{"id":62870,"date":"2017-01-11T08:00:43","date_gmt":"2017-01-11T12:00:43","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/stateofthenation2012.com\/?p=62870"},"modified":"2017-01-11T08:01:05","modified_gmt":"2017-01-11T12:01:05","slug":"breaking-fake-news-published-to-take-down-trump-before-his-inauguration","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/stateofthenation2012.com\/?p=62870","title":{"rendered":"BREAKING: Fake News Published To Take Down Trump Before His Inauguration"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"row header-wrapper\">\n<div class=\"header-container col-lg-12 col-md-12 col-sm-11 col-xs-11\">\n<div class=\"header\">\n<h1 class=\"article-headline\">Fake News: BuzzFeed Runs \u2018Unverifiable\u2019 Trump-Russia Claims<\/h1>\n<h2 class=\"article-subheader\">Left-leaning news outlet abandons all journalistic ethics in publishing explosive dossier<\/h2>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p><!--more--><\/p>\n<div class=\"row zero-padding\">\n<div class=\"col-lg-12 col-md-12 col-sm-12 col-xs-12\">\n<div class=\"author author-box\">\n<p class=\"author-prefix\"><span class=\"by\">by <\/span><span class=\"author author-name\">Brendan Kirby<\/span><span class=\"pubtime\"> | <em>Updated<\/em> 10 Jan 2017 at 9:12 PM<br \/>\nBuzzFeed<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"row article-container\">\n<div class=\"col-lg-12\">\n<div class=\"row\">\n<div class=\"col-lg-11 col-md-11 col-sm-12 col-xs-12\">\n<div class=\"article body\">\n<p>The online news site BuzzFeed on Tuesday published a letter containing salacious allegations \u2014 which even the left-leaning outlet\u00a0acknowledged are unverified \u2014 against President-Elect Donald Trump.<\/p>\n<p>The letter, purporting to come from a retired British intelligence agent, details Trump\u2019s alleged relationship with Russia and contends that the Kremlin has been \u201ccultivating, supporting and assisting\u201d Trump for at least five years.<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>\u201cEven Donald Trump deserves journalistic fairness.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>It alleges that Russians have been feeding Trump intelligence on his opponents, including Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton, for years. It also details Trump\u2019s alleged \u201cpersonal obsessions and sexual perversion.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>BuzzFeed acknowledges that it has not\u00a0verified the accusations and even notes that the document contains a number of basic factual errors. Yet it published the full document.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cNow BuzzFeed News is publishing the full document so that Americans can make up their own minds about allegations about the president-elect that have circulated at the highest levels of the US government,\u201d BuzzFeed wrote.<\/p>\n<div id=\"ndn_embed_1\" data-config-type=\"VideoPlayer\/Single\" data-config-width=\"100%\" data-config-height=\"9\/16w\" data-config-pb=\"7\" data-config-float=\"bottom right\" data-config-widget-id=\"2\" data-config-tracking-group=\"92353\" data-config-playlist-id=\"18080\" data-config-site-section=\"polizette\" data-config-video-id=\"31833136\"><\/div>\n<p>It is a shocking breakdown of journalistic ethics.<\/p>\n<p>Even Mother Jones declined to publish the full details and dossier.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;Even Donald Trump deserves journalistic fairness,&#8221; tweeted David Corn, Mother Jones&#8217; Washington Bureau chief.<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"550\" data-dnt=\"true\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">3. I accurately characterized the memos-this is important stuff-but didn&#39;t publish details. Even Donald Trump deserves journalistic fairness<\/p>\n<p>&mdash; David Corn (@DavidCornDC) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/DavidCornDC\/status\/818979119119605762?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">January 11, 2017<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<p>Ben Smith, BuzzFeed&#8217;s editor-in-chief, defended the decision in a memo to staff.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;Our presumption is to be transparent in our journalism and to share what we have with our readers,&#8221; he wrote in the email he subsequently shared on Twitter. &#8220;We have always erred on the side of publishing. In this case, the document was in wide circulation in the highest levels of American government and media.&#8221;<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"550\" data-dnt=\"true\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">Here&#39;s the note I sent to <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/BuzzFeedNews?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">@buzzfeednews<\/a> staff this evening <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/OcAloWzVzb\">pic.twitter.com\/OcAloWzVzb<\/a><\/p>\n<p>&mdash; Ben Smith (@semaforben) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/semaforben\/status\/818978955965464580?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">January 11, 2017<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<p>Astonishingly, though, Smith cast doubt on whether the story his site published was true.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;As we noted in our story, there is a serious reason to doubt the allegations,&#8221; he wrote. &#8220;We have been chasing specific claims in this document for weeks, and will continue to.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>Smith drew sharp rebukes from other reporters.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;Not how journalism works: Here&#8217;s a thing that might or might not be true, without supporting evidence; decide for yourself if it&#8217;s legit,&#8221; tweeted Brad Heath, an investigative reporter for USA Today.<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"550\" data-dnt=\"true\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">Not how journalism works: Here&#39;s a thing that might or might not be true, without supporting evidence; decide for yourself if it&#39;s legit.<\/p>\n<p>&mdash; Brad Heath (@bradheath) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/bradheath\/status\/818970458561409025?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">January 10, 2017<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<p>Julia Ioffe, a journalist who left Politico after suggesting in a tweet that Trump might be having sex with his own daughter, tweeted Tuesday that she had been approached with the story that BuzzFeed ran with but declined to publish. &#8220;Because it was impossible to verify. (I tried.)&#8221;<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"550\" data-dnt=\"true\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">Okay, fellow journalists, raise your hand if you too were approached with this story. (I was.)<\/p>\n<p>&mdash; Julia Ioffe (@juliaioffe) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/juliaioffe\/status\/818968878575394816?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">January 10, 2017<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<p>New York Times reporter Adam Goldman heaped criticism on both BuzzFeed and CNN, which aired a version of the story Tuesday but did not publish all of the unverified details.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;Sequence of events: @CNN finds way to talk about report and @buzzfeed uses that as reason to publish. Media critics are gonna be busy,&#8221; he tweeted.<\/p>\n<p>http:\/\/twitter.com\/adamgoldmanNYT\/status\/818975838800670720?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw<\/p>\n<p>___<br \/>\n<a href=\"http:\/\/www.lifezette.com\/polizette\/buzzfeed-runs-error-laden-unverifiable-trump-russia-claim\/\">http:\/\/www.lifezette.com\/polizette\/buzzfeed-runs-error-laden-unverifiable-trump-russia-claim\/<\/a><\/p>\n<div class=\"lz_third_party text-center\"><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Fake News: BuzzFeed Runs \u2018Unverifiable\u2019 Trump-Russia Claims Left-leaning news outlet abandons all journalistic ethics in publishing explosive dossier<\/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-62870","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateofthenation2012.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/62870","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=62870"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/stateofthenation2012.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/62870\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateofthenation2012.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=62870"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateofthenation2012.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=62870"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateofthenation2012.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=62870"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}