She prefaced her expose by pointing out that she’s not referring to “viewpoint journalism” and those who work for ideological news groups; instead, she takes aim at those who claim to be independent journalists but actually work to push certain narratives on behalf of others.
Attkisson shared some accounts of journalists who have been engaging in this behavior. It’s interesting to note that many of these questionable reporters have worked for multiple national news organizations even after they’ve had individual scandals, leading her to believe that they are being hired to provide coverage with a particular slant.
One example is Los Angeles Times writer Ken Dilanian, who covered the CIA for the outlet. He promised the agency positive news coverage and even sent story drafts to the CIA press office so they could review them before they were published. This fact was exposed by internal CIA emails obtained by The Intercept in which Dilanian was referred to as “the CIA’s mop-up man.”
He managed to go on to land roles with other outlets, such as the AP, NBC News and USA Today, thanks to this collaboration; he currently serves as a Justice and Intelligence Correspondent for NBC News. Not surprisingly, much of his work props up the intelligence community and disparages Donald Trump.
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Widespread collaboration with DNC and Clinton campaign officials
In another incident, Scott Shane, a reporter for the New York Times, privately supplied the State Department Public Affairs Office with an advance story publication schedule pertaining to a major controversy at Hillary Clinton’s State Department, providing her with as much as a week to spin the revelations in the stories in her favor or create other diversions.
Another reporter for the Times, Mark Leibovich, gave Clinton the chance to veto or approve her quotes, and the publication also published negative stories about Jeb Bush that were reportedly placed there by a pro-Hillary super PAC known as American Bridge.
On another occasion, the Washington Post’s Dana Milbank or an associate reached out to the Democratic National Committee for negative research related to then-presidential candidate Donald Trump in 2016. In a letter to colleagues, a DNC official wrote: “research request: top 10 worst Trump quotes? Milbank doing a Passover-themed 10 plagues of Trump. Off top of my head, I’m thinking: · Punish women · Mexicans as rapists · Ban Muslims · Shoot someone in middle of 5th ave · Rough up BLM protestor · Anchor baby · Do a lot worse than waterboarding · Blood coming out of her wherever · Spill beans on ted’s wife · Talked about penis on stage at debate. Any other big things I’m missing? And can you pull bullets for these?”
Eight of these suggestions ultimately appeared in the resulting article by Milbank that was published in the Washington Post under the title “The Ten Plagues of Trump.”
Chief political correspondent for Politico Glenn Thrush sent a Clinton campaign official part of an article he was working on seeking approval prior to publication. He clearly knew he was doing something wrong, writing “Please don’t share or tell anyone I did this, Because I have become a hack I will send u the whole section that pertains to u…Tell me if I fuc*ed up anything.”
The article was ultimately approved by the Clinton campaign and published by Politico. He was also caught up in other similar controversies, yet his reporting was enough to get him hired by the New York Times to provide negative coverage of President Trump.
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