{"id":114013,"date":"2019-01-19T06:40:36","date_gmt":"2019-01-19T10:40:36","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/stateofthenation2012.com\/?p=114013"},"modified":"2019-01-19T06:41:05","modified_gmt":"2019-01-19T10:41:05","slug":"gaslighting-alert-deep-state-using-mainstream-media-to-float-false-accusations-about-trump-which-are-then-refuted-as-strategy-for-removal","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/stateofthenation2012.com\/?p=114013","title":{"rendered":"GASLIGHTING ALERT: <i>Deep State<\/i> Using Mainstream Media to Float False Accusations About Trump Which Are Then Refuted as Strategy for Removal"},"content":{"rendered":"<h1>BuzzFeed rocks media industry after Mueller team disputes report: \u2018Media errors are always anti-Trump\u2019<\/h1>\n<p><!--more-->By Joseph A. Wulfsohn, Brian Flood | Fox News<\/p>\n<p><script type=\"text\/javascript\" src=\"https:\/\/video.foxnews.com\/v\/embed.js?id=5991243989001&#038;w=466&#038;h=263\"><\/script><noscript>Watch the latest video at <a href=\"https:\/\/www.foxnews.com\">foxnews.com<\/a><\/noscript><\/p>\n<p class=\"speakable\">The office of Special Counsel Robert Mueller rocked the media industry\u00a0Friday night by\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.foxnews.com\/politics\/mueller-team-disputes-buzzfeed-report-claiming-trump-told-cohen-to-lie\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">refuting a bombshell<\/a>\u00a0BuzzFeed News report that would have directly implicated President Trump in a crime \u2013 but instead provided\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.foxnews.com\/opinion\/dan-gainor-journalism-continues-to-shrink-right-before-our-eyes\">critics of modern journalism<\/a>\u00a0with their latest round of ammunition.<\/p>\n<p class=\"speakable\">BuzzFeed published the report late Thursday, citing two anonymous federal law enforcement officials, who alleged that the special counsel had evidence that the president directed his former attorney and fixer Michael Cohen to lie to Congress about dealings regarding a potential Trump Tower in Moscow during the 2016 election.<\/p>\n<p>While liberal news organizations couldn\u2019t confirm BuzzFeed\u2019s report, they did use it as the impetus to talk about\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.foxnews.com\/politics\/dems-rev-up-impeachment-threats-after-report-trump-told-cohen-to-lie-on-russia-project\">impeachment<\/a>\u00a0for much of the day.<\/p>\n<p><strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.foxnews.com\/politics\/mueller-team-disputes-buzzfeed-report-claiming-trump-told-cohen-to-lie\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">MUELLER TEAM DISPUTES BUZZFEED REPORT CLAIMING TRUMP TOLD COHEN TO LIE<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Industry insiders were skeptical from the jump, as prestigious news organizations such as the New York Times couldn\u2019t match the damaging report. Trump\u2019s legal team immediately dismissed the account, the details of which have not been confirmed by Fox News. Many news organizations were quick to add disclaimers such as &#8220;if true&#8221; throughout the day as they covered the report.<\/p>\n<p>Then, in an unprecedented move, the office of the special counsel released a statement that pushed back hard against BuzzFeed\u2019s alleged scoop.<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"pull-quote\">\n<p class=\"quote-text\">\u201cAmerica has never seen anything like this. All the media errors are always anti-Trump. &#8230; That&#8217;s what happens when the press stops trying to report fairly and becomes a bunch of lefty activists.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><span class=\"quote-author\">\u2014 Dan Gainor, Media Research Center vice president\u00a0<\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>\u201cBuzzFeed\u2019s description of specific statements to the Special Counsel\u2019s Office, &amp; characterization of documents &amp; testimony obtained by this office, regarding Michael Cohen\u2019s Congressional testimony are not accurate,\u201d special counsel spokesman Peter Carr stated.<\/p>\n<p>BuzzFeed editor-in-chief Ben Smith responded to the statement from the special counsel, tweeting, \u201cWe stand by our reporting and the sources who informed it, and we urge the Special Counsel to make clear what he&#8217;s disputing.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>While Mueller\u2019s team and BuzzFeed clearly don\u2019t agree, the statement includes a lot of gray area\u00a0&#8212; and its unclear what the Special Counsel\u2019s Office actually disputes. One thing that most people can agree on is that the situation is brutal for a journalism industry plagued with perceived bias and claims of \u201cfake news.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>DePauw University professor and media critic Jeffrey McCall told Fox News that this \u201clatest example of questionable journalism gives the public more reason to doubt the motivations of the news establishment.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe major problem is that the news industry is over-eager to cover the Mueller probe, but has very little confirmed content with which to work. Mueller&#8217;s office has been remarkably disciplined and leak-free, leaving hungry reporters little with which to work, other than the formal court documents, which hardly satisfies the news industry&#8217;s hefty appetite on this matter,\u201d McCall said. \u201cThe media has consistently outkicked its coverage on the special counsel story, and this BuzzFeed situation, with its curious sourcing, is more evidence.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>President Trump took to Twitter shortly after the BuzzFeed report was disputed, once again calling the \u201cfake news\u201d media the \u201cenemy of the people.\u201d<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"550\" data-dnt=\"true\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">Fake News is truly the ENEMY OF THE PEOPLE!<\/p>\n<p>&mdash; Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/realDonaldTrump\/status\/1086464467481833480?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">January 19, 2019<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<p>Dan Gainor, a vice president at the Media Research Center, told Fox News that \u201cno one hurts journalism more than journalists\u201d and that President Trump \u201cscores big\u201d when the media runs with inaccurate reporting.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cAmerica has never seen anything like this. All the media errors are always anti-Trump. That&#8217;s not a bug, it&#8217;s a feature. That&#8217;s what happens when the press stops trying to report fairly and becomes a bunch of lefty activists,\u201d Gainor said.<\/p>\n<p>Daily Caller media editor Amber Athey expressed a similar sentiment, saying that BuzzFeed\u2019s story is \u201cthe latest in a long line of bad reporting on the Russian collusion investigation.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cJournalists are so desperate to pin crimes on the president that they have no sense of skepticism when it comes to this story. The media should\u2019ve had a wakeup call when CNN falsely claimed that [Anthony] Scaramucci was under investigation, but instead they keep relying on the same untrustworthy leakers and thus keep getting burned,\u201d Athey told Fox News.<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"pull-quote\">\n<p class=\"quote-text\">\u201cJournalists are so desperate to pin crimes on the president that they have no sense of skepticism when it comes to this story.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><span class=\"quote-author\">\u2014 Amber Athey,\u00a0Daily Caller media editor<\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>According to BuzzFeed\u2019s now-questionable report, the sources said that the special counsel learned of Trump\u2019s alleged wrongdoing \u201cthrough interviews with multiple witnesses from the Trump Organization and internal company emails, text messages, and a cache of other documents.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Jason Leopold and Anthony Cormier \u2013 who co-bylined the disputed story \u2013 tried to double down on their reporting earlier on Friday. Cormier went on CNN and stated that he did not see any of the evidence, but that the two unnamed law enforcement officials have, referring to the sourcing as \u201crock solid.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Meanwhile, Leopold appeared on MSNBC and claimed \u201cwe\u2019ve seen documents and been briefed.\u201d And when asked by Mediaite to comment on what Cormier said on CNN, Leopold responded, \u201cYes. Anthony said HE had not personally seen the documents.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The Hill media reporter Joe Concha told Fox News that is appears \u201csomebody is lying.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>When the rare public statement came from Mueller\u2019s office, the reaction from journalists and media watchdogs was overwhelming. Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Ronan Farrow\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/RonanFarrow\/status\/1086425618802241536\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">even weighed in<\/a>, telling his Twitter followers that he himself declined to run with elements of what he described as a \u201cnarrative.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI can\u2019t speak to BuzzFeed\u2019s sourcing, but, for what it\u2019s worth, I declined to run with parts of the narrative they conveyed based on a source central to the story repeatedly disputing the idea that Trump directly issued orders of that kind,\u201d Farrow said.<\/p>\n<div class=\"embed-media fn-video\">\n<div class=\"video-container\">\n<div class=\"m video-player\" data-widget-type=\"embed\" data-video-id=\"5991264737001\" data-video-domain=\"foxnews\"><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p>Jon Levine, media editor for the Wrap,\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/LevineJonathan\/status\/1086438044738179072\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">tweeted<\/a>\u00a0that \u201cit\u2019s clear\u201d that based on the special counsel\u2019s statement, BuzzFeed\u2019s story was \u201cnot ready for the wall-to-wall cable news coverage it received.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Added DePauw&#8217;s McCall: &#8220;This has all led to the media being exploited and worked by the anti-Trump forces, primarily shrill and grandstanding Democrats, who have the opportunity of this curious BuzzFeed story to push the impeachment narrative.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cOn the matter of the Mueller investigation,&#8221; McCall continued, &#8220;the citizenry really needs the journalism industry to be measured and deliberate and accurate. Sadly, it seems the news world can&#8217;t discipline itself sufficiently.\u201d<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"pull-quote\">\n<p class=\"quote-text\">\u201cIf there is a &#8216;there&#8217; to this story, it will surely present itself in due time. Sensible reporters should go where the story leads and, when confirmed, information can be disseminated.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><span class=\"quote-author\">\u2014 Jeffrey McCall,\u00a0DePauw University professor and media critic<\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>He concluded: \u201cIf there is a &#8216;there&#8217; to this story, it will surely present itself in due time. Sensible reporters should go where the story leads and, when confirmed, information can be disseminated.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>___<br \/>\n<a href=\"https:\/\/www.foxnews.com\/entertainment\/buzzfeed-rocks-media-industry-after-mueller-team-disputes-report-media-errors-are-always-anti-trump\">https:\/\/www.foxnews.com\/entertainment\/buzzfeed-rocks-media-industry-after-mueller-team-disputes-report-media-errors-are-always-anti-trump<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>BuzzFeed rocks media industry after Mueller team disputes report: \u2018Media errors are always anti-Trump\u2019<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-114013","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateofthenation2012.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/114013","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateofthenation2012.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateofthenation2012.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateofthenation2012.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateofthenation2012.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=114013"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/stateofthenation2012.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/114013\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateofthenation2012.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=114013"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateofthenation2012.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=114013"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateofthenation2012.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=114013"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}