The Trump-Russia Scandal Is a Huge Media Fail - David Corn

[DonViejo]

If we don’t come to terms with this assault on American democracy, Trump and Co. win.

DAVID CORN OCT. 26, 2017 4:44 PM

About a year ago, I met a man named Christopher David Steele. It was unusual for him to be speaking with a journalist. He had spent most of his adult life in the shadows, as a counterintelligence officer for MI6, the British foreign intelligence service. His specialty was Russia.

More recently, he had been something of a spy-for-hire, running a corporate intelligence business based in London that did hush-hush work for private clients. He was, he told me, not accustomed to chatting with outsiders. But Steele was worried. He had spent several months, as the world now knows, researching connections between Donald Trump and Russia, and he had unearthed information (which was then unconfirmed) indicating that Russia had been trying to co-opt and cultivate Trump for years, that the Trump camp had been trading information with the Russians, and that Vladimir Putin’s regime had gathered compromising material on Trump. (Yes, including the infamous supposed “pee tape.”)

All of this so frightened Steele—imagine a man tied to Moscow in this fashion winning the White House!—that he was willing to talk to me and be quoted, though not named.

By the time Steele and I spoke, Putin’s meddling in the 2016 campaign—with Russian intelligence hacking Democratic targets, stealing sensitive material, and then publicly dumping the material via several cut-outs, including WikiLeaks—should have been a massive scandal. But it wasn’t. Nor were the odd relationships between Trump, his associates, and Russia drawing great notice.

more
http://www.motherjones.com/media/2017/10/the-trump-russia-scandal-is-a-huge-media-fail/

[underpants]

1. Thanks. Love David Corn.

[joeybee12]

2. And most of the MSM is still clueless. Knr

[iluvtennis]

12. Most of M$M is clueless cuz they chose to be by continuing to try to NORMALIZE trump. nt

[joeybee12]

14. Yup. They're complicit. Nt

[HipChick]

3. K&R

[L. Coyote]

4. Maybe in the paid-off M$M, but Trump can't bribe everyone forever and the truth is out there.

What happens when Fox News turns on Trump?

What if the Koch brothers or Spencer view Trump as a traitor to their interests and the USA?

What happens when Mueller releases his findings?



The tide has turned.

Link to tweet

[dlk]

5. The Problem With For-Profit Corporations Owning the Major Media Outlets

Their first priority is profits. Reporting the actual news comes second and often falls by the wayside in the interest of making more money. Our democracy would do better with a permanently government-funded news outlet, similar to the BBC, that focuses on facts instead of opinion and spin. It might help keep the other players a little more honest.

[SHRED]

6. We need this

[Dark n Stormy Knight]

17. But w Rs in charge of government, government

news outlet will be the same as Fox, Limbaugh, Alex Jones, etc.

[kentuck]

7. Huge.

media fail.

[peggysue2]

8. Corn in Correct

David Corn is stating the obvious but I still appreciate his statement. Why? Because most media outlets will not admit their failure to fully vet Donald Trump. They were too hung up on Benghazi and Hillary's emails and every faux conspiracy spew that came out. It was not as if the information on Trump required great digging or scores of research assistants. The Trumpster's record was out there, thirty years of grifting, mob ties, womanizing, etc.

But, but . . . her emails!!!

This is the same media that shrugged off the Iraq War, diving head first into the propaganda machine, getting chills with GW's flight suit, Mission Accomplished photo op (I'm looking at you Chris Matthews). Same media that made excuses for Cheney and Rove's involvement in the Valerie Plame debacle. The same media that could not get enough of 24/7 Trump, donating hours and hours of free, self-serving Trump speak. CNN's Jeff Zucker actually said that 'Trump might be bad for the country but he's great TV.'

O.M.G. They failed bigly.

That being said, the NYT and Washington Post and other venues have been doing excellent reporting since Trump's damaging win.

But we could have diverted the disaster if they'd taken their watchdog responsibility seriously--sooner, better.

Not all has been turned around. Corn knows this better than most. This whole GPS Fusion/Steele dossier free-for-all is something David Corn reported on last October. Wouldn't know it from the frenzy stirred in the last few days, the outrage party Republicans have whipped up. Ooooh, opposition research, initially commissioned by Republicans was picked up by Dem operatives. Regardless of who paid for it (see Clapper's recent comments), the nitty-gritty is that many details from that dossier have been verified.

That's the scandal. That's what Trumpty-Dump's cronies want to drown out while crying for Mueller's resignation. It's time for the press at large to concentrate on the facts emerging, not the diversion and spin.

Because they have a lot to make amends for with the American public.

[sagesnow]

9. Another K&R. n/t

[yallerdawg]

10. I was a bit skeptical on the 'pee tape' and blackmail.

But, after all the recent examples of how the rich and powerful behave - indulging their desires and fantasies at whim, with seemingly no consideration of consequences - that damn 'pee tape' certainly seems plausible now!

Is that the only thing left discrediting the "infamous dossier"?

And why won't Trump trigger the Russian sanctions ordered by Congress?

[Erda]

11. PBS is currently airing "Putin's Revenge" on Frontline

in two parts.

Part 1 is currently available on PBS.org.

It is well worth watching.

[eppur_se_muova]

16. Link at this post:

https://www.democraticunderground.com/10029749063

[ismnotwasm]

13. K&R

[Gothmog]

15. K&R