Can we trust any of our click-desperate MSM ‘journalists’?

Friday-weekend blog

Below I have copied and pasted a blog I wrote just over a week ago. In it I tried to explain that Trump’s supposed ‘threat’ to take over Greenland was just typical Trump ‘Art of the Deal’ tactics. You make a totally over-the-top demand, your adversaries do the headless chicken dance, you negotiate and then you get what you always realistically wanted.

This seems to be what has happened with Greenland. Although many of the aspects of the deal seem to be unclear, I believe it allows Trump to set up military bases in Greenland which will be under US control. In addition it commits NATO to increase its opeations in the Arctic to ward off Russian and Chinese encroachment. This is probably what Trump wanted all along.

But today’s blog is not about Trump and Greenland. It’s about how MSM ‘journalists’ have reported the story. There were absurd headlines like ‘Trump to invade Greenland‘, ‘Trump declares war on NATO’, ‘Trump hands Putin a victory‘ and even ‘US soldiers may refuse to fight in Greenland’.

Journalism has become a tough business. Before the days of the Internet, newspapers could only get a vague idea of which articles attracted the most readers from doing market research. But now, with the Internet, editors can see exactly how many readers click on each article. This puts tremendous pressure on journalists to get the most clicks they can. After all, if your click rate drops and some young up-and-coming star gets more clicks than you or if your ever-so-friendly, always-smiling colleagues decide to knife you in the back, a falling click rate on your articles can end your career. That’s something you definitely don’t want if you have a mortgage to pay and even school fees as well.

So, a high click rate means survival. I humbly suggest that those ‘journalists’ who wrote about America invading Greenland probably knew they were writing complete nonsense. But they also knew such extreme articles would generate clicks. So they decided to knowingly produce utter garbage to protect their lousy careers. I further suspect that many/most MSM articles are hyperbolic trash churned out to get clicks and save careers.

Though the mad battle for clicks is not limited to the MSM media. There’s much more garbage on the alternative media. I came across a YouTube video yesterday in which the presenter interviewed a self-appointed ‘medical expert’ who claimed that judging by what he saw of Trump’s public appearances, Trump would die in 2 to 4 months. The video may be right. But I suspect it is just clickbait garbage, though it did get a few hundred thousand views. So writing complete BS seems to be a lucrative activity for so many people who want us to take their pronouncements seriously.

Here’s the blog I wrote about 10 days ago:

Following the US raid on Venezuela and the arrest of Maduro, Trump has also reportedly doubled down on his claim that “the US wants Greenland”.

This seems to have caused absolute panic amongst other NATO countries and their rulers are rushing around squawking like headless chickens (do headless chickens squawk?). Meanwhile the mainstream media vomits out endless bilge about how a US “invasion” of Greeneland could shatter NATO. And the Danish government beats its chest declaring boldly that Denmark’s ‘massive armed forces’ – about 20 soldiers who only work Monday to Friday from 09.30 to 16.30 and probably have about two rusty rifles to share between them – will defend Greenland against the evil Yankees.

What a load of absolute bull’s manure!

This is classic Trump ‘Art of the Deal‘. You decide what you want. You then make a completely unrealistic demand which is well in excess of what you really want – “I’m gonna invade Greenland”. Your opponent has a panicked reaction to that outlandish demand rather than having the intelligence to work out what you really want. Then you reach the compromise you always wanted.

Trump can see the strategic and economic importance of Greenland. He probably wants security guarantees keeping Russia and Chinese influence out of Greenland. And when all the heat and noise about the supposed “invasion” of Greenland dies down, Trump will get what he wanted all along.

My dog could have worked this out. But apparently this is well beyond the intellectual capabilities of our Trump-hating rulers and mainstream media.