How fake news helps AKP propaganda
Turkey’s pro-AKP media is presenting a counterfactual world to its readers; the latest example is "news" about the "FBI arrest" of 9/11 deniers.
Daily Aksam, one of the many Turkish pro-government newspapers, ran on Jan. 18 a bizarre story titled “America did not forgive its academics.” The article reported that some 75 academics at universities in the United States who claimed 9/11 had been an inside job “were arrested by the FBI, as demanded by the US Senate.” The photo that accompanied the story showed renowned American intellectual Cornel West being handcuffed by two police officers.
The impressive story was published in almost every pro-government media outlet. Daily Sabah, another passionately pro-government paper, added to its report that US Vice President Joe Biden, who dared to advise the Turkish government on academic freedom during his recent visit to Turkey, voted “yes” in the Senate to have these American academics arrested.
