When I used to blog about journalism gaffes, I would point out how to spot lies.

This recent CNN canard was hilarious.

There are so many things wrong with this story that it is hard to believe that the classics still work.

But this story was questioned because of the obvious childish inconsistencies.

As the report notes, the “prisoner” looks too clean and healthy to be what he purported to be, and he had no trpuble adjusting to the light he claims he didn’t see for months from his jail cell.

It all comes off as a very bad skit, starting from him being covered with a blanket and just magically popping up.

Who writes this stuff?

When I wrote Don’t Believe It!: How lies become news in 2005, no one else was keeping the receipts.

If you read my book, you woud have spotted all the telltale signs immediately. When someone tells you a story, you have to break their story down and see if the facts align with their narrative. He is clean, looks like he enjoys his meals, and even his beard is better tended than the soldier standing beside him.

In fact, this entire scene is too well-staged.

It is classic war propaganda, something my other book The Mind Under Siege: Mechanisms of War Propaganda covers in detail.

If the legacy press wonders why their audience share has been plummeting, this is why.