General Discussion

highplainsdem

(49,045 posts) Wed Oct 18, 2017, 08:24 AM Oct 2017

Heads-up on RW buzz about a fishy John Solomon article from The Hill linking Clinton, Russia, FBI

Just wanted to give a heads-up about this in case it shows up in your social media feeds...and please check the background on the article's main author which I just edited this OP to add.

This is the article

http://thehill.com/policy/national-security/355749-fbi-uncovered-russian-bribery-plot-before-obama-administration?amp

which has been updated since its initial publication to include some fairly trivial documentation.

The title pretty much summarizes it: "FBI uncovered Russian bribery plot before Obama administration approved controversial nuclear deal with Moscow."

The background of one of the two authors is VERY relevant here.

John Solomon was for a time the executive editor of the RW Washington Times. Before he worked for The Hill, he was the "chief creative officer" for RW Circa News, for which he "wrote and published a number of political articles, often defending the Trump administration and Michael Flynn."

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_F._Solomon

He's apparently taken that RW bias to The Hill.

Articles at The Hill are usuallly brief and carefully sourced with links to articles elsewhere, or press releases or public documents or social media posts.

This article was VERY unusual for The Hill -- extremely long, extremely biased as a hit piece aimed at the Clintons, President Obama, Eric Holder, and Comey and the FBI. It read like something you'd find at Breitbart or the Daily Caller.

He's added some documentation this morning, possibly after hearing that the story doesn't appear to have any valid sources. But a keyword search I just did revealed that there's no mention of either Bill or Hillary Clinton in the documents.

But RWers are screaming about this, insisting this is the REAL story of collusion with Russia.

And they have someone with ties to RW media -- someone biased enough to defend Michael Flynn -- who wrote the story for what many might consider an objective mainstream source.

Reader beware.

__

Editing to add more background on Solomon, this from the Columbia Journalism Review in 2012:

Then again, Solomon has a history of bending the truth to his storyline. As a reporter for the AP and The Washington Post, he dug up his share of genuine dirt, but he also was notorious for massaging facts to conjure phantom scandals. In 2006, for instance, Solomon and fellow AP writer Sharon Theimer tried to tie now-Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid to disgraced super-lobbyist Jack Abramoff. The piece hinged on a series of meetings Reid had with Abramoff’s staff to discuss a pending minimum-wage bill and gifts from Abramoff associates who opposed several casino-expansion projects. What it failed to mention is that Reid stuck to his longstanding position on both issues—meaning that any implications of influence peddling were bogus. In response to a similarly flawed story, then-Washington Post ombudsman Deborah Howell later dubbed Solomon’s style “‘gotcha’ without the gotcha.” This magazine, too, has taken him to task more than once for distorting facts and hyping petty stories. Similarly, reporters who worked under Solomon as an editor—seven of whom were interviewed for this article—say he often pressured them to mold the truth to his vision of the story. “He had this sort of thesis or idea of what the story was,” says one Center staff member. “Facts be damned.”

Emphasis added.

30 replies

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Highlight:

Heads-up on RW buzz about a fishy John Solomon article from The Hill linking Clinton, Russia, FBI (Original Post) highplainsdem Oct 2017 OP

Kicking for visibility after editing the OP to add more background on Solomon. highplainsdem Oct 2017 #1

I'd call it a tactical error but for one thing gratuitous Oct 2017 #2

Fortunately the MSM seems to be steering clear of Solomon's reporting, for good reason highplainsdem Oct 2017 #12

I think anybody with any experience in journalism can be a contributor to The Hill. octoberlib Oct 2017 #3

Interesting! Thanks for the info! Solomon is actually part of The Hill's staff, though -- highplainsdem Oct 2017 #11

Omg, didn't know that. I'll keep that in mind from now on when reading anything from that site. octoberlib Oct 2017 #17

Another DU thread on John Solomon: highplainsdem Oct 2017 #4

Thanks for the research! octoberlib Oct 2017 #5

You're welcome! The story had seemed off to me as soon as I saw it yesterday, but I didn't highplainsdem Oct 2017 #7

Thank you! sarah FAILIN Oct 2017 #6

You're welcome! And thanks for telling me this thread has already been useful! highplainsdem Oct 2017 #8

He's too late, the Intercept already beat him to the Blue_Tires Oct 2017 #9

The Hill looks like a more respectable source, though, unless you know Solomon's biases and highplainsdem Oct 2017 #10

This is simple, Barack and Hillary are patriots, so anything that says otherwise is a fucking lie. Eliot Rosewater Oct 2017 #27

Sounds like something very damaging to DOTARD is about to drop! NT fleur-de-lisa Oct 2017 #13

They are all fired up about this as it involves Russia and Comey, Mueller, McCabe, and Rosenstein inwiththenew Oct 2017 #14

They want Rosenstein and Mueller fired for this. highplainsdem Oct 2017 #18

Here's Sara Carter's version of the story at Circa. Victoria Toensing is involved - surprise! highplainsdem Oct 2017 #15

Grassley is now citing this report to ask Sessions to investigate. highplainsdem Oct 2017 #16

Clinton was the target of Russia's war crime--see? Collusion! n/t librechik Oct 2017 #19

"Clinton exists on same planet as Russia" would be enough evidence of collusion for some RWers. highplainsdem Oct 2017 #20

yep. repeated twice an hour on FoxNews. librechik Oct 2017 #21

At least. highplainsdem Oct 2017 #23

Btw, Solomon's approach to journalism is similar to Flynn's approach to intelligence: highplainsdem Oct 2017 #22

My sister sent me this. I sent her a link to Snopes.com ... eppur_se_muova Oct 2017 #24

Thanks! I see Snopes updated that page to mention Solomon's article, and they point out highplainsdem Oct 2017 #25

K&R n/t GaryCnf Oct 2017 #26

THANK YOU a million times over. I saw this article. LisaM Oct 2017 #28

Why would "The Hill" allow it to be published? AJT Oct 2017 #29

kick highplainsdem Oct 2017 #30

highplainsdem

(49,045 posts)

1. Kicking for visibility after editing the OP to add more background on Solomon.