Exposing media corruption

 Mark Judge:

A must-read new book exposes in new, fine-grained detail the corruption of the media. Get hold of Spooked: The Trump Dossier, Black Cube and the Rise of Private Spies by Barry Meier. It digs deep into the diabolical vortex of political spies, opposition researchers and the mainstream media.

Spooked also helped me put the final nail in the coffin of the Christine Blasey Ford hoax. I’ve been writing a series on the Ford fraud for The Stream this past year. The series will be a book.

Spooked packs in a lot of complex detail, but the case it makes is clear. With the rise of political spies and opposition researchers, plus the demise of gatekeepers like honest reporters and editors, there are no guardrails in the media anymore. Anyone can make any claim about anyone, and without any proof the story can make it into the media. There are no more reality checks.

How the Fake News Industry Hatched

Meier describes three hugely consequential changes in how our media work.

1. In the last 30-40 years, political spies and unethical opposition researchers have become dominant political players. These operatives (some of them former journalists) work at intelligence gathering firms. They have replaced editors, PR firms, and other gatekeepers, who once vetted information as true before publishing it. As Meier notes: “Over the past decade, spies for hire have become more emboldened — just as their power to influence events has become more pervasive.
2. Reporters use the information they get from the spies and oppo researchers to publish uncorroborated stories. Without being fact checked or otherwise vetted, these stories feed directly into the bloodstream of the American media. The public gives them credence, assuming they’ve been checked.
3. Journalists and political operatives also help create stories that they then report on as if they are observers. They take an active part in manufacturing the stories which they then report on as news.

One result of this system was the Steele dossier. The dossier, a piece of garbage cooked up by the pro-Clinton spy and oppo research firm Fusion GPS, claimed that President Trump had conspired with the Russians during the 2016 presidential campaign. It also claimed that the president was hanging out with Russian hookers. It has been debunked, and its ashes are set ablaze in Spooked.

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There is more.

Ethics appear to have been abandoned by the mainstream media.  Supposed "facts" that are not, appear to be verified by competing publications.