this will go viral and there's no proof of it whatsoever https://t.co/6m4TnJRPw6
— Greg Pollowitz (@GPollowitz) February 2, 2017
Here’s how the fake news is made, this time on that bogus story about the White House allegedly turning off the recording of last week’s call between Presidents Trump and Putin.
Step 1.
On Wednesday, Turkish journalist Ilhan Tanir tweeted out remarks by Ilan Berman, vice president of the Bipartisan Policy Center think tank, that suggested the White House had purposefully not recorded a recent call between President Trump and President Putin:
.@ilanberman: "there was no readout of the Trump-Putin call bc WH turned off recording" – Kremlin readout is very positive @BPC_Bipartisan pic.twitter.com/oi4v1R5dN0
— ilhan tanir (@WashingtonPoint) February 1, 2017
Step 2. This unsubstantiated tweet becomes the basis an article on Raw Story that reported it as fact:
Foreign policy insider: ‘No readout of Trump-Putin call because White House turned off recording’ https://t.co/vfaO59rzc9 pic.twitter.com/wx9iiPN6ai
— Raw Story (@RawStory) February 2, 2017
Step 3.
The story went viral. Notice the 11,000+ retweets? Some examples from verified Twitter accounts:
Holy moly https://t.co/reTfnoRHVC
— Amy Coopes (@coopesdetat) February 3, 2017
https://twitter.com/matbreen/status/827614189330059266
Trump is owned by Putin and everyone knows it. This is your party @ScottWalker & @RonJohnsonWI https://t.co/6mPSG7KpXl
— Chris Larson (@ChrisJLarson) February 3, 2017
They. Turned. Off. The. Recording. When. He. Called. Putin.
IF OBAMA HAD DONE THIS THE GOP WOULD HAVE HAD HIM TRIED FOR TREASON. https://t.co/RdDZwN8fiC
— Geraldine (@everywhereist) February 3, 2017
Step 4.
The facts come out. Here’s Ilan Berman replying to Tanir telling him that he’s been misquoted:
FWIW, I don't know for a fact that they turned it off. Was merely saying it was curious that a rec. didn't seem to exist.
— Ilan Berman (@ilanberman) February 2, 2017
And then Berman “spent all day clarifying” what he really said:
Having spent all day clarifying an innocent aside at a public event, I've concluded that Twitter is best used for following food trucks.
— Ilan Berman (@ilanberman) February 2, 2017
Including video for proof:
Ok, as my last sacrifice to the ravenous Twitter beast, video of the BPC event is below: https://t.co/cO8t5Ga729. 1/2
— Ilan Berman (@ilanberman) February 2, 2017
It, and my comments here, should be all the clarification anyone needs. Done and done.
— Ilan Berman (@ilanberman) February 2, 2017
Step 5.
Raw Story corrected its article, but they didn’t delete the original tweet which means all of those 11,000 retweets are still out there generating even more retweets:
Ok, tweeps. @Rawstory has corrected its reporting. https://t.co/GQz5nOwzrW.
— Ilan Berman (@ilanberman) February 3, 2017
And not only didn’t they delete the original, it’s still the “pinned tweet” on the top of Raw Story’s timeline as of the publication of this post:
Delete the tweet, Raw Story, and fast.
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