The Washington Post Calls the "Seth Rich as Wikileaks' Source" Narrative "fake news"

[SirLinksALot]

SOURCE: WASHINGTON POST

URL: https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/the-fix/wp/2017/05/20/the-seth-rich-conspiracy-shows-how-fake-news-still-works/?utm_term=.533a72e34d65

by David Weigel

On July 10, at 4:19 a.m., gunfire was detected in the District's Bloomingdale neighborhood. Not five minutes later, police found Seth Rich, a 27-year-old Democratic National Committee staffer, lying on the ground, dying from a bullet wound to his back. A conscious Rich was transported to the hospital; by daybreak, he was dead.

Nearly one year later, Rich's death remains one of America's thousands of unsolved murders — and the focus of endless conspiracy theories, spread this past week by Fox News, alt-right social media, a local D.C. news station and the Russian embassy in Britain. The reemergence of the conspiracy theory this week, which did not lack for real news, revealed plenty about the fake news ecosystem (or to use BuzzFeed's useful phrase, “the upside-down media”) in the Trump era. It also happened to cause untold pain for the Rich family, which has sent a cease-and-desist letter to the so-called private investigator who led this dive back into the fever swamp.

Here's what we learned.

TV news can be an easy mark. This iteration of the Seth Rich story started when the District's own Fox 5 ran a Monday night “exclusive,” citing one source — a Fox New legal commentator, Rod Wheeler — for a “big break in the investigation.” Reporter Marina Marraco reported that “conspiracy theories” could “be proven right,” as Wheeler was saying what had been rumored since last year: Rich might have leaked DNC emails to WikiLeaks, making him the target of an assassination.

“You have information that could link Seth Rich to WikiLeaks?” asked Marraco.

“Absolutely. Yeah. That's confirmed,” said Wheeler, , who Fox 5 identified as the Rich family's investigator.

Within 24 hours, reporters at NBC News, CNN and The Washington Post had debunked the story. First, Rich's family quickly corrected the idea that Wheeler was on their payroll; he was hired by Ed Butowsky, a Texas businessman who had grown interested in the case. Next, Wheeler told CNN he hadn't actually obtained information linking Rich to WikiLeaks — Fox 5, he insisted, had told him to say so.

Marraco did not cite any sources except Wheeler — not the Rich family, not D.C. police, not the mayor's office, not the DNC. Wheeler, a very occasional TV pundit, was noticeably skimpy on details, suggesting he had a source who'd told him eyeball-to-eyeball that Rich's computer was in lock-up and that it had evidence of WikiLeaks contact. But he was murky on whether D.C. police or the FBI allegedly had the laptop, and the family quickly reported that neither did.

Most forms of reporting have guardrails that this story would have crashed against. Had the channel waited to run the story until the family or the police weighed in, it couldn't have aired. But that's the problem — there's a fluff allowance on TV, one that lets sensational videos through even if they've not been fully vetted.

(EXCERPT) CLICK ABOVE LINK FOR THE REST....

[Sanguine]

And, for another view of this story:  http://www.gopbriefingroom.com/index.php/topic,263988.msg1331945/topicseen.html#new

[Oceander]

The WaPo has deteriorated into nothing more than an agitprop outfit.  I read news bits via Bloomberg and have noticed that its reporting is now almost transparently politically motivated; much more so than the NYT.

[Jazzhead]

Didn't Wikileaks itself offer a $20,000 reward for information into Rich's murder?    Why would Wikileaks care if this were just an ordinary street crime? 

[jpsb]

The WaPo has deteriorated into nothing more than an agitprop outfit.  I read news bits via Bloomberg and have noticed that its reporting is now almost transparently politically motivated; much more so than the NYT.

This article from the king of fake news (along with NYT and CNN) pretty much confirms that Seth Rich was the leaker.

[jpsb]

Didn't Wikileaks itself offer a $20,000 reward for information into Rich's murder?    Why would Wikileaks care if this were just an ordinary street crime?

Correct.

[Hondo69]

Fun Fact: Jeff Bezos owns the Washington Post

[Oceander]

This article from the king of fake news (along with NYT and CNN) pretty much confirms that Seth Rich was the leaker.

On that point I disagree; however, the aerticle from WaPo is simply useless because it doesn't help evaluate the issue. 

[Oceander]

Fun Fact: Jeff Bezos owns the Washington Post

And it's political agitprop has become dramatically more evident since he bought it. 

[Frank Cannon]

The WaPo has deteriorated into nothing more than an agitprop outfit.  I read news bits via Bloomberg and have noticed that its reporting is now almost transparently politically motivated; much more so than the NYT.

That's why Jeff Bezos bought it. It's his toy so he can play his Leftist games.

[jpsb]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kp7FkLBRpKg


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=62spPPUcubo

[SirLinksALot]

The WaPo has deteriorated into nothing more than an agitprop outfit.  I read news bits via Bloomberg and have noticed that its reporting is now almost transparently politically motivated; much more so than the NYT.

In the meantime, The right-leaning site,  RED STATE seems to be concurring with the Washington Post, and urging Republicans to drop the Seth Rich angle. Read all about it here:

http://www.redstate.com/jaycaruso/2017/05/21/republican-spreading-conspiracy-theory-slain-dnc-staffer-seth-rich/

TITLE: Why Is Any Republican Spreading The Conspiracy Theory About Slain DNC Staffer Seth Rich?

[jpsb]

In the meantime, The right-leaning site,  RED STATE seems to be concurring with the Washington Post, and urging Republicans to drop the Seth Rich angle. Read all about it here:

http://www.redstate.com/jaycaruso/2017/05/21/republican-spreading-conspiracy-theory-slain-dnc-staffer-seth-rich/

TITLE: Why Is Any Republican Spreading The Conspiracy Theory About Slain DNC Staffer Seth Rich?

Red State is NeverTrump headquarters. Red State no doubt likes the RussiaGate story line since that delegitimizes President Trump and could possibly lead to removing Trump from office.