'Weaponized gossip': RT looks at MSM use of anonymous sources to spread false info

 

RT

The Washington Post has warned journalists to act responsibly when handling independent sources, offering them a quick crash course in Journalism 101 to avoid being caught publishing fake news that could swing the 2020 elections. 

“Don’t publish weaponized gossip. Verify relentlessly. Nail down, and emphasize, the source of the hack and its motivation. And be transparent with news consumers,” the Post's Margaret Sullivan wrote this week, warning that failure to comply with basic principles of the profession could lead them to being “'the de facto instrument'” of a foreign adversary’s fondest hopes.”

But as RT’s Caleb Maupin discovered, the mass media in the US are more than happy to be serving as instruments of the American government.

“Anonymous sources seem to be a big trend when it comes to inside scoops inside the White House,” Maupin says, noting that mainstream media are the very “definition of weaponized gossip.”

WATCH the full report.

Read more