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Time for a Look Back at Buzzfeed Ben Smith’s Biggest Fail
American Thinker ^ | January 13, 2017 | Jack Cashill

Posted on 01/13/2017 4:19:38 AM PST by Kaslin

See also: Ben Smith and the Memory Hole.

Buzzfeed editor Ben Smith has had a rough week. As the man who decided to publish the “secret dossier” about Donald Trump’s alleged hijinks in Moscow, he has suffered the ultimate indignity of having even MSNBC call him out for publishing fake news.

Earlier he sent a note to Buzzfeed staff explaining his decision. “Our presumption is to be transparent in our journalism and to share what we have with our readers,” he wrote. “We have always erred on the side of publishing.”

If true, Ben Smith has come a long way from the Ben Smith who once wrote for Politico. There, in 2008, Smith helped spike a story that could have undone Obama’s candidacy, a story that was hugely more credible than the golden shower fable out of Moscow. In 2012, he helped spike a more elaborate version of the same story.

The story involved the late Percy Sutton, a widely respected African American entrepreneur and politico. A Manhattan borough president for twelve years, Sutton had appeared in late March 2008 on a local New York City show called "Inside City Hall." When asked about Obama by the show’s host, Dominic Carter, the octogenarian Sutton calmly and lucidly explained that he had been “introduced to [Obama] by a friend.”

The friend's name was Dr. Khalid al-Mansour, and the introduction had taken place about twenty years prior. Sutton described al-Mansour as "the principal adviser to one of the world's richest men." The billionaire in question was Saudi Prince Al-Waleed bin Talal.

According to Sutton, al-Mansour had asked him to "please write a letter in support of [Obama] ... a young man that has applied to Harvard." Sutton had friends at Harvard and gladly did so.

(Excerpt) Read more at americanthinker.com ...


TOPICS: Culture/Society; Editorial; Politics/Elections
KEYWORDS: 2008; almansour; alwaleedbintalal; bensmith; bintalal; buzzfeed; dncjournalist; fakenews; goldenshowersdossier; khalidalmansour; msmliar; obamascandals; percysutton; politico; ppdossier; saudiprince; sutton; trumpdossier; yellowjournalism

1 posted on 01/13/2017 4:19:38 AM PST by Kaslin
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To: Kaslin
On a related note...

Revealed: 'Ordinary 'citizen' John McCain dispatched a trusted aide across the Atlantic

Much more detail. If it's accurate.

2 posted on 01/13/2017 4:22:38 AM PST by mewzilla (I'll vote for the first guy who promises to mail in his SOTU addresses.)
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To: Kaslin
Ben Smith has come a long way from the Ben Smith who once wrote for Politico. There, in 2008, Smith helped spike a story that could have undone Obama’s candidacy, a story that was hugely more credible

Could it be that he has a double standard for Democrats and Republicans? Go ahead and flame me, I know it sounds crazy.

3 posted on 01/13/2017 4:24:22 AM PST by jiggyboy (Ten percent of poll respondents are either lying or insane)
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To: Kaslin
 photo MotivationalGS_zpsr8bauu0e.jpg
4 posted on 01/13/2017 4:25:24 AM PST by Junk Silver (I have four words for Bill and Hillary Clinton to ponder: "Attorney General Jeff Sessions".)
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To: mewzilla

Serious questions about Genuine freedom exist.

http://www.unz.com/forum/the-deep-state-goes-to-war-with-president-elect-using-unverified-claims-as-democrats-cheer/


5 posted on 01/13/2017 4:27:08 AM PST by Bogie
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To: Kaslin

But some dedicated leftists will believe the crap no matter what, because they want to believe it.


6 posted on 01/13/2017 4:30:54 AM PST by I want the USA back (The further a society drifts from the truth, the more it will hate those who speak it. Orwell.)
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To: I want the USA back

Plus, they are somewhat on the feeble minded side of life.


7 posted on 01/13/2017 4:33:00 AM PST by Bogie
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To: Kaslin

Here NPR holds out BuzzFeed as an authority on fake news.

http://www.npr.org/2016/12/14/505547295/fake-news-expert-on-how-false-stories-spread-and-why-people-believe-them


8 posted on 01/13/2017 4:43:45 AM PST by Drango (A liberal's compassion is limited only by the size of someone else's wallet.)
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To: Drango

Why does that not surprise me?


9 posted on 01/13/2017 4:47:18 AM PST by Kaslin ( Start by doing what's necessary; then do what's possible; and suddenly you are doing the impossible)
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To: mewzilla

McCain is an old senile coot and it’s time to put him out in pasture.


10 posted on 01/13/2017 4:50:18 AM PST by Kaslin ( Start by doing what's necessary; then do what's possible; and suddenly you are doing the impossible)
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To: jiggyboy

why should I flame you? I always said you have to take anything from Politico with a grain of salt.


11 posted on 01/13/2017 4:52:38 AM PST by Kaslin ( Start by doing what's necessary; then do what's possible; and suddenly you are doing the impossible)
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To: Kaslin

I don’t think he’s senile. I think he’s a traitor.


12 posted on 01/13/2017 4:55:22 AM PST by mewzilla (I'll vote for the first guy who promises to mail in his SOTU addresses.)
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To: Kaslin

Quite the con-game.


13 posted on 01/13/2017 4:55:51 AM PST by Bogie
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To: Drango
They repeat this strawman several times...

When we left off, we were talking about BuzzFeed's analysis of how false, highly partisan content did better on Facebook than stories reported by mainstream media.

See how they give "mainstream media" a total pass? We are to instinctively distrust indy media (an idea that has some merit) but implicitly trust the established big boys.

Ronald Reagan said it best: "Trust but verify" - a notion that these lefty drones will never understand.

14 posted on 01/13/2017 5:31:31 AM PST by rockrr (Everything is different now...)
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To: Kaslin

Ha, that was sarcasm, sorry. He’s a perfect example of Biased Media.


15 posted on 01/13/2017 5:56:25 AM PST by jiggyboy (Ten percent of poll respondents are either lying or insane)
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To: Kaslin

I’m sort of digging what Buzzfeed did here.

This ‘dossier’ was apparently kicking around government and media circles for months. There were whispers of Trump improprieties in the halls of those ‘institutions’.

The Buzzfeed leak sun-shined what many people had, people who were going about their work with the knowledge of this thing - this report.

In essence, Buzzfeed gave this report to the Citizen Press and it was easily destroyed.
Buzzfeed put it out there - it hit sunshine and turned into rubble.

The bulldozer doc. collected McCain, a bunch of other NeverTrumpers - the Dems - the Lamestream Media and dumped them into a pile of useless debris.


16 posted on 01/13/2017 6:01:03 AM PST by libertarian27 (FR Cookbooks - On Profile Page)
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To: Kaslin

Miriam Webster defines journalism, in part, as: Writing characterized by a direct presentation of facts or description of events without an attempt at interpretation. Sadly, what passes for journalism at the present time is in most cases a warped perversion of this definition. In this instance, information contained this inartfully drafted “news” piece is libellous on it’s face.


17 posted on 01/13/2017 6:11:51 AM PST by t4texas (No koolaid for me. Thanks!)
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To: hellinahandcart

Ping!


18 posted on 01/13/2017 6:27:24 AM PST by sauropod (Beware the fury of a patient man. I've lost my patience!)
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