Left wing journalist shows how Russis narrative has destroyed medias credibility

Matt Taibbi is a left wing journalist. He became a big name in reporting on the banking bailout around 2008, and being critical of that decision and some of the corruption occurring at these banks.

He has put together a large piece on how if it turns out as it seems that Mueller will not be recommending further indictments, the media has destroyed their credibility with their reporting on the Russian collusion narrative.

I recommend every read the entire thing, as it gives example after example of the media acing as more of a resistances than journalists, working with the powerful such as intel agencies instead of speaking truth to it, and outright reporting false stories to hurt Trump. Here are a few sections.

There was never real gray area here. Either Trump is a compromised foreign agent, or he isn’t. If he isn’t, news outlets once again swallowed a massive disinformation campaign, only this error is many orders of magnitude more stupid than any in the recent past, WMD included. Honest reporters like ABC’s Terry Moran understand: Mueller coming back empty-handed on collusion means a “reckoning for the media.”

Of course, there won’t be such a reckoning. (There never is). But there should be. We broke every written and unwritten rule in pursuit of this story, starting with the prohibition on reporting things we can’t confirm.

The sequence of events in that second week of January, 2017 will now need to be heavily re-examined. We now know, from his own testimony, that former Director of National Intelligence James Clapper had some kind of role in helping CNN do its report, presumably by confirming part of the story, perhaps through an intermediary or two (there is some controversy over whom exactly was contacted, and when).

Why would real security officials help litigate this grave matter through the media? Why were the world’s most powerful investigative agencies acting like they were trying to move a stock, pushing an private, unverified report that even Buzzfeed could see had factual issues? It made no sense at the time, and makes less now

I was stunned watching this. It’s generally understood that members of congress, like reporters, make an effort to vet at least their prepared remarks before making them public.

But here was Schiff, telling the world Trump aide Carter Page had been offered huge fees on a 19% stake in Rosneft – a company with a $63 billion market capitalization – in a secret meeting with a Russian oligarch who was also said to be “a KGB agent and close friend of Putin’s.”

...

Schiff’s speech raised questions. Do we no longer have to worry about getting accusations right if the subject is tied to Russiagate? What if Page hadn’t done any of these things? To date, he hasn’t been charged with anything. Shouldn’t a member of congress worry about this?

Recapping: the reporter who introduced Steele to the world (his September 23, 2016 story was the first to reference him as a source), who wrote a book that even he concedes was seen as “validating” the pee tape story, suddenly backtracks and says the whole thing may have been based on a Las Vegas strip act, but it doesn’t matter because Stormy Daniels, etc.

Years ago, in the midst of the WMD affair, Times public editor Daniel Okrent noted the paper’s standard had moved from “Don’t get it first, get it right” to “Get it first and get it right.” From there, Okrent wrote, “the next devolution was an obvious one.”

We’re at that next devolution: first and wrong. The Russiagate era has so degraded journalism that even once “reputable” outlets are now only about as right as politicians, which is to say barely ever, and then only by accident.

Early on, I was so amazed by the sheer quantity of Russia “bombshells” being walked back, I started to keep a list. It’s well above 50 stories now. As has been noted by Glenn Greenwald of the Intercept and others, if the mistakes were random, you’d expect them in both directions, but Russiagate errors uniformly go the same way.

In some cases the stories are only partly wrong, as in the case of the famed “17 intelligence agencies said Russia was behind the hacking” story (it was actually four: the Director of National Intelligence “hand-picking” a team from the FBI, CIA, and NSA).

And finally

As a purely journalistic failure, however, WMD was a pimple compared to Russiagate. The sheer scale of the errors and exaggerations this time around dwarfs the last mess. Worse, it’s led to most journalists accepting a radical change in mission. We’ve become sides-choosers, obliterating the concept of the press as an independent institution whose primary role is sorting fact and fiction.

We had the sense to eventually look inward a little in the WMD affair, which is the only reason we escaped that episode with any audience left. Is the press even capable of that kind of self-awareness now? WMD damaged our reputation. If we don’t turn things around, this story will destroy it.

www.zerohedge.com...

This article is relevant because it is from a left wing member of the press, who dislikes trump, and he has put together one of the most complete articles on the many many examples of just how bad the media was on the Russia investigation.

I think it is worth a read and discussing by everyone.

a reply to: Grambler

Thanks
Good article
Good analysis

Good to see. There are still some excellent voices on the left. Glenn Greenwald (of Snowden fame) for one. He's an important voice and doesn't seem to have shed his principles to jump on the hypocrisy train.

All the things I used to actually agree with the left on has seemed to dissolve. Like how they all of a sudden became apologists for war and imperialism.

If you're a liberal wondering what happened to your party---check out Greenwald's astute observations and share his work with your network. Or embrace hypocrisy and identity politics---it's your call.

The addition of "gate" to any story only appeals to the very simplest of audience's.

Well all of this, at what cost, and what obstructions. I think democrats have gangrene ...... only maggots will bite. The beauty part... damage control for all the accusers. Bet their looking for new places to disappear, and fast..

Do they think they will skate after clashing with the most powerful man on earth?

originally posted by: Plotus
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Do they think they will skate after clashing with the most powerful man on earth?

They absolutely do. In fact, they will continue to double and triple down in the coming months. The media, and the intel agencies informing them, feel they are above accountability.

I do not expect anyone that is a true believer in the Democrat sense to give even a small concern to all of this lying. They think lying is just fine as long as it gets their team on the top.

It is the way anyone that is a Democrat is. There can be no other explanation other than they enjoy and indeed LOVE lying.

It's not like we didn't try to warn them that they were headed toward Dunceville from day one. I don't care how much you despise a political figure, it is no reason to willfully turn yourself ignorant. The left have completely de-intellectualized themselves in their opposition to Trump and they are headed straight down the dark path that decimated the GOP's integrity and turned it into the clown show it is today. Can this now please serve as the sign for them to return to reason? I highly doubt it, but I'm hopeful. As I've said before, I have long been a left-leaning voter. These days, however, I feel as though I am politically homeless.

The Left Wing media is as credible as The Onion.
They're done.

Get to know Glenn, Dems

Glenn Greenwald Twitter

A lot of sane and committed liberals commenting on all this.

a reply to: Grambler

Great article! Thank you for your work!