WashPost Is Richly Rewarded for False News About Russia Threat While Public Is Deceived

http://theintercept.com/2017/01/04/washpost-is-richly-rewarded-for-false-news-about-russia-threat-while-public-is-deceived/
Date Written:  2017-01-04
Publisher:  The Intercept
Year Published:  2017
Resource Type:  Article
Cx Number:  CX20248

In the past six weeks, the Washington Post published two blockbuster stories about the Russian threat that went viral: one on how Russia is behind a massive explosion of "fake news," the other on how it invaded the U.S. electric grid. Both articles were fundamentally false.

Abstract: 
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Excerpt:

After spreading the falsehoods far and wide, raising fear levels and manipulating U.S. political discourse in the process (both Russia stories were widely hyped on cable news), journalists who spread the false claims subsequently note the retraction or corrections only in the most muted way possible, and often not at all. As a result, only a tiny fraction of people who were exposed to the original false story end up learning of the retractions.

Baron himself, editorial leader of the Post, is a perfect case study in this irresponsible tactic. It was Baron who went to Twitter on the evening of November 24 to announce the Post's exposé of the enormous reach of Russia's fake news operation, based on what he heralded as the findings of "independent researchers."