The Guardian’s Summary of Julian Assange’s Interview Went Viral and Was Completely False

Intercept, the ^ | 29 December 2016 | Glenn Greenwald

[Lorianne]

Julian Assange is a deeply polarizing figure. Many admire him and many despise him (into which category one falls in any given year typically depends on one’s feelings about the subject of his most recent publication of leaked documents).

But one’s views of Assange are completely irrelevant to this article, which is not about Assange. This article, instead, is about a report published this week by The Guardian that recklessly attributed to Assange comments that he did not make. This article is about how those false claims — fabrications, really — were spread all over the internet by journalists, causing hundreds of thousands of people (if not millions) to consume false news. The purpose of this article is to underscore, yet again, that those who most flamboyantly denounce Fake News, and want Facebook and other tech giants to suppress content in the name of combating it, are often the most aggressive and self-serving perpetrators of it.

One’s views of Assange are completely irrelevant to this article because, presumably, everyone agrees that publication of false claims by a media outlet is very bad, even when it’s designed to malign someone you hate. Journalistic recklessness does not become noble or tolerable if it serves the right agenda or cause. The only way one’s views of Assange are relevant to this article is if one finds journalistic falsehoods and Fake News objectionable only when deployed against figures one likes.

[Lorianne]

"... everyone agrees that publication of false claims by a media outlet is very bad, even when it’s designed to malign someone you hate."

Unfortunately, not everyone agrees with this. In fact one could argue the opposite, the most people will tolerate maligning or slandering someone they don't like or don't agree with. This is the problem

Though shall not bear false witness is one of the Top 10 Commandments and whether you are religious or not, if you reason it out, you can see why this would be a very important rule or law to observe.

For his part, Greenwald has stood up to the slandering and smearing of Donald Trump by the media even though he does not personally like him and did not want him to win. In this toxic media environment he deserves a medal, or at least a cookie, for having some integrity. But in reality no one should have to be congratulated for doing what is right. It should just be the norm.

[marktwain]

The Guardian is a notoriously far left source.

Of course it uses lies. The left has always used and relied on lies. They do not believe that lying is wrong.

[oblomov]

>>They do not believe that lying is wrong.

Correct. They (privately) call it “lying for justice”.

[PGalt]

Great post. HOORAY Glenn Greenwald. There is no shortage of rats near the swamp. They rat whistle other rats.

[fella]

Let us face the truth. The left has used “Taqiya” from it’s very inception. Wether you call the demoncrats, laborites, royalists or going back to ancient times patricians their goal has always and will remain the concentration of power over all peoples into the hands of only one person. The only dispute among themselves is over who that one person shall be. To fool the people into agreeing to relinquish their personal sovereignty to concentrate that power ‘Taqiya’ is an absolute necessity.

[henkster]

The Guardian, formerly known as the Manchester Guardian, has always been the paper of record for the British socialists and a front for communists. As such, lies are inherently all they publish.

[Opinionated Blowhard]

The people who should be most upset by this deceit are exactly the ones who played the leading role in spreading it: namely, those who most vocally claim that Fake News is a serious menace. Nothing will discredit that cause faster or more effectively than the perception that this crusade is really about a selective desire to suppress news that undermines one’s political agenda, masquerading as concern for journalistic accuracy and integrity. Yet, as I’ve repeatedly documented, the very same people most vocal about the need to suppress Fake News are often those most eager to disseminate it when doing so advances their agenda.

This article is very clear and well written. I have mixed feelings about Greenwald but this is a good example of him at his writing best. The statement above is clear and persuasive, but I think he misses two key factors -- one is that the MSM is not trying to get rid of "fake news." That is just another weapon to use against the Right. So they don't care if they have a double standard. Second is that the MSM is so supremely arrogant that they think they can get away with the double standard. So Glen's argument misses the point.

[facedown]

Great post.

[vooch]

if a government keeps many secrets from its citizens, that gov’t is likely a tyranny

[TBP]

Liberal rules about “truth”:

1. Truth is whatever serves the Party.
2. If you repeat something often enough, it becomes true.
3. If the facts contradict the narrative, then the facts lie.