Filmmakers Behind Fake McCain Adviser Discuss Tricking The Media (VIDEO)

Dan Mirvish and Eitan Gorlin appeared on CNN's Reliable Sources to discuss how they tricked the media by creating a fake McCain adviser named Martin Eisenstadt. The duo were able to fool such reputable news organizations as The New York Times, The New Republic, and, most famously, MSNBC, whose anchor David Schuster reported live on air that Martin Eisenstadt had been identified as the McCain adviser who leaked that Sarah Palin was unaware Africa is a continent. Schuster quickly retracted the report. (Fox News' Carl Cameron was the first to report on the Palin-Africa story, and he has said that his source was not the phony Eisenstadt.)

Watch a clip from Reliable Sources.

Comments

[maxfax]

Congrats to anyone who can expose the media for the w hores they are.

[instagladiator]

Hear hear!!

[BannedInBoston]

Evidently, it's not all that difficult....

[6925thCobras]

Kudos to these guys...the "news" has become a joke. There is little in the way of investigative journalism and, if you work for FOX, you don't even try to be "fair and balanced". I feel bad for idealistic young people coming into the world of journalism these days, they will have to sell their souls to get a job.

[whsmith]

These guys are heroes IMO. Last line was the best of all. All these "strategists" the media puts on as experts are a bunch of nonsense designed to fill up the 24 hour news cycle with nonstop chatter. We need less political "strategists" and more people figuring out how to actually fix the country. Palin still apparently, thought Africa was a continent BTW (she never actually denied it) - but whoever in the McCain camp told the media is still too much of a coward to show their face.

[Teadye]

Um... Africa IS a continent.

[instagladiator]

No it's not! It's a country and Mozambique is the capital. I remember reading that on a Blog site in Alaska.

[JulieSA]

She did deny saying that Africa is a country, and her debate briefer denied that she said that too.

[kellygrrrl]

maybe someday Bush and Cheney can describe how they tricked the media, too.

oh, wait! that wasn't a trick?

[BannedInBoston]

No, they did find one WMD, a cannister of mustard gas that had way outlasted its shelf-life. (And the amazing thing is that the Bush types DID crow about finding the WMDs. See! They really were there all along....)

[Gekster]

They found about three. Check this out.

http://theanchoressonline.com/2005/11/02/where-did-the-wmd-intel-come-from/

[ObjectiveRealist]

The headline calls it "Tricking The Media" but it looks more like defamation. Will Palin bring charges of slander or libel? Or just consider all publicity to be good publicity, and bask in the glow?

[kellygrrrl]

she lives for that stuff ... it plays into her martyrdom

[instagladiator]

Defamation? Uh, I think one needs to have character beforehand. Slander or libel? For what? Making a joke? SP IS a joke and always will be - she's done that to herself, she didn't need any help from anyone for that. These guys were ever so clever in their manipulations - I just love how they were able to disclose how narrow-minded the MSM has become.

[BannedInBoston]

I'm guessing that she simply doesn't want to go there....

[johnnygoodwud]

john mccain didn't throw the election,,,,,,,,he's not that smart. according the inside tracking polls done by both campaigns obama knew before the last debate he was going to win. all he had to do was run out the clock. mccain on the other hand, tried one hail mary after another, and none worked. picking palin was supposed to be a game changer, and it almost worked, until she opened her mouth. surprisingly she still fooled alot of people. just this thanksgiving i was at a friends house, and his sister, who's pretty smart, raved about palin and james dobson. since it was my friends house and his wife doesn't like 'spirited discussions', i kept quiet and ate my turkey, gritting my teeth all the while

[rock2casbah]

Your assessment of "the sister" as smart is a very shaky assessment of the woman if she sits around praising Palin and Dobson in a crowded room.

[BannedInBoston]

I think some people are simply attracted to Palin's personality and somehow manage to convince themselves that there's more to it than that....

[huffposeur]

I think some people are simply attracted to Obama's personality and somehow manage to convince themselves that there's more to it than that....

[Collielady]

This hoax exposes the fact that the media doesn't do investigative reporting anymore. It's sadly pathetic when a news organization gets their top story from a website, and doesn't even check the validity of the story, or the credibility of the website.

Just imagine, a newsroom full of people surfing the web, looking for stories to report. Is that what journalism has come down to?

(None of this dismisses the FACT that Palin thought Africa was a country, however. That's okay, because her party also believes W is a real cowboy.)

[JulieSA]

"(None of this dismisses the FACT that Palin thought Africa was a country,"

That is false.

[booker52]

These two yahoo's proved what?? That they could make the Gov of Alaska look more of a fool?? How sad and cruel. Some people will get theirs and them some. I am not a fan Gov Palin's and this is just mean. They say pay back is bitch. Well I hope it is for these jerks.

[shockmagog]

These "jerks" merely spoofed the SOURCE of the story. The story still has not been refuted or debunked.

[shockmagog]

Palin DID refute the allegation that was anonymously sourced.

[jnratliff]

Carl Camron was the first to report this and he said he new the source and it was not a prank.
The thing that get me is if it was not true why are they spending so much time and effort to cover it up?
I think the republican party is a pack of ignorant lying fools.
I don't care what they say or do, you can't fix stupid!

[Kenji]

And sometimes, apparently, you can't even sell it!

[ObjectiveRealist]

Fox, & News Corp generally, *have* underestimated the tastes of the average American, and not gone broke -- yet.

[BannedInBoston]

Actually, selling it is a lot easier than fixing it....

[Amennyc]

USA has been fooled for the last 8 years....

[chronic5]

I've laughed a little at these kinds of spoofs and pranks but I don't feel right about it. It's low humor and does nothing to advance the reality or discussion about the truly horrible campaigns and politics of McCain or Palin.

[SparkyDash]

Yeah, it distracts from the real stories and truths of an unconscionably run McCain/Palin campaign. Egregious tactics...the worse: attempts to divide our great country.

[JulieSA]

Like Obama's racebaiting ad in Spanish that lied about McCain's record on immigration reform.

[BannedInBoston]

Right. We gotta stay high=minded about all this. (Turns and snickers up sleeve....)

[shades3]

Exactly, chronic5. Contrast the report that Palin is weak on geography with the McCain campaign's accusations of scantily shown guilt-by-association levelled at Obama, along with their denigrations of his character and the geography thing is so mild as to be inconsequential. Palin could have come back with proof that she actually had a functioning brain and recovered. She didn't, because all she had going was a motormouth and some fancy pageant-walking. Good riddance!!

[Andyit999]

Speaking of fake people...

Hillary Clinton: Gandhi Works In A Gas Station
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lo9LP0ATVJc

She shouldn't be Sec of State. We don't need more of this.

[Clarabell]

Get over it!!!

[SparkyDash]

Considered a shiny object right now.

[DrDichotomy]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=49HzXml2qEI&NR=1

[shockmagog]

"Leave the comedy to the comedians."
--Harry Shearer

[HC4BO]

That Africa story is NOT a MYTH ....

The woman could NOT even flat out DENY the existence of such an occurrence the first time she was confronted with the allegations ...

[JulieSA]

Yes, she did deny it. Where do you get the idea that she didn't?

[txfanz]

No, she skirted around the topic - laughed it off. She never did say 'I KNOW Africa is a continent, and to say I don't know this most basic of facts is FALSE.'
Not even close, Julie.

[SparkyDash]

just love trolls ;-)

[Kenji]

...in butter and garlic.

[SparkyDash]

snort ;-)

[mystic]

I don't know why everyone acts as if we have been fed the truth from day one of the current administration. To be accurate, the lies started even before this administration , because Bush lied
on at least ten major issues regarding his military service long before he became president.
http://archive.democrats.com/display.cfm?id=165
I regarded everything after Judith Miller as lies and propoganda to be verified by reading foreign newspapers. Everything has been a lie. And I mean everything. If he claimed it was day right now, I'd believe the opposite.

[MASHON]

You are soooooooo right!