Best of: Author Elizabeth Mitchell on Civil War-era “fake news”
Elizabeth Mitchell is the author of "Lincoln's Lie." She's also written for The Wall Street Journal, Chicago Tribune, and The Nation.
In 1864, as the Civil War was raging on and in the throes of some of it’s bloodiest battles, a couple of widely circulated New York-based newspapers published what would today be known as “fake news.” It sent the Union and President Lincoln into a frenzy, and arguably, it almost took both of them down. In response, Lincoln sent troops to arrest the editors.
A 2020 Gallup poll shows that more than 4 out 5 Americans say that news organizations advocate political viewpoints rather than report the news free of bias. More than 8 of 10 Americans say the media bears at least “a moderate amount” of blame for the political division in the country, but based on this Lincoln-era anecdote, the era of so-called “fake news” is nothing new.
The 21st was joined by a former executive editor of George magazine to to bring us this story from American history.
This conversation originally aired Oct. 8, 2020.
GUEST:
Elizabeth Mitchell
Author of Lincoln's Lie: A True Civil War Caper Through Fake News, Wall Street and the White House
Prepared for web by Zainab Qureshi and Owen Henderson