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By: Claire Bernish<\/strong><\/a> \/ The Free Thought Project<\/a>\u00a0 \u00a0<\/strong>We\u2019re inarguably in the midst of an information war, and \u2014 though the battle cry against Fake News comes loudest from the corporate press \u2014 it is the corporate media who claims the most egregious track record of publishing false information.<\/p>\n Although it would seem these corporate-owned presstitutes have forgotten entirely the storied muckraking roots of journalism, a far more likely explanation for these lies and falsehoods contends their coziness with politicians and government officials inserts specific bias \u2014 if not flagrant propaganda<\/a>.<\/p>\n Recent Red Scaremongering<\/a> plastered across mainstream media headlines has intimated The Nefarious Russians responsible for everything from hacking<\/a> the election in favor of Donald Trump to hacking<\/a> into the power grid of Vermont \u2014 yet none of these allegations have been unassailably proven.<\/p>\n Despite cooler heads prevailing after President Obama used these baseless claims to impose<\/a> sanctions, expel 35 diplomats, and bar entry into two compounds owned by Russia, this brash spate of corporate Fake News constitutes a treacherous game of Russian roulette.<\/p>\n President Vladimir Putin \u2014 though refusing<\/a> to volley diplomatic tit-for-tat after Obama\u2019s aggressive moves \u2014 has expressed exasperation with the United States\u2019 constant anti-Russia haranguing, and alluded to a proportional or decisive response.<\/p>\n Thus, corporate media must be held to strictest account and called out for feckless reporting \u2014 such as a recent lackadaisical blunder by CNN<\/i>.<\/p>\n To discuss<\/a> Obama\u2019s diplomatically combative actions \u2014 based on, as the White House termed it, \u201cSignificant Malicious Cyber-Enabled Activities\u201d \u2014 CNN<\/i> opted for canned, industry-standard footage, ostensibly depicting hacking on a computer screen.<\/p>\n But it wasn\u2019t hacking. At all. And, expectedly, the Internet hastily slammed the preposterous gaffe.<\/p>\n Because the footage<\/a> CNN<\/i> chose<\/a> \u2014 from role-playing action video game Fallout 4 \u2014 humorously mimics the absurdly thin accusations about Russia hacking anything in the U.S.<\/p>\n As PC Gamer<\/i>\u2019s Shaun Prescott observes<\/a> about Bethesda Game Studios\u2019 creation:<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019d be pretty hard for the Russians to hack America using the computers in Fallout 4. For one, the computers in Fallout 4 are not connected to the internet: in Bethesda\u2019s alternative history, America never makes it that far into the future. Another obstacle stopping Russia from hacking America via the computers in Fallout 4 is that, no matter how you approach it, it\u2019d simply be impossible.\u201d<\/i><\/p>\n <\/p>\n It isn\u2019t as if there are many choices for mainstream media when it comes to accurately portraying hacking. As one reader on the original post<\/a> to Reddit by Poofylicious on the comical blooper aptly noted, \u201cIf you want to talk about hacking on a major news network, your choices are either that or a scene from The Matrix.\u201d<\/i><\/p>\n Remember, however, it isn\u2019t as if Russian government actors couldn\u2019t \u2014 or haven\u2019t \u2014 penetrated U.S. systems. But the narrative pushed by the Obama administration \u2014 and the embarrassed campaign of Hillary Clinton \u2014 has not shown viable evidence or sufficient motive this was done.<\/p>\n Amusing though the flub of a wholly unrealistic depiction of hacking might seem, to the susceptible somnambulant masses \u2014 and those unfamiliar with what the practice actually entails \u2014 the image conflates technical garblety-gook with menacing know-how, and thus instills unjustifiable fear.<\/p>\n That the Russians hacked anything remains a hollow accusation \u2014 even with a disclaimer-bearing joint brief from the Department of Homeland Security and FBI, reading more as cautionary advice for IT specialists, that merely speculated on the assertion.<\/p>\n Indeed, that threadbare report has since been examined by independent journalists and security researchers seeking tangible proof the Obama administration acted rightly in rolling out diplomatic sanctions and expulsions \u2014 but dual-agency information instead raised more questions. (A meticulously detailed investigation of that joint report, by David Spring, can be found here.<\/a>)<\/p>\n For CNN<\/i> to even briefly use stock footage from a video game to portray hacking by The Russians epitomizes the nature of the bloviated assertion, itself \u2014 it may appear threatening, but it amounts to so much fiction.<\/p>\n Until officials from the inexplicably massive U.S. Intelligence Community come forth by name to provide irrefutable evidence The Russians hacked the election, various Democratic Party emails, or the power grid of Vermont, farcical story will fictitious smear of which only Senator Joseph McCarthy would be proud.<\/p>\n UPDATE: After this footage began going viral, CNN, apparently embarrassed, pulled it. However, here it is below.<\/p>\n