Posted on 11/28/2016 10:16:57 AM PST by Lorianne
The Washington Post on Thursday night promoted the claims of a new, shadowy organization that smears dozens of U.S. news sites that are critical of U.S. foreign policy as being “routine peddlers of Russian propaganda.” The article by reporter Craig Timberg — headlined “Russian propaganda effort helped spread ‘fake news’ during election, experts say” — cites a report by an anonymous website calling itself PropOrNot, which claims that millions of Americans have been deceived this year in a massive Russian “misinformation campaign.”
The group’s list of Russian disinformation outlets includes WikiLeaks and the Drudge Report, as well as Clinton-critical left-wing websites such as Truthout, Black Agenda Report, Truthdig, and Naked Capitalism, as well as libertarian venues such as Antiwar.com and the Ron Paul Institute.
This Post report was one of the most widely circulated political news articles on social media over the last 48 hours, with dozens, perhaps hundreds, of U.S. journalists and pundits with large platforms hailing it as an earth-shattering exposé. It was the most-read piece on the entire Post website on Friday after it was published.
Yet the article is rife with obviously reckless and unproven allegations, and fundamentally shaped by shoddy, slothful journalistic tactics. It was not surprising to learn that, as BuzzFeed’s Sheera Frenkel noted, “a lot of reporters passed on this story.” Its huge flaws are self-evident. But the Post gleefully ran with it and then promoted it aggressively, led by its Executive Editor Marty Baron:
Russian propaganda effort helped spread fake news during election, say independent researchers https://t.co/3ETVXWw16Q
— Marty Baron (@PostBaron) November 25, 2016
In casting the group behind this website as “experts,” the Post described PropOrNot simply as “a nonpartisan collection of researchers with foreign policy, military and technology backgrounds.” Not one individual at the organization is named. The executive director is quoted, but only on the condition of anonymity, which the Post said it was providing the group “to avoid being targeted by Russia’s legions of skilled hackers.”
In other words, the individuals behind this newly created group are publicly branding journalists and news outlets as tools of Russian propaganda — even calling on the FBI to investigate them for espionage — while cowardly hiding their own identities. The group promoted by the Post thus embodies the toxic essence of Joseph McCarthy, but without the courage to attach individual names to the blacklist. Echoing the Wisconsin senator, the group refers to its lengthy collection of sites spouting Russian propaganda as “The List.”
SNIP
And the Washingotn Post and NY Times are “not” part of Hillary’s ABCNNBCNS “fake news sites” (er, propaganda) and full-fledged members of Obola’s national press corpse?
We were living in the age of information, we now live in the age of disinformation. We used to call it propaganda in the good old days. What else can we expect when someone like Castro in cannonized by the lame stream media.
I just told my brother in law I would have to check a Russian fake news site to see if the osu attacker was a moslem.
The Left had their butts handed to them by the InterWebz during the last election, and they’ve got to do something about it.
If we had a universal gun ban that poor Somali student would not have been shot to death.
We should make our own list.
Mrs Bill claims that Russia was pro Trump and interfered in the election for Trump, ergo any Russian interference was for Mrs Bill’a benefit. That is how you spot what the Democrats are doing or trying to do. It’s a variation on the “LOOK, SQUIRREL!!!” ploy.
also the rolling stone had a similar article?
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