WTF MSM!? NBC reporter caught in SCOTUS FAKE NEWS hot take

Irresponsible …

Not saying … Yesterday, the morning after President Donald Trump nominated Judge Brett Kavanaugh to the Supreme Court, NBC reporter Leigh Ann Caldwell deleted a tweet claiming Justice Kennedy only resigned after knowing Trump would pick Kavanaugh. She reported this with only one source. It received well over 1,500 retweets and spread like wildfire through the digital news ecosystem. She claimed it was a transactional deal between Kennedy and the White House.

Caldwell is now reporting that Kennedy provided the White House with a list of people he thought should replace him and that Kavanaugh was one. This was shoddy reporting. It pushed a narrative that is not provable. Yes, Caldwell retracted, but as Fox News explains, the damage had been done.

WaPo duped by satire site … This is just embarrassing. Yesterday, the Washington Post was duped by satire site ClickHole. In an article about efforts to make Green Day’s “American Idiot” top the charts in the U.K. ahead of a Trump visit, the Post used ClickHole’s article on the meaning of the song. They’ve retracted.

The Onion, a sister publication to ClickHole, tweeted:

Bravo.

Paging New Jersey … Recently I shared with you how the state of New Jersey has allocated $5 million to fund local news in the state. I warned that with government funding comes government control. Here’s a story from the U.K. that shows what can happen.

The BBC, which is state-owned, has set up a fund to hire reporters to help cover local beats. In one instance, a local official blackballed the reporter, and the editor of the newspaper changed stories to placate the official. This is what happens with state control: The government controls the narrative. It isn’t a free press. It’s strings attached.

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Today’s links …  Here are some of the things I’ve been reading.

• Daily Beast: NY Times executive editor: Yes, we did too many Alan Dershowitz stories
• CJR: A news outlet is suing the NYPD for the Trump family’s gun permits
• NewsBusters: Seinfeld and Galifianakis agree on ‘Comedians in Cars Getting Coffee’: ‘Nothing liberal about shutting someone up’
• New York Times Magazine: Profile of Michael Avenatti
• Creators Syndicate: Bozell & Graham: The media vs. Brett Kavanaugh
• NewsBusters: MSNBC Kavanaugh coverage: 27 guests, ZERO conservatives
• The Verge: Star Wars Episode IX will reportedly feature Billy Dee Williams as Lando Calrissian

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