Socio-Economics History Blog

Socio-Economics History Blog

The Sources Who Lie And The Reporters Who Protect Them

by mosesman

  • The Sources Who Lie And The Reporters Who Protect Them
    by Techno Fog via The Reactionary, via https://www.zerohedge.com/
    Protecting anonymous sources – or covering-up government misconduct?
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    Imagine you’re a major media outlet like The Washington Post or CNN. You have a huge platform on the web, in print, or on TV. You publish consequential stories with information from anonymous sources on Trump/Russia collusion, an email Donald Trump, Jr. received about a Wikileaks release, and President Trump’s instructions to a Georgia election investigator to “find the fraud.” Your stories shape agendas and become national news. They fuel conspiracies, divide Americans, and influence elections.
    –
    And then you realize you’ve been played. Your anonymous sources gave you false information. You have to issue a correction. Why should that be the end of the story?
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    Fake News and “Find the Fraud”
    On January 9, 2021 The Washington Post published a story that President Trump ordered a Georgia election investigator looking into 2020 election irregularities to “find the fraud” in a late December phone call. This purported call was pushed by Washington Post reporters to further allegations of criminal obstruction of justice. A serious crime, if true.
    …
    Anonymous Sources and CNN
    This isn’t the first time the media has been burned by an anonymous source. Remember the entirety of the Trump/Russia investigation? Granted, that gives us a lot to choose from. I’ll be more specific.
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    Back in December 2017, CNN reported that Trump Jr. received an email regarding a Wikileaks release on September 4, 2016. This date – 9/4/2016 – was material because it was 10 days before the Wikileaks release of the hacked DNC materials. CNN had its smoking gun. It had evidence that Trump Jr, and by extension the Trump Campaign, had advance notice of the hacked DNC documents. Until it didn’t.
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    Other outlets, including The Washington Post, NBC News, and The Wall Street Journal cleaned up CNN’s mess, reporting that the email was actual sent on September 14, 2016. This was significant because the correct date showed the email to Trump Jr. was sent based on “publicly available information.” Who burned CNN? According to CNN’s own reporting, it was “two sources who had seen the email.”
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    read more.
And now, The Washington Post has issued a significant and concerning correction.

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