9 Ways the Media Blew It in Its 'Russiagate' Coverage
CNN's Wolf Blitzer reads Attorney General William Barr's letter about the
Mueller report. (YouTube screen grab)
So many in media got so much so wrong over the past two years as they put
all of their eggs in the basket of Trump/Putin collusion in the 2016
election. I asked some Russiagate skeptics to share what they saw as the
worst moments or biggest failings during the 22-month spree, and their tips
for moving forward.
1. Encourage debate and dissent, not conspiracy theories and clicks. Aaron
Maté, journalist, The Nation
Ill never forget that Rachel Maddow did a segment where she called some
alleged Russian trolls, interfering on Bernie Sanders fan club page,
international warfare against our country. Jonathan Chait came out with a
story about whether Trump was a Russian military intelligence agent, and
then Chris Hayes put him on his program that night, and they discussed it as
if this was a serious prospect.
January 2017, basically right as Trump was taking office, was the last time
someone who was skeptical of Russiagate from the left was allowed on MSNBC,
because in December of 2016, Ari Melber interviewed Glenn Greenwald. But
that was the last time for Glenn. And January 2017 was the last time Matt
Taibbi was on MSNBC. That means that basically, throughout this entire
affair, throughout Trumps presidency, MSNBC has not allowed on a single
dissenting voice. Thats extraordinary. And what does that say about a
political media culture, that its somehow a fringe position to question the
conspiracy between the president and Russia?
So the only possible victory here for politics and journalism is if theres
accountability: On the journalism front, if we learn how to follow the
facts, not a narrative that benefits ratings and gets us clicks; and in
politics, if we actually learn to start becoming a real resistance, mounting
opposition to Trump based on opposing his policies, not based on believing
in this fairy tale.
2. Stop playing into Trumps hands and stop smearing reporters. Matt
Taibbi, journalist, Rolling Stone
People are already writing articles accusing me and other journalists of
being smug and taking a victory lap. I dont feel victorious! Id settle
for being able to write about this story without being called a traitor.
Because of the way the modern news landscape is divided, were really
susceptible to groupthink and orthodoxies. Everyone settles on narratives,
and it becomes forbidden to explore any alternative themes being pursued on
the other media. With Russiagate, it was called shilling for Trump to
wonder about whether any part of it was untrue. That makes it very hard for
young reporters, especially, to challenge this.
The only way we could possibly lose with the public in a contest with
someone like Trump is if we completely abdicated the standards of the
profession and did what he accused us of doing, which would be politicizing
our jobs and using trumped-up evidence to try to make him look bad. That was
the one option out of an infinite number of ways we could have pursued
covering his presidency. That was the one thing that could have really
helped him. And we did it. Not only did we do it, but we did it, basically,
to the exclusion of everything else, for years.
3. Stop spreading Russophobic paranoia. Yasha Levine, journalist,
S.H.A.M.E. Project
The thing is that Americas media obsession with the Russian menacethis
idea that Russia is the greatest threat to liberal civilizationpredates the
Mueller investigation. It predates the 2016 election, and it predates Trump.
So this wasnt a sudden mistake about a single investigation, but something
that Americas been moving towards for over a decade. The Russian Menace has
been a lucrative racketpaying the mortgages, car loans, kids college
tuitions, for thousands of think-tankers, military contractors, academics
and journalists.
After Trump, the Russia hysteria hit a new level of paranoia and bigotry.
There was a need to blame Americas domestic political turmoil, and the
failure of its political establishment, on someone or somethingto deflect
responsibility for what happened. So suddenly liberal media began to see
the Russians everywherepart of a shadowy foreign conspiracy to undermine
America from within.
They werent just threatening Europe and NATO. They were in the White House,
in American voting machines, in American electrical grids, in American
childrens cartoons. They were hacking peoples minds. They were controlling
both the international left and the international rightagainst the
respectable political center. Thats how sneaky and devious and cynical they
are. Thats how much they want to destroy Americas liberal democracy.
The Mueller report may provide us some much-needed respite from this
insanity for a few weeks or months, but this focus on the Russian menace
isnt going away any time soon. You can already see Joe Bidens creepy
behavior with women being blamed on a devious Russian plot to help elect
Bernie. So as we get closer to the election, this kind of stuff is gonna
fire up again big time.
To treat this issue as a media problem that we can solve and get right
in the future is a bit too optimistic, in my opinion. It assumes that our
political and media establishment wants to actually get it right. What
does getting it right mean, when they are the problem that needs to be
corrected? To get it right, theyd have to admit that theyve been wrong
not just about Mueller, but about the decades of bankrupt neoliberal
politics theyve been complicit in pushing on America and around the world.
To get it right, our political and media elite would have to voluntarily
deplatform itself. And I dont see that happening anytime soon.
Yasha Levine
4. Talk to people with an actual understanding of history and Russia, not
fake experts and uninformed pundits. Carl Beijer, writer
Its remarkable how often the problems of Russiagate coverage came down to
simple ignorance. From references to Russia as a Communist nation to basic
translation errors, weve seen prominent pundits make mistakes that would
embarrass a grade-school Muscovite.
This was in part a problem of people exaggerating their own credentials, but
it was also a problem of the media deciding that no real expertise was
needed. I dont want to call for academic entry exams, but I think its
clear that the media needs to move in the direction of treating Russian
studies as a field of knowledge like any other. Do you speak the language?
Have you spent more than a few weeks in the country? What and where have you
published? Do you have a directly relevant professional background?
There are so many people who could give extraordinary answers to all of
these questions, so it says everything about Russiagate when you look at who
we heard from instead. From overt operatives to media hacks, corporate news
is now overrun by pundits who function as PR professionals for the major
parties. All of their professional and social incentives compel them to
carry water for their party; if they happen to be right about a given issue,
its purely by accident.
And with Russiagate, we saw the worst-case scenario play out: Republicans,
who will defend Trump over anything, ended up being rightwhile Democrats,
desperate to believe they had caught him in an impeachable crime, got it
wrong. The only way around this problem, as far as I can tell, is to talk to
pundits who are acting against their own political interests.
In this case, there were plenty of people in liberal-left media who clearly
want to see Trump fail, but who were nevertheless Russiagate skeptics. Some
of those voices were just being contrarians, of course, but some of them
were acting from a place of conviction.
5. Dont manipulate the truth to justify war. Rania Khalek, journalist,
host of In the Now
From the start, we were warning people that pushing this evidence-free
conspiracy theory was ultimately going to empower Trump. But even worse, it
actually made the world a more dangerous place. In order to prove he wasnt
in bed with the Russians, the Trump administration pushed some of the most
anti-Russia policies in the post Cold War-era, moving us closer to nuclear
war and increasing the likelihood of more violence in places like Syria,
Venezuela and Ukraine, all to prove that Trump isnt Putins puppet.
This entire affair has also resurrected the careers of the neocons, who,
until Trump came along, were largely disgraced for the horrors they
inflicted on Iraq. Now theyve been embraced by liberals for being
anti-Trump, and they have more influence than ever. Not to mention the new
McCarthyism that frames everything, from the NRA to white nationalism to
even progressive advocacy groups that challenge the Democratic Party, as
agents of the Kremlin, distorting everyones understanding of whats going
on today.
The Russiagate narrative has been a disaster, and its going to continue to
be a disaster, because, despite being proven to be a sham, the corporate
media and the corporate Democrats are still pushing it, distracting everyone
from the real reasons for our miserable status quo.
6. Be skeptical toward government officials and other authorities. Branko
Marcetic, journalist, Jacobin
The media seemed to replace caution and wariness with an overeager credulity
towards those in power or positions of authority, whether it was the
salacious, unproven tales collected by a British spy; the various false and
misleading claims disseminated by mysterious, anonymous government
officials; or perjury-taintedformer intelligence officials asserting that
Trump was being blackmailed or controlled by Putin. They seemed to forget
the lessons of the Iraq War, that these people, too, have their own agendas
and interests.
Given the dangers, and with allegations this wildparticularly the idea that
Trump was wittingly doing Putins bidding, which is what this scandal has
always been aboutthere was always good reason to be extra careful. Instead,
some of those pushing this narrative actually chided people for being too
skeptical.
It also wouldve helped if the press gave weight to countervailing views and
to experts (Russian journalists, coincidentally, never bought into the
scandal), focused less on Trumps Putin-curious rhetoric than on his
administrations actual policies, and resisted the temptation to take an
explicitly nationalistic standpoint when reporting.
Its not too late to salvage the medias reputation, but theyll have to
acknowledge what they got wrong, be transparent about how they plan to
rectify it and prevent a repeat, and have at least some accountability. None
of that seems to be on the menu right now.
7. Focus on the many actual crimes. Esha Krishnaswamy, lawyer, host of
historic.ly podcast
Collusion is a vague word that is not defined as a crime in any federal
statute. There are numerous other Trump crimes to focus on, such as
soliciting contributions from a foreign national, computer fraud, wire
fraud, bribery of a public official, conspiracy to launder money, conspiracy
to defraud the US, or even a violation of the emoluments clause.
We already know that a Saudi official paid for a conference and 500 rooms
in Trump hotels. We know about the bizarre ties with a Turkish
money-laundering case. Jared Kushner tried to get Qatar to bail him out on a
bad building investment, and, when they refused, Trump took aim at Qatar.
Trump cut ties with Qatar after the Saudi crown prince bragged that he had
Jared Kushner in his pocket.
Since war criminals get a free pass, the media may not notice. But genocide
is still illegal under international law (which the US doesnt really
subject itself to) and also under US law. Under 18 USC 1091, transfers by
force children of the group to another group counts are genocide. During
his brutal ICE detentions, Trump separated parents from children, and some
of the children were adopted out.
But focusing on collusion allowed the media to peddle stories related to
Facebook memes instead of talking about the issues, like how our elections
are basically auctions to the highest bidder. Trump and Clinton spent nearly
$2 billion each but instead of covering this, the media focused on whether
or not a random Twitter account with eight followers interfered with bad
memes.
The media ignored the brutal bloodbath in Yemen, the Rohingya situation in
Myanmar. Domestically, they ignored wage stagnation, the rising prescription
drug prices, housing foreclosures, the opioid epidemic.
The media promoted outright bigotry against Russian individuals. Maddow
said, These are the Russians in Davos. Would she have done the same
segment about any other group? These are the Jews in Davos?
They also sparked dangerous foreign policy, subjecting Trump to tests to
prove that he wasnt Putins puppet. Rachel Maddow encouraged NATOs
build-up in Ukraine. Many Democrats continued to encourage Trump to arm Azov
Battalion (Nazis) in Ukraine. The only decent thing Trump tried to do was
build peace with North Korea, and the media fear-mongered about that. As
usual, they chose to push the national security consensus over the truth.
8. Pay attention to whom Trump is actually colluding with. Kyle Kulinski,
host of the Kyle Kulinski Show
Id say the worst example of media fails would be Maddow saying, what if
Russia cut off the electricity to the middle of the country during the polar
vortex. Thats just hysterical fear-mongering. I also hate the conflation of
attacking the country with random low-level troll farms.
Theres also a concerted effort to not discuss the substance of the leaks on
the DNC, and simply dismiss them because the source might be Russia. Would
they do that if the leaks exposed corruption within the RNC? With 100
percent certainty, we can say no. This also gave Trump credibility, because
when he screams fake news in the future, people wont be as quick to
reject it.
The media should focus on policy and how it impacts regular people. If they
did, they wouldve spoken quite a bit about Trumps dealings with predatory
payday lenders. They donated a lot to his inauguration, and recently have
been funneling him money through his golf courses. In return, he dropped an
Obama-era lawsuit against them, and blocked implementation of new
regulations. Theyll now make $7 billion off societys most vulnerable. You
can almost say it was collusion between Trump and the industry. Too bad
MSNBC and CNN dont careand probably dont even knowabout it.
9. Stop fear-mongering and engaging in acceptable bigotry. Jimmy Dore,
comedian, host of the Jimmy Dore Show
When Keith Olbermann pounded his fist on his table, screaming, SCUM!
RUSSIAN SCUM!!! I couldnt help but thinking, thats the only nationality
he could insert there and get away with it. He couldnt scream Mexican
scum or Chinese scum or Indian scum. Russian bigotry is, I think, the
only acceptable bigotry among the liberal media. Totally acceptable to the
liberal media.
Rachel Maddow telling her audience in the middle of a polar vortex that
Russia controls their power grid and could freeze them all to death at a
moments notice was by far the most egregious example of fear-mongering. But
thats not the only bad thing the medias done. Theyre currently pushing
regime-change wars in Syria and Venezuela.
The corporate news will never regain my trust or redeem itself, because they
are owned and funded by the people theyre supposed to be investigating and
exposing, like the richest man in the world, for instance, Jeff Bezos. He
controls 51 percent of all the internet sales in the United States, sits on
a Pentagon board and has a $600 million deal with the CIA. Thats the guy
running the news!
Katie Halper / FAIR
In this article:
Miriam's comment: Katie Halper's Show appears on WBAI and is also a podcast.
#aaron mate #cnn #keith olbermann
