenges of separating fake from real, informative, and honest news coverage.