Axios reporter Sara Fischer downplayed her own scoop about the Kamala Harris campaign after it engendered backlash from her supporters.
As Breitbart News reported on Wednesday, the Kamala Harris campaign fell under scrutiny after Axios revealed it had been running “misleading Google ads that look like news articles published by the establishment media”:The strategy harnesses the ambiguous nature of the media’s oftentimes pro-Harris coverage with actual Harris campaign advertising.
The Harris campaign edits the ads that “make it appear as if the Guardian, Reuters, CBS News and other major publishers are on her side,” Axios reported. “It’s a common practice in the commercial advertising world that doesn’t violate Google’s policies, but the ads mimic real news results from Search closely enough that they have news outlets caught off guard.”
“According to Google’s ad transparency center, the Trump campaign isn’t running these types of ads, but this technique has been used by campaigns before,” the outlet explained. “The ads say that they are sponsored, but it’s not immediately clear that the text that accompanies real news links is written by the campaigns and not by the media publication itself.”
Reporter Sara Fischer, who broke the story, said on X: The “Harris campaign has been editing news headlines & descriptions in search ads that make it appear as if major outlets support her — Google believes its sponsored disclosures are enough to keep voters from being misled, but media outlets may feel differently.”
Ten minutes later, after significant blowback, Sara Fischer said: “Harris camp doing nothing wrong and Google, which is pretty strict about banning spammy ads, doesn’t see it as a consumer harm. News outlets just collateral damage in this weird ads tactic.”Prior to Fischer downplaying her report, one user wrote, “This is seriously all you got? Those ads look completely fine to me. You think THAT’S misleading? What about the media cleaning up DJT’s slurring last night? That’s misleading!”
“The media works for Trump and are worthless hacks,” said another.
Harris camp doing nothing wrong and Google, which is pretty strict about banning spammy ads, doesn’t see it as a consumer harm. News outlets just collateral damage in this weird ads tactic https://t.co/xEAiW3JWNC
— Sara Fischer (@sarafischer) August 13, 2024
Fischer later received blowback for undermining her own story.
I was shocked yesterday when I saw Axios publish an investigation reflecting negatively on Kamala's campaign.
— Glenn Greenwald (@ggreenwald) August 14, 2024
But soon as the reporter, @sarafischer, was attacked for doing it, she immediately denigrated her own scoop, saying it was no big deal and Kamala did nothing wrong. pic.twitter.com/DQS03k2rpJ
Imagine being so spineless that you would undermine your own reporting because it upset the people you were reporting about.
— Super Human Epoch (@SuperHumanEpoch) August 14, 2024
“Nothing wrong”
— Bonchie (@bonchieredstate) August 13, 2024
That’s really charitable for someone who was super concerned about disinformation yesterday on CNN.
Paul Roland Bois directed the award-winning Christian tech thriller, EXEMPLUM, which has a 100% Rotten Tomatoes critic rating and can be viewed for FREE on YouTube or Tubi. “Better than Killers of the Flower Moon,” wrote Mark Judge. “You haven’t seen a story like this before,” wrote Christian Toto. A high-quality, ad-free rental can also be streamed on Google Play, Vimeo on Demand, or YouTube Movies. Follow him on X @prolandfilms or Instagram @prolandfilms.
