The Russia Story Is a Minefield for the Media

[DonViejo]

The Russia Story Is a Minefield for the Media

March 9, 2017 By Taegan Goddard

Matt Taibbi: “If there’s any truth to the notion that the Trump campaign colluded with the Russian state to disrupt the electoral process, then yes, what we’re seeing now are the early outlines of a Watergate-style scandal that could topple a presidency.”

“But it could also be true that both the Democratic Party and many leading media outlets are making a dangerous gamble, betting their professional and political capital on the promise of future disclosures that may not come.”

“We have to remember that the unpopularity of the press was a key to Trump’s election. Journalists helped solve the billionaire’s accessibility problem by being a more hated group than the arrogant rich. Trump has people believing he shares a common enemy with them: the news media. When we do badly, he does well.”

“We can’t afford to bolster these accusations of establishment bias and overreach by using the techniques of conspiracy theorists to push this Russia story. Unfortunately, that is happening… Reporters should be scared to their marrow by this story. This is a high-wire act and it is a very long way down.”

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https://politicalwire.com/2017/03/09/russia-story-minefield-media/

[Eliot Rosewater]

1. Wait, Matt, are you saying that reporters should be SCARED AWAY from this story?

Sounds like that is what you are suggesting.

I mean sure, there is a 0.0000000000001% chance there is nothing to see her, so yeah, walk away from it.

Havent trusted Matt for a long time and I used to.

[brooklynite]

7. I think he's saying: be responsible journalists...

Cable News in particular tries to fill 24 hours of air time by breathlessly reporting every rumor or unproved allegation and then endlessly discussing it (consider the "golden sahowers" story). The media should be careful about the reporting side until they've got evidence to back it up.

[JHan]

2. Hm, it would help if the author pointed out which bits of reporting has been either unsubstantiated

,reeks of poor journalism or an example of overreach. The reporting by WaPo and NY Times has forced the Trump administration to admit to things they previously lied about. What is the right way to report the steady drip drip ? Ignore it all?

[Girard442]

3. This is shaping up to be a "Big Truth"

The mirror image of the "Big Lie." It's the truth whose consequences are so horrible to confront that most won't believe it, no matter how much supporting evidence there is.

[Eyeball_Kid]

8. It's WAY bigger than Watergate. Not even in the same ballpark.

[bigbrother05]

4. Suggesting a Dan Rather outcome

Don't overplay your hand without it being locked down.

Dan was right, but got burned anyway. The GOP are expert rat f'ers.

[oasis]

11. +1

[KittyWampus]

5. Taibbi is a fool writing to an audience. Sorry, never a fan. Why doesn't he have some guts

and investigate THIS story? No, it's easier trashing Democrats.

[Eyeball_Kid]

6. IMO, Taibbi is both right and wrong.

He's underestimating the full impact of a Trump-Russia collusion, as the evidence will bear out. This story is much bigger than Watergate, which was a domestic affair from which the US recovered with the help of passing a few laws.

Yes, the political culture changed for a generation, but THIS scandal is by degrees of magnitude far greater. It suggests that the integrity of the nation and the Constitution are in tatters, and at the present pace in which a course correction is running, the nation may not react quickly enough to survive.

Without the free press, we become a satellite of Russia, we transition into an authoritarian fascist state, and/or we disintegrate as a country. Journalism was never more urgently needed. Taibbi, however, seems to be pulling back, protecting something. He knows where this story goes, but denies or downplays the legitimacy of the evidence as gathered thus far. For who's benefit? The evidence now is of the "looks like a duck, quacks like a duck" variety. Trumpy not only got caught with his hand in the cookie jar, but there are cookie crumbs all over his fat face and all down his mile-long tie, and he still queries, "Who, me? What'd I do?"

[LanternWaste]

9. If a given story is accurate, allow the idiots their despair and alleged concern without regard.

Science doesn't care whether we believe in it or not... much as accuracy doesn't care whether we commercially brand it or not. If a given story is accurate, allow the idiots their despair and alleged concern without regard.

[OKNancy]

10. Taibbi's past pro-Putin

pro Milosevic writings turned me off to him. Never care what that jerk has to say.