The real threat of phony leaks (Washington Post)

[Kablooie]

Conservative talk show host Bill Mitchell has hatched an ingenious plot to destroy the credibility of major newspapers.

Bill Mitchell ✔ @mitchellvii
You know what we should do? Start flooding the NYTimes and WAPO tip lines with all kinds of crazy "leaks." Then laugh when they print them!

Simple, right? Mitchell's theory is that the media is so hungry for unflattering information about President Trump that it will gobble up anything that feeds its narrative. When “crazy leaks” make print, Mitchell and his fellow Trump boosters can expose the falsehoods and prove once and for all that the “fake news media,” as the president calls it, is composed of a bunch of hacks.
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Kyle Pope, editor in chief and publisher of the Columbia Journalism Review, said last week that he believes journalists need to be on high alert for attempts to fool them into reporting incorrect info that could damage their reputation.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/the-fix/wp/2017/05/22/the-white-house-is-trying-to-dupe-the-new-york-times-with-phony-leaks/?tid=pm_politics_pop&utm_term=.03bc534b378a

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The upshot is that there will be a lot of fake news being deliberately spread by the right to muddy and confuse the issues as well as to create material to humiliate Democrats with.

Beware what information you disseminate here. If it's not from a reliable mainstream news source be sure to indicate this and if it sounds too good to be true -- well, actually, a lot of the real news is nowadays -- but don't just immediately repost some crazy info that pops up on Facebook. Try to use some judgement because it could be a trap.

[jberryhill]

1. That is indeed a classic tactic

[procon]

2. Another rightwing ignoramus blathering on a subject he knows nothing about.

This is projection. It's exactly how this hairball conservative talk show host makes a living by making up stuff and peddling it to the stupids who want to be hand fed that kind of pablum.

Any competent journalist is going to spend the majority of his time confirming the source's veracity and credible bonafides, and then running down additional sources who can corroborate the information. On the other hand, far too many wacko tales that pop up as "breaking news" on Republican safe websites are based on unfounded rumor, crazy conjecture, wild speculation and hysterical conspiracy theories that are pushed a truths and facts to those who need their fears and bias continually buffed to a high sheen.