Putin is weaponizing media misinformation

The Russian invasion of Ukraine has shown the world what an unhinged and despicable person Vladimir Putin is. The shelling of a nuclear plant and attack on a maternity ward shows the depths he will go to get what he wants, rebuilding the old USSR through outright destruction. He and his cronies are responsible for multiple atrocities around the globe on his own people and others he found intolerable.

His main tool in this reign of terror is spreading misinformation to his own base at home, who are told these are justified attacks or are not told they are happening at all. The stories of people in Ukraine calling relatives in Russia to let them know what is happening and being told that just isn’t true should highlight how misinformation can be used to weaponize the news media. This should be a wake-up call to everyone in the U.S. as we have our own misinformation station here at home, it’s called Fox News. Those who suck up the lies that come out of Tucker and Hannity on a nightly basis have been convinced they are patriots for backing a wannabe dictator like Trump and refusing masks and a vaccine that could have saved so many more people. It’s time to change the channel and get another view point. Rupert Murdoch should not be your only source of news.

Scott Burnett

Cedar Rapids