Mistrust in News Reporting and the Road to Conspiracy Theory – a Meme Review

A viral meme showing different perspectives of a lion “eating” her cub, but really just carrying it, invokes an ethic of rational analysis and an appreciation of having perspective, but also insidiously promotes conspiracy theorizing and sows unwarranted mistrust in professional journalism. In one week the meme was shared over 140,000 times on Facebook. Why does it strike a chord with so many and how might it lead us astray?

The Lion Perception Meme

If you only saw the image on the right, you might assume the lion was a cannibal. Rational thinking requires that we avoid jumping to conclusions, but instead consider other points of view to better inform our understanding of events. This concept harkens back to the philosopher Plato and his allegory of the cave. The importance of perspective may have inspired many to share the meme.

However, the meme also insinuates that the mainstream media is more likely than other sources to misrepresent events. By singling out mainstream media, it implies that alternative or fringe media sources may offer more reliability than mainstream news. Undoubtedly some shared the meme precisely because of this assessment.

Mainstream Media Versus Alternatives

Mainstream news includes the most reputable and accurate news sources like Reuters, The Associated Press and local newspapers. It includes somewhat politically leaning but still highly reliable sources like New York Times or Wall Street Journal, and also more biased sources like MSNBC or Fox News which present factual news mixed with opinions that cloud their comparative reliability.

On the other hand, alternative media includes InfoWars and Newsmax, which are hyper-partisan and regularly feature fabricated or misleading information. It also includes amateurs on social media presenting solely opinion or speculation without any journalistic accountability, as well as literally fake news websites by profiteers who intentionally and admittedly generate false content. The reality is that, on average and when taken as a whole, the American mainstream media is far and away more likely to present the “Full View”, while fringe media is far more likely to present the misleading or inaccurate view.

To be fair, there are lesser-known, independently funded and operated news sources that have high journalistic standards, provide competition for the bigger players and keep our overall media environment more accountable. However, we don’t need to discredit the whole of mainstream media to appreciate them.

It is understandable to have concerns about propaganda, political affiliation, profit motivations and monopolistic mergers compromising the reliability of large news corporations, and to seek more independent sources for relief. However, independence from advertisers or corporate stakeholders is no guarantee of unbiased or reliable information. Fringe media sources are usually just as motivated by profit or fame and often even less motivated by providing a factual reporting service to the public. Furthermore, they often lack the FCC regulations and even public accountability which keep the popular news media in check.

Mainstream media is a very large bucket, so it’s not surprising that we will find some bias and some less-than-perfect reliability, which is to be expected from any fallible human enterprise. However, fringe media is chock full of unfettered bias, unrepentant partisanship and outright mendacity. It is not enough to find flaws in mainstream media; we must also ask if it has fewer flaws than the alternatives. In truth, the bucket of mainstream media contains dozens of top-notch news sources which hold themselves to high standards of reporting and inform us about facts of events throughout the world.

Independent Research

The meme encourages us to “Do some research of your own.” Taken at face value, the phrase elevates the value of critical thinking and media literacy while discouraging blind adherence to any single source of information. Clearly not all mainstream news sources are equally reliable; some are far better than others. In fact, research allows one to quantify just how much more reliable CBS, The Hill, or Cleveland’s Plain Dealer are when compared to Breitbart or Slate, for example. Comparing various news sources and fact checkers is highly encouraged as a great way to gain a more full understanding of news events and political implications, such as hearing something on ABC News and then checking with both MSNBC and Fox News to see what their perspectives are. Over time, readers and viewers can identify which source offers the most trustworthy reporting to generally rely on, while occasionally comparing other sources to verify.

However, comparing legitimate news sources is not exactly what the meme is recommending. By holding out mainstream media as the exemplar of a particularly untrustworthy source of information, the meme is asking us to treat dozens of the highest quality sources of journalism as particularly suspect, potentially holding alternative sources in higher regard than is due.

In fairness, independent research can consist of reading proposed legislation or transcripts rather than relying solely on the news media’s summary of them, for example. It could even involve a private citizen attending and recording events, speaking with firsthand witnesses or making phone calls, and then presenting the results. This is an admirable pursuit and adds value and more perspectives to news events. It is essentially citizen journalism, which lacks the higher bar of accountability that comes with being a professional on a team of journalists, but can fill gaps in local news reporting or bear witness to events that might have otherwise been missed. Clearly I support independent voices as I write for this site.

However, in practice “do your own research” is often the phrase championed by conspiracy theorists when attempting to validate unsubstantiated allegations and wild speculation promoted by wholly unreliable sources, especially to dismiss factual reporting by mainstream sources which contradicts their claims or to evade questioning about the reliability of their information. Far from the ideal of citizen journalism, the kind of “research” often promoted is watching amateur YouTubers imagine connections where none exist, reading anonymous Reddit posts offering strained analysis of sound bites stripped of context or rushing to judgement over manipulated video clips. It encourages credence for random bloggers and shouting commentators more than for firsthand accounts painstakingly collected, reviewed and presented by professional journalists.

From the Mind of the Man Who Posted the Meme

The lion meme shared by thousands was posted by Mr. F.D. Let’s take a look at the other posts from F.D. to better understand the thought process that inspired his posting of the meme.

Fact checkers provide a valuable tool for exposing misinformation. They report on hundreds of verifiable falsehoods from both sides of the political spectrum, but F.D. prefers to discredit them as well:

F.D. shared another meme justifying conspiracy theorizing by sowing mistrust in information in general and deriding others as sheep:

Ironically, conspiracists tend to accept the B.S. they’re being sold from fringe sources, but feel less like “sheep” since their source is not mainstream.

F.D. also posted other conspiracy theories about the presidential election, calling Biden’s win one of the “biggest lies of 2020”, saying “If you believe that Joe Biden … got the most voters in history, you’re way too stupid to argue with,” and satirizing Dominion voting machines for allowing fraud. He also shared sentiments resembling QAnon conspiracy.

Case In Point: Who Was Responsible For the 1/6/21 Capitol Breach?

Let’s look at a specific current event and how mainstream versus fringe sources reported it. On 1/6/21, Trump supporters bludgeoned police officers to injury and death, forcefully broke into the Capitol building, threatened members of Congress and the Vice President and interrupted the counting of the Electoral College votes certifying Joe Biden’s victory. Not long after, rumors swirled online that it was actually left-wing antifa who was responsible. Conspiracy theorists pointed to tattoos on the perpetrators or screenshots of Google image search results as evidence of their allegation, while glossing over their MAGA hats and Trump flags.

The Associated Press reviewed 120 people who participated in the breach and concluded that they were in fact Trump supporters and QAnon conspiracists, and that the FBI had no evidence of antifa involvement. Which is more likely to be closest to the truth, the detailed reporting from a team of journalists from a highly respected news organization covering a fairly large and representative sampling of invaders, or a handful of images floating around social media?

This is not just a random example of differing points of view. The mistrust in quality journalism and the prominence of conspiracy theory was the root cause of the Capitol violence. Just about every mainstream news outlet, election official and court agrees that Biden legitimately won the presidency, but fringe sources and hack commentators told people otherwise, inspiring Trump supporters and QAnon believers to attack the democratic process. “Murder the Media” was scratched into a door of the Capitol. This is what happens when we sow unwarranted mistrust in legitimate news reporting and in our government institutions.

Mr. F.D. posted his belief in the unsupported allegation that antifa and Black Lives Matter were responsible for the Capitol attack. He even insults members of Trump’s own party, not for attacking the Capitol, but for believing the Trump-flag-toting invaders were actually Trump supporters.

History of The Lion Meme

Mr. F.D. isn’t the creator of the lion meme. A version of the meme was making its rounds at least as early as June of 2020, and was even shared by rapper 50 Cent in October. F.D.’s post just happened to become the most viral.

An earlier version of the meme from at least March of 2020 focused on positive versus negative perspective in general, and better represents the importance of perspective.

The lion photos are from Swedish photographer Andreas Hemb and Caters Media Group. The story of the importance of perception was originally published in January 2019 by The Daily Mail, ironically one of the most mainstream newspapers in the United Kingdom.

The Verdict On the Lion Meme

Like most viral memes, the lion perception meme contains elements of truth. It’s true that we should not automatically and blindly believe a single perspective nor everything we hear from popular media. Even top notch journalists sometimes make mistakes, and some of the less scrupulous mainstream outlets do contain lots of biased opinion and speculation adjacent to their factual reporting. We should be critical thinkers and apply that to our news media consumption.

However, that does not give us license to automatically assume the opposite of whatever the mainstream news consensus is, nor to selectively believe the news when it supports our beliefs and then discredit it when it challenges our own bias. Contrary to the suggestion of the meme, it is perfectly reasonable to have some faith in the news reporting from our country’s free press as a whole.

Sharing the lion perception meme does not further the cause of rational discourse, but rather contributes to unwarranted levels of mistrust in our institutions and belief in false conspiracies, which has caused violence in our Capitol and is likely to result in future unrest as well.

Further Reading: The Danger of ‘Do Your Own Research’ When It Comes To Science

Memes are watermarked with “Meme Review” to clarify that RationalOhio does not endorse their message.