Karoline Leavitt reveals how ‘fake news’ stories get made

While some reporters follow the facts wherever they lead, others start with a story they want to tell and work backwards from there.And former White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt explains that it’s the latter more often than the public realizes — but BlazeTV host Sara Gonzales has had it happen to her and is well aware.In a recent interview with Sean Hannity, Leavitt described a common media tactic: A reporter develops a negative narrative about the Trump administration, finds loosely connected sources willing to validate it, and publishes the story even after receiving direct denials from people who were actually in the room.“They, you know, believe they are arbiters of the truth and doing the country a great service, but they are clearly slanted and biased against the president,” she told Hannity.“This is how fake news is manufactured, for your audience to understand,” she continued. “You’ll have a hack journalist who comes up with a narrative on their own that they think is true about the president or the White House, and they love the palace intrigue stories.”Leavitt explained that “batting down fake stuff” was about 90% of her job.“They’ll find a source who has no idea what they’re talking about, was not in the room, doesn’t even work at the White House, maybe worked on the campaign as a volunteer staffer for one day. And they’ll say, ‘A source close to President Trump told us this,’” she said.“Like, who’s your source? Because I was in the room, so I’m a better source than them. And I’m telling you, this did not happen,” she added.Leavitt went on to say that the reporters would then respond that they “really trust” that source and would “still write it” anyways.“All they need is two sources,” she said. “One to say that happened. Another for them to call and say, ‘I heard this happened.’ And that person will say, ‘Yeah, that probably sounds right.’ And then the story’s written, and you can have the White House aggressively on the record pushing back, and they’ll still print.”“That’s how things get written. They just seek to get a bad narrative, and they’ll find anyone who helps them push that narrative,” she added.“I know it sounds crazy that they would just come up with a narrative and then try to approach people to corroborate that narrative that they just made up,” Gonzales says.“Sounds crazy, but Karoline is 100% correct,” she adds.Gonzales reveals that reporters have reached out to her with a political bias attempting to spin a story, revealing one recent text conversation she had with a reporter at Politico.“No thanks, I’m going to pass on that,” she says. “I don’t need to engage with you, I know what this is. I always know what it is.”“The mainstream media is trash,” she adds.Want more from Sara Gonzales?To enjoy more of Sara's no-holds-barred takes on news and culture, subscribe to BlazeTV — the largest multi-platform network of voices who love America, defend the Constitution, and live the American dream.