Obama: ‘Partisan’ Media, ‘Talk Radio’ Created Need to Fight ‘Fake News’

US President Barack Obama holds a year-end press conference in the Brady Press Briefing Ro
SAUL LOEB/AFP/Getty Images

President Barack Obama angrily denounced “partisan” media outlets for making the United States more divided and dysfunctional and destroying the political process.

“If fake news that’s being released by some foreign government is almost identical to reports that are being issued through partisan news venues then it’s not surprising that that foreign propaganda will have a greater effect,” he remarked during a press conference at the White House on Friday.

Thanks to partisan media and talk radio, Obama said, more Americans believed in the propaganda allegedly being sent out by foreign governments — though outlets like NPR have identified one creator of viral fabricated news stories as California Democrat Jestin Coler, the CEO of Disinfomedia.

“[V]oters who’ve been listening to that stuff for years, who have been getting that stuff everyday from talk radio or other venues, they’re going to believe it,” President Obama said.

He called for both parties to strengthen the political process and make the political dialogue stronger and better to thwart their attempts at influencing the political process.

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