Actor Denzel Washington Blasts Corporate Media on Fake and Dishonest News

Actor Denzel Washington Blasts Corporate Media on Fake and Dishonest News

Dec 13, 2016

"If you don't read the newspaper, you're uninformed, if you do read it, you're misinformed."

Denzel Washington criticized the so-called mainstream media by saying if you read the newspaper, then "you're misinformed," and added that in a world where there is too much information the media strive to be first and not to be truthful, no matter who it hurts. "Anything you practice you'll get good at -- including BS," said Washington.

At a screening for Washington's new movie, Fences, at the African American Museum of History and Culture in Washington, D.C., a reporter asked Washington what he thought of "fake news" and its effect.

"So what do you do?" asked the reporter.

Washington said, "That's a great question. What is the long-term effect of too much information? One of the effects is the need to be first, not even to be true anymore."

"So what responsibility do you all have?" he said. "To tell the truth. Not just to be first. But to tell the truth."

"We live in a society now where it's just first, who cares, get it out there," said Washington. "We don't care who it hurts. We don't care who we destroy. We don't care if it's true. Just say it, sell it."

"Anything you practice you'll get good at — including BS," said Washington. "But you heard me. Does that make sense?"