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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsWhy BuzzFeed teamed with a far-right figure to break the John Conyers scandal
By Paul Farhi November 21 at 1:25 PM
Journalism can make for strange bedfellows. Case in point: BuzzFeed and Mike Cernovich.
Cernovich a controversial far-right figure who has promoted blatantly false conspiracy theories, such as the discredited Pizzagate hoax was the source of a big BuzzFeed scoop Monday night. The popular news and features website reported that legendary liberal Rep. John Conyers Jr. (D-Mich.) made repeated sexual advances toward female staffers and secretly reached a financial settlement with one accuser. The story was based largely on documents and affidavits supplied by Cernovich to BuzzFeeds reporters.
The BuzzFeed-Cernovich collaboration is odd, to say the least something like Michael Moore dropping damning info about President Trump to Fox News. Even that doesnt quite capture the jagged journalistic history of Cernovich, whom 60 Minutes described earlier this year in a story about fake news as a magnet for readers with a taste for stories with no basis in fact.
The partnership appears to have come with a hidden facet: Cernovich seems to have acquired the congressional documents after offering to pay $10,000 for them.The offer was made in a series of now-deleted tweets last week. I will pay $10,000 for the details of these settlements. Cash or Bitcoin or check or whatever you want, he tweeted.
Cernovich declined Tuesday to say whether he actually paid anyone; he also said he didnt know whether BuzzFeed knew about his offer. (BuzzFeed didnt immediately return a request for comment on that element of the arrangement.)
more
https://www.washingtonpost.com/lifestyle/style/why-buzzfeed-teamed-with-a-far-right-figure-to-break-the-john-conyers-scandal/2017/11/21/64688b2a-ceca-11e7-9d3a-bcbe2af58c3a_story.html
Wwcd
(6,288 posts)He's been out in front of this before others knew what the stakes were.
http://thehill.com/policy/technology/211607-franken-net-neutrality-is-first-amendment-issue-of-our-time?amp
July 08, 2014 - 04:08 PM EDT
Franken: Net neutrality is 'First Amendment issue of our time'
SNIP
Sen. Al Franken (D-Minn.)
"It is absolutely the First Amendment issue of our time," Franken said at a Capitol Hill forum sponsored by the advocacy group Free Press.
"Do we want deep-pocketed corporations controlling what information you get at what speed?" he added.
Franken, who has been a critical supporter of the concept of net neutrality, said that other members of Congress simply don't understand the way the Internet works.
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More at link
Kirk Lover
(3,608 posts)names being 'scooped' and released???
Wwcd
(6,288 posts)Replying to @evenbev and 19 others
Surprise, surprise look at all the Russian/Ukrainian bots pushing the Franken smear. Wonder why?
Replying to @evenbev and 19 others
BINGO!
Funny the timing of allegations against @SenFranken
He has been the most effective & ardent supporter of open & free Internet
I call bullshit!
Mark Ruffalo
@MarkRuffalo
Taking away #NetNeutrality is the Authoritarian dream. Consolidating information into the hands of a few controlled by a few. Dangerous territory.
https://mobile.twitter.com/MarkRuffalo
Senator Patty Murray
Senator Patty Murray
@PattyMurray
#NetNeutrality is critical to ensuring the internet remains a place where people can come together, make their voices heard, & make change. We have to fight back.
1:23 PM · Nov 21, 2017
https://mobile.twitter.com/PattyMurray/status/933053150205960192
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What is Conyers' position on Net Neutrality? Does he hold a position of power to fight against Trump's plan to diminish the 1st Amendment?
They are going after the US Constitution itself. Remember, Putin doesn't allow free speech in Russia, so to make the US in Russia's image, they must eliminate the threat by the likes of Franken, Murray etc.
This is what they do.