USA Today said it has deleted 23 articles from its website after an investigation found that the reporter who wrote them used fabricated sources. The journalist who is said to have used the fabricated sources was identified as Gabriela Miranda, a breaking news reporter who resigned from the Virginia-based newspaper weeks ago, the paper confirmed Thursday.
— New York Post, 6/16/22

One could blame this latest example of journalism malfeasance on the lazy youth, but we also know some of the experienced have fallen, and some have been allowed to get back up.

Here’s the latest tally of lying journalists provided by the self-policing media….

15 Of The Most Disgraced Journalists In The World
10 journos caught fabricating
The Top 12 Journalism Scandals Since 2000
Winner of CNN’s ‘Journalist of the Year’ Award Admits He Fabricated Stories
Journalists Who Were Caught Lying

At least one instance was immortalized….

New Republic reporter Stephen Glass was caught lying for three solid years, writing articles about events and human beings that never existed. Glass, the associate editor at the time, was fired by in the summer of 1998 and became the subject of the Hayden Christensen movie “Shattered Glass”.
— Ranker, 10/4/21

Again, these are only the instances of journalistic dishonesty we know of and that’s been reported: take their word for it.

These are the same people who believe it’s their job to tear down those who violate societal and/or political norms but when they intentionally mislead, their publications either issue muted corrections or delete pieces altogether to cover inconvenient tracks.

Being a journalist is an immense responsibility best left to those who observe classic professional ethics and proven integrity. Two qualifications that is clearly lacking today and there doesn’t appear to be much that can assure the public that the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth is something guaranteed to come from the media.

FBI-CIA Russia Hacking Claims: Anonymous Sources Were Once Taboo
Protecting ‘Anonymous Sources’: Graham to Make it Easier for #LyingMedia
Are WaPo ‘Sources’ and ‘Officials’ Real or Fake Trump Impeachment Fuel?

Of course, it took someone who had reach for our reminders to be validated, along with sloppy reporting from some of our nation’s more important news outlets.

Then again, we’re really not talking about serious journalism but political advocacy and things get really dicey when you call the media on the basic rules regarding “sources”.

Calling out the media malpractice drew the expected response of faux exasperation and outrage because anyone dared not believe, thus respect them.

U.S. media outlets are very good at demanding respect. They love to imply, if not outright state, that being patriotic and a good American means that one must reject efforts to discredit them and their reporting because that’s how one defends press freedom.

But journalists also have the responsibility not just to demand respect and credibility but to earn it. That means that there shouldn’t be such a long list of abject humiliations, in which completely false stories are published to plaudits, traffic, and other rewards, only to fall apart upon minimal scrutiny. It certainly means that all of these “errors” shouldn’t be pointing in the same direction, pushing the same political outcome or journalistic conclusion.
— Glenn Greenwald, The Intercept, 12/9/17

The media’s honesty and journalistic integrity can lead to inflaming the public and even negatively affecting the stock market and last week was one of the worst ever when it came to their errors and the real world ramifications.

Greenwald’s soul search has many examples but his conclusion is spot on, even more devastating is this is coming from a bonafide liberal.

Friday was one of the most embarrassing days for the U.S. media in quite a long time. The humiliation orgy was kicked off by CNN, with MSNBC and CBS close behind, and countless pundits, commentators, and operatives joining the party throughout the day. By the end of the day, it was clear that several of the nation’s largest and most influential news outlets had spread an explosive but completely false news story to millions of people, while refusing to provide any explanation of how it happened.

One should expect with journalistic “mistakes” is that they sometimes go in one direction and other times go in the other direction. That’s exactly what has not happened here. Virtually every false story published goes only in one direction: to be as inflammatory and damaging as possible on the Trump-Russia story and about Russia particularly. At some point, once “mistakes” all start going in the same direction, toward advancing the same agenda, they cease looking like mistakes.

Anyone whose taken the time to consume something other than the major American news outlets understand the media took sides decades ago. But because of Rush Limbaugh and later the blogosphere, the media’s influence has dwindled while their blatant partisanship has ramped up to include liberal-trained poly-sci majors planted to occupy so-called anchor seats.

No matter your views on those political controversies, no matter how much you hate Trump or regard Russia as a grave villain and threat to our cherished democracy and freedoms, it has to be acknowledged that when the U.S. media is spewing constant false news about all of this, that, too, is a grave threat to our democracy and cherished freedom.

So numerous are the false stories about Russia and Trump over the last year that I literally cannot list them all.

Yes, there ARE that many. Contrast that with the number of false news stories about their beloved Barack Obama.

The press survived Obama’s persecution, and it will survive Trump’s mean words
“Over the past eight years, the administration has prosecuted nine cases involving whistle-blowers and leakers, compared with only three by all previous administrations combined,” New York Times reporter James Risen wrote in a Dec. 30, 2016 column. “It has repeatedly used the Espionage Act, a relic of World War I-era red-baiting, not to prosecute spies but to go after government officials who talked to journalists.”

With him, they were very careful because he DID threaten those who spoke to the media without his blessing, but back to Greenwald’s lecture.

But what it means most of all is that when media outlets are responsible for such grave and consequential errors as the spectacle we witnessed yesterday, they have to take responsibility for it by offering transparency and accountability. In this case, that can’t mean hiding behind P.R. and lawyer silence and waiting for this to just all blow away.

At minimum, these networks — CNN, MSNBC, and CBS — have to either identify who purposely fed them this blatantly false information or explain how it’s possible that “multiple sources” all got the same information wrong in innocence and good faith. Until they do that, their cries and protests the next time they’re attacked as “Fake News” should fall on deaf ears, since the real author of those attacks — the reason those attacks resonate — is themselves and their own conduct.

“Anonymous sources” are precisely how the media gets to plant a premise into any story by stating someone said something that can be introduced into a narrative. You’re expected to believe that the source is credible because the media outlet said so while we have no idea if that person even exists at all.

Sharing partisan hopes versus reality since the 2016 presidential election persists to this day, and in most cases, intentionally aimed at those most susceptible due to lack of life experience and ignorance.

At this point there is mounting evidence that the Russian government meddled in the 2016 U.S. presidential elections, with methods including social media propaganda, attempted hacks into state voting systems, and discussions about damaging information on Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton with her opponent’s son Donald Trump Jr.
— Teen Vogue, 12/11/17

We’re just expected to take their word for it… again.

Try Pluribus International Corporation who gave a Top Secret security clearance to “Reality Leigh Winner”.

Queef
an expulsion of wind from the vulva during coitus; a vaginal fart.

Just in case you were wondering about the maturity we’re dealing with here.

Anyway….

A 25-year-old federal contractor is facing charges she leaked a classified National Security Agency document to a news outlet in May.

The charges against Reality Leigh Winner came about an hour after the publication of a story based on an NSA document detailing Russian attempts to hack American voting systems in 2016. Winner, of Augusta, Ga., is facing charges that she removed classified material from a government facility and mailed it to a news outlet. She was arrested on Saturday and appeared on the charge Monday.

The announcement came shortly after The Intercept published a report based on a classified intelligence document showing Russian government hackers attempted to hack more than 100 local election officials before the November election.

Winner worked for Pluribus International Corporation and was assigned to a government facility in Georgia. She’s held a top secret classified security clearance since being hired on Feb. 13. She is accused of sending the classified document to a news outlet a few days after printing it off.
— Washington Examiner, 6/5/17

Winner is clearly one of millions of millennials who are not fans of President Donald Trump….

… if not pretty indifferent to her handling of Top Secret materials.

Winner was identified because she was one of six people who printed the document off of their computer. Of those six, she was the only one who had any email contact with a news outlet.

“Winner further acknowledged that she was aware of the contents of the intelligence reporting and that she knew the contents of the reporting could be used to the injury of the United States and to the advantage of a foreign nation,” the affidavit stated.

Winner is another one of those indoctrinated, butt-hurt, sore losers.

Kinda’ makes you wonder what’s going on over at The Intercept (where our old friend Glenn Greenwald is an editor) about now and Pluribus International Corporation should also be shut down and lose their federal contract if they hire security risks who fail to handle Top Secret materials competently.

BTW — The Alexandria, Virginia headquarters of Pluribus International is also in the same building as Democrat Congressman Don Beyer’s office. Probably just a coincidence.

It also appears some in the Winner family don’t have a clue as to the nature and handling of classified documents.

Winner’s mother Billie Winner-Davis told The Daily Beast even after the DOJ announcement that her family still was not sure why Winner had been arrested. “I don’t know what they’re alleging,” she said, asking for specifics from the DOJ’s press release. “What do you know?”

Winner-Davis said the allegations against her daughter were vague when they spoke Sunday.

“I don’t know who she might have sent it to,” she said. “[DOJ] were very vague. They said she mishandled and released documents that she shouldn’t have, but we had no idea what it pertained to or who.”

That’s why it’s a classified document. They weren’t supposed to know. Duh.

The most her daughter talked about was her pets.

“She called us yesterday night. She asked if we could help out with relocating her cat and dog,” Winner-Davis said.
— Daily Beast, 6/5/17

This, again, is the problem with materials provided by “anonymous sources” that the media so eagerly publishes. If a person wouldn’t provide Top Secret documents if he or she knew they’d get in a lot of trouble if their names where published along with the contents, then ALL parties know the exchange of these materials is a bad thing. The fact Winner leaked the info and the journalism-challenged amateurs at The Intercept published it on their blog shows the deficiency of character and professionalism of all involved.

And we weren’t attempting to be mean, calling her a narcissistic millennial but Winner meets the stereotype for the young Bernie Sanders supporter (like the Portland stabber), but we digress….

We’re not saying 25-year-olds aren’t capable of responsible handling of classified materials as it’s done everyday in the military. But we can all agree there’s a big difference between those who signed on the line for their country and know the real world ramifications of their actions and a liberal-indoctrinated millennial who believes she has the power to take down a sitting president and attempts to do so.

But as a former member of the Air Force, Winner clearly knew that she was breaking the law but the ends justify the means, right?

The Associated Press reported that Ms. Winner’s attorney, Titus Thomas Nichols, declined to confirm whether she is accused of leaking an NSA report received by The Intercept. He also declined to name the federal agency for which Ms. Winner worked.

“My client has no (criminal) history, so it’s not as if she has a pattern of having done anything like this before,” Mr. Nichols told the AP. “She is a very good person. All this craziness has happened all of a sudden.”
— Washington Times, 6/5/17

Spoken like a good… DUI, traffic attorney.

As someone who did have a Top Secret security screening, I know how deep the background check goes, at least as far as while serving in the Navy goes. But it appears that the process may be a tad lax when it comes to contractors needing to fill seats. Her social media content should have been a red flag unless the workplace climate at Pluribus was #antiTrump tolerant of the #Resistance.

Let’s hope the administration doesn’t allow the left and their media to be swayed by incoming Reality Winner tears that you know are sure to be flowing in the legal attempt to get her leniency because she’s a girl. The swamp is thick with narcissistic, little liberal ideologues who care only about what they want and could give a damn about the country.