As Twitchy reported Saturday, the Washington Post ran a major retraction on its story that the FBI had issued warnings to OAN and Rudy Giuliani that they were being targeted by a Russian disinformation campaign ahead of the November election. The New York Times made a stealth edit but was shamed into adding an editor’s note after Glenn Greenwald called them out. (If you want to read a great thread about how corporate media got the story wrong, check out our earlier post on Greenwald.)
On Monday night, the Washington Post’s media reporter did a piece on how the Washington Post (and the New York Times and NBC News) all got the story wrong.
How three major news organizations all got a story about Rudy Giuliani wrong. Latest by me: https://t.co/gX5kkO2gBw
— Paul Farhi (@farhip) May 4, 2021
“We weren’t rigorous enough,” conceded @nytimes editor Dean Baquet. “I think we all tend to drop our guard when we get beat and are trying to catch up…Dealing with anonymous [intel] sources is always hard.”
— Paul Farhi (@farhip) May 4, 2021
Then … stop relying on other publications’ anonymous intel sources for stories?
.@CNN also picked up on the inaccurate Post story, repeating its inaccurate claim during a segment Friday. But a network spokeswoman indicated the network had no plans to issue a correction. She instead pointed to a https://t.co/06NlxY4Y2e news story about The Post’s correction.
— Paul Farhi (@farhip) May 4, 2021
So CNN picked up on the story, but instead of correcting it, they’re pointing to their story about the Washington Post’s correction. Cool.
CNN’s media guy, Brian Stelter, didn’t seem to have much to add:
"Incorrect information from government sources:" https://t.co/RjqiAsAZ1Z
— Brian Stelter (@brianstelter) May 4, 2021
"Post interim executive editor Cameron Barr declined comment. He referred to a company statement that said 'it is now believed the bureau did not' brief Giuliani and OAN about Russian disinformation efforts."
— Jack Shafer (@jackshafer) May 4, 2021
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Inaccurate reporting from NBC News…what a surprise. pic.twitter.com/DRrrLvY3nT
— Norman Charles (@NormanCharles66) May 4, 2021
HOW: Each of them are partisan propagandists filled with activists posing as journalists when it comes to covering our government and political persons.
— The Alt-Middle (@thealtmiddlenet) May 4, 2021
https://twitter.com/Ned_Newhouse/status/1389376884417433603
Run anything that hurts Republicans true or not.
If the public finds out it’s not true then do nothing and tell the lie some more.
If the public keeps pressing for clarification then quietly retract story on website
Make sure the retraction is hard to find
JOURNALISM— Steve Brennan (@Stevehbr) May 4, 2021
People who think they are journalists like TATER are just activists with an agenda… #ProjectVeritas
— Tyson Smith (@FinishRed) May 4, 2021
Fake news with their own agenda
— Mike (@Mikehub6990) May 4, 2021
So… what you clowns do everyday?
— THE_MANTIS (@AlertPhx) May 4, 2021
Been a lot of that the last 5 years Brian and yet you all continue to eat it up and report it time after time when you've been burned. A blind man can see it but "journalists" can't.
— emperorofeggrolls (@emperoreggrolls) May 4, 2021
You're supposed to be the ones who hold the govt accountable, and you just take their word for it if it benefits your political coalition. Kinda pathetic betrayal of your responsibility, don't you think?
— Zymnatheazn (@zymnatheazn) May 4, 2021
Imagine that. So you reported what you wanted to hear.
— Clayton Greene (@ClaytonGreene19) May 4, 2021
And they “confirmed” it … how?
Related:
Glenn Greenwald explains how media feeding frenzy over bogus Rudy Giuliani scoop perfectly illustrates ‘the core truth of US corporate journalism’ https://t.co/s1q8TkoPhj
— Twitchy Team (@TwitchyTeam) May 3, 2021
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