Pro-Trump operatives are waging war against the press by searching for problematic social media posts
New York(CNN Business) A version of this article first appeared in the "Reliable Sources" newsletter. You can sign up for free right here.
It hasn't exactly been a secret. For those who have paid attention over the last year, it's appeared quite clear that pro-Trump operatives have launched an effort to attack news organizations by digging up problematic comments its own journalists have made in the past.
But this effort has largely been ignored by the press — until now. On Sunday afternoon, NYT's Ken Vogel and Jeremy Peters reported on the "aggressive operation to discredit news organizations." As Vogel and Peters put it, "It is the latest step in a long-running effort by Mr. Trump and his allies to undercut the influence of legitimate news reporting." Read their full story here...
How it works
The operatives have been digging through the social media histories of personnel — no matter their rank or actual influence — who work at top news outlets. When the operatives find something on a journalist and choose to deploy the material, the comments are publicized and used to characterize the organization the journalist works at as a whole.
Who is involved
According to the NYT, one of the "central players" is Arthur Schwartz, a political operative who counts Donald Trump Jr. as a good friend. Trump Jr. and others associated with him have promoted these attacks on reporters. The W.H. press office told NYT that its personnel and Trump were unaware of the operation. The Trump campaign also claimed to be unaware of it. Both of which I must say are interesting claims given that it's been pretty evident to anyone with two eyes what has been going on over the last several months...
>> Of note: The Daily Beast's Maxwell Tani was way out in front on this story. Back in January, he published this story: "How Trump Jr.'s Fixer Arthur Schwartz Wages War Against the Media..."
How sophisticated is the operation?
A lot of this is not complicated work. It seems the operatives are largely just using advanced search on Twitter and plugging in key terms that could return problematic comments. Last week, it was comments from a night editor on the politics desk at NYT. Before, it has included journalists at CNN and WaPo.
But, as The Daily Beat's Will Sommer noted, the claim in NYT's story that the operatives had found "firing-worthy tweets from 'hundreds' of people in the media seems extremely fake." As Sommer explained, "So far, they've taken down a couple of relatively little-known people who weren't directly involved in covering Trump. Not exactly a fearsome oppo gang!"
Why publish unverified information?
I did find one paragraph in NYT's story to be extremely odd. The paragraph said: "It is not possible to independently assess the claims about the quantity or potential significance of the material the pro-Trump network has assembled. Some involved in the operation have histories of bluster and exaggeration. And those willing to describe its techniques and goals may be trying to intimidate journalists or their employers."
So I wondered: Why then publish some of these details? NYT seems to be admitting in that paragraph that it has not verified some of the information it includes in its story, and that the anonymous sources who provided the information are perhaps unreliable and have motivation to deceive. Indeed, they do have a strong motivation.
I asked a NYT spokesperson about this. The NYT spokesperson replied that the paper was "confident in the accuracy" of its reporting...
Sulzberger: "We have been attacked and threatened before"
NYT publisher A.G. Sulzberger addressed the "assault" in a memo to staff on Sunday. "Unable to challenge the accuracy of our reporting, political operatives have been scouring social media and other sources to find any possibly embarrassing information on anyone associated with The Times, no matter their rank, role or actual influence on our journalism," Sulzberger wrote. "Their goal is to silence critics and undermine the public's faith in independent journalism."
Sulzberger thanked journalists "who brave this type of pressure daily to bring essential information to the public." Sulzberger added, "We have been attacked and threatened before, and we know how to do our jobs under fire. So our response is the same as always. We will continue to cover this administration like any other: fairly, aggressively and fearlessly, wherever the facts lead."
CNN: "Something very dangerous"
A spokesperson for CNN, which has also been attacked, told NYT that when those in government "and those working on their behalf, threaten and retaliate against reporters as a means of suppression, it's a clear abandonment of democracy for something very dangerous."
Good points from Serwer and Poniewozik
This is spot on. "A strategy like this hinges entirely on media outlets' willingness to be manipulated by bad fath actors," Adam Serwer tweeted.
NYT's James Poniewozik had a similar point. "I've said before, you could avoid so many problems in journalism if news outlets just had one rule: never make any decisions based on worries about 'perception.' If you followed that rule, a scheme like this would be toothless, and the people doing it would know that."
Meantime, in France...
"At the Group of Seven meeting in Biarritz, France, there are, in effect, two different summits under way—one that's happening in President Donald Trump's mind, and another that is actually happening on the ground; there's the summit Trump is trying to will into existence, and the summit unfolding in real time," Peter Nicholas writes for The Atlantic...
Macron "knows Trump likes made for TV moments"
CNN national security analyst Samantha Vinograd emails: "It looks like Trump got french fried on this — Javad Zarif dropped into the G7 with reportedly little advance warning. Emmanuel Macron is trying to play mediator here, and he knows Trump likes made for TV moments and historic handshakes. That may have been part of his thinking as he tries to build a French connection between Iran and Trump..."
Trump-Macron presser on Monday
This ought to be interesting: Trump and Macron will hold a joint presser Monday at 9:30 a.m. ET, at the same time the US stock markets are opening...
FOR THE RECORD
-- On the one-year anniversary of John McCain's death, WaPo looked at how John S. McCain IV (known as "Jack") is "wrestling with his past and his future..." (WaPo)
-- John Ziegler is writing a series of columns about "how media paved the way for Trump." The column published Saturday about how conservative media "sells out" is worth a read... (Mediaite)
-- Read more of Sunday's "Reliable Sources" newsletter... And subscribe here to receive future editions in your inbox...
-- Jonathan Swan's Sunday evening scoop is wild: According to Swan's sources, Trump has suggested nuking hurricanes as they form in the Atlantic... (Axios)
