112 Media Mistakes in the Trump Era: The Definitive List – Sharyl Attkisson

Click here to support independent journalism at SharylAttkisson.com

But as self-appointed arbiters of truth, weve largely excused our own unprecedented string of fact-challenged reporting. The truth is, formerly well-respected, top news organizations are making repeat, unforced errors in numbers that were unheard of just a couple of years ago.

Our repeat mistakes involve declaring that Trumps claims are lies when they are matters of opinion, or when the truth between conflicting sources is unknowable; taking Trumps statements and events out of context; reporting secondhand accounts against Trump without attribution as if theyre established fact; relying on untruthful, conflicted sources; and presenting reporter opinions in news storieswithout labeling them as opinions.

So since nobody else has compiled an updated, extensive list of this kind, here are:

USA Today misstated Melania Trumps arrival date from Slovenia amid a flurry of reporting that questioned her immigration status from the mid-1990s.

Multiple outlets including Politico, the New York Times, the Washington Post, CNN, AP, Reuters and the Wall Street Journal reported the same leaked information: that Trump fired FBI Director James Comey shortly after Comey requested additional resources to investigate Russian interference in the election.

The Justice Department, Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein and Acting FBI Director Andrew McCabe said the media reports were untrue and McCabe added that the FBIs Russia investigation was adequately resourced.

The New York Times Jonathan Weisman reported that Comey testified Trump Attorney General Jeff Sessions told Comey not to call the Russia probe an investigation but a matter. Weisman was mistaken about the attorney general and the probe. Actually, it was Obama Attorney General Loretta Lynch (not Sessions) who told Comey to refer to the Hillary Clinton classified email probe (not the Russia probe) as a matter instead of an investigation.

CNN edited a video that made it appear as though Trump impatiently dumped a box of fish food into the water while feeding fish at Japans palace. The New York Daily News, the Guardian and others wrote stories implying Trump was gauche and impetuous. The full video showed that Trump had simply followed the lead of Japans Prime Minister.

MSNBC personality mistakenly stated that Trump had banned the Red Cross from visiting children separated from illegal immigrant parents.

NBC reporter Leigh Ann Caldwell reported that outgoing Supreme Court Justice Kennedy only retired after months of negotiations with Trump that concluded with Trump agreeing to replace Kennedy with Judge Kavanaugh.

Support Sharyl Attkissons fight against government overreach in Attkisson v. DOJ and FBI for the government computer intrusions. For more info visit:https://www.gofundme.com/sharyl-attkisson-4th-am-litigation

Washington Post reporter implied Trump doesnt understand NATO countries. In fact, Trump met with the Finnish President at the NATO summit. Further, Finland is a NATO partner, just not a member.

The New York Times issues a major correction (below) to an original unfair article about U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley.

The New York Times falsely reported that a man, Mark Judge, testified he remembered an incident more than 30 year ago in which Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh is accused of assault. Judge actually said the opposite: he does not remember such an incident, and that the allegations are absolutely nuts. The Times corrected its article in an editors note.

Multiple news outlets report that Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosentein has resigned or been fired. Neither turns out to be true. Axios and others eventually update and clarify their erroneous reports.

NBC News falsely reports that President Trump praised Confederate General Robert E. Lee. Actually, Trump had praised the Union General Ulysses S. Grant.

CNNs Jeff Zeleny reports that President Trump has decided to fire a deputy national security adviser upon the First Ladys demand. The Wall Street Journal reports the adviser has been escorted out of the White House. Later, its reported that neither case was true. This did not happen. She is still here at the WH, a senior official told the press. The adviser was reassigned to another job.

Its discovered that nearly everything written by a Der Spiegel reporter, who had been honored by CNN, about a supposedly racist Trump stronghold town was fabricatedlike much of his other work.

NBC reports that Trump was the first President since 2002 not to visit the troops at Christmastime. But he (and First Lady Melania) did. NBC added a note to its story but left the false headline in place.

CBS News claimed, in June of 2018, that Trump spokesman Sarah Huckabee Sanders would retire by the end of the year. She didnt. As of May 2019, she was still on the job and there had been no correction or editors note. The same CBS story also quoted sources as saying the departure of White House assistant Raj Shah was also imminent. It wasnt. Shah continued to serve seven more months.

The New York Times issues a correctionto a report that falsely stated former Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort asked for campaign polling to be given to a Russian oligarch, Oleg Deripaska, who has ties to Russia President Putin.Instead, the Times now claims, Manafort actually asked his associate Rick Gates to give polling data to Ukrainian oligarchs not Deripaska.

While working at Politico, one of the New York Times reporters, Ken Vogel, got caught sending drafts of stories to democratic officials. Another co-author, Maggie Haberman, was considered a friendly by Clinton campaign officials who turned to her when she worked at Politico.

We have had her tee up stories for us before and have never been disappointed. We can do the most shaping by going to Maggie, wrote Clinton officials in emails.

Fox TV affiliate in Seattle, Washington airs fake, doctored video of President Trump that altered his face and made it appear as though he had stuck his tongue in and out while giving an Oval Office address.

The Buzzfeed exclusive with anonymous sources implicating Trump in potentially criminal behavior (that Democrats and pundits said would be the nail in Trumps impeachment coffin) is refuted in a rare rebuke from Special Counsel Muellers office. Buzzfeed stands by its reporting.

Fight improper government surveillance. Support Attkisson v. DOJ and FBI over the government computer intrusions of Attkissons work while she was a CBS News investigative correspondent. Visit the Attkisson Fourth Amendment Litigation Fund. Click here.

The New York Times and Washington Post are among the publications that issue corrections after falsely reporting that an anti-Trump activist had served in the Vietnam War.

Additionally, multiple news employees, including a CNN employee, apologize for mischaracterizing as the aggressors Trump-supporting teenagers at a pro-life rally.

The UK Telegraph apologizes for all the facts it got wrong in a Jan. 19 article criticizing the First Lady.

Fight government overreach and double-standard justice by supporting the Attkisson Fourth Amendment Litigation Fund for Attkisson v. DOJ and FBI for the government computer intrusions. Click here.

While some media outlets responsibly reported and properly attributed allegations in the racist attack alleged by actor Jussie Smollett, others did not. Some unskeptically furthered the narrative that Smollett, who is black, was attacked by Trump-supporting racists who put a noose around Smolletts neck, shouted racial slurs, told him its MAGA (Make America Great Again) country, and poured bleach on him. While details are still emerging as of this date, Chicago police have stated that Smollett is no longer considered a victim of the crimes he alleged. The New York Times receives special mention here for adding a biased non sequitur in its early reporting that treated skepticism of Smolletts story as if it were unfounded, and fit in a dig at President Trumps son.

But the lack of progress in the investigation has fueled speculation about whether the report was exaggerated. The presidents son Donald Trump Jr., who is known to disseminate conspiracy theories on his Twitter feed, retweeted an article this week about Smollett declining to turn over his cellphone to the police.

Its as good a day as any to point out that The Washington Post and others reported last November that Trump was imminently about to fire DHS Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen. The Post confirmed this with five anonymous sources. The firing was said to be likely to happen the following week.

Nielsen remained on the job for five more months before resigning.

Testimony by former Trump lawyer Michael Cohen seemed to put the final nail in the coffin of the dossier claim reported by many that Cohen had visited Prague to meet with Russians to help collude on Trumps behalf. Cohen told Congress hes never been to Prague or the Czech Republic, for that matter. McClatchy even reported that Cohens cell phone had pinged off Prague towers. Where did this apparently false information come from? Four people spoke with McClatchy on condition of anonymity due to the sensitivity of information shared by their foreign intelligence connections. Each obtained their information independently from foreign intelligence connections, reported McClatchy.

The Washington Post deleted a tweet containing false reporting about a January 19 incident regarding a standoff between Trump-supporting pro-life Catholic high school students and a pro-choice Native American activist. The Post wrongly stated, without attribution, that the activist had fought in the Vietnam War. The activist also falsely stated that a high school student had blocked him and wouldnt allow him to retreat. These events were later called into question, and the Washington Post is being sued in a multi-million dollar libel suit over its allegedly false reporting and misrepresentations. The Post also posted an editors note on this date stating that a more complete assessment of the incident contradicted or failed to confirm accounts as originally reported, including that a particular student was trying to instigate a conflict.

Multiple reporters and media outlets have provided false information and/or quoted incorrect anonymous sources as to the timing of the release of Special Counsel Muellers report on Trump-Russia collusion. The Washington Post said it would be out in summer of 2018. Bloomberg said it would be shortly after the 2018 Midterm elections. In February 2019, CNN, The Washington Post and NBC reported the report was coming the last week of February. However, it was not announced at that time.

Continued here:

112 Media Mistakes in the Trump Era: The Definitive List - Sharyl Attkisson

Related Posts

Comments are closed.