Obama VP Pick Via Obama Text Message on Your Phone?

Political Misinformation Enters the Realm of Common Man

Are you waiting for the Obama VP pick via Obama text message that will signal the end to the vice presidential speculations? Are you wondering if, should Obama text VP info to you, you might rely on the veracity of the Obama text message? Well, you are not alone. There is an array of hoaxes that are already being reported, and if you get the Obama text message vice president pick, you might want to wait for official confirmation of your info.

The Sydney Morning Herald reports today that hacks and hoaxsters have been busy at work, ever since the Obama VP text message means of communication was disclosed; mentions of official looking texts mentioning Fonzie, Hillary or even Drudge have been making the rounds.

Of course, fake news is not new. The Columbia Journalism Review reported last year that the United States was in the happy news business when it came to offering up spin to Iraqis not sure what to make of the soldiers. Seeking to influence Iraqi public opinion, Uncle Sam knowingly planted some goose eggs.

Uncle Sam is also implicated in making the No Child Left Behind program more palatable - to American audiences - with the help of Armstrong Williams who, for a generous salary, was willing to sing the program's praises, minus any disclosure of the commercial nature of the transaction.

Even before that, fake news was done with aplomb around the world. You might remember the 1957 BBC hoax of the Swiss Spaghetti Harvest that had audiences at first gawking, then laughing. One Richard Dimbleby sought to convince the British audience with a straight face that spaghetti grew on trees and there was a danger of losing the current crop to a little known animal known as the spaghetti weevil.

These cases show how the age of political misinformation has traversed from a tongue in cheek April Fools report used to make fun of the audience's gullibility to an intentionally falsified news report, designed to serve the cause of the current Administration. Thus far no villagers with pitchforks and torches have been descending on the news organizations that willingly support this drivel.