Reporter Who Wrote Times 'Snowden' Propaganda Admits He's Just Writing What UK Gov't Told Him

[MADem]

35. Fact checking is fine, too. But it's more of a challenge when you agree to quote a source

without attribution, and getting a name, a person, to go on record is apparently what the reporter couldn't get.

FWIW--I like fact checking, I also like it when a reporter can point to an assertion like the climate change one and say "Only one percent of scientists agree with this."

But this story is a little different. There's no "opinion" in what this unattributed source is claiming. This source is saying that the Chinese and the Russians have hacked SNOWDEN's stuff, and they had to get it from one of three--maybe four--obvious sources. Supposedly, Snowden said he gave the stuff to others, too, but I don't remember the full flavor of that end--I think there was an "If anything happens to me...the whole kit-n-kaboodle gets out there." Who knows, maybe he gave copies to Assange, and Assange sold the stuff or "made a deal" (wouldn't be the first time).

I get the sense that this story is chum in the water. It wasn't thrown out there for people to say "Oh, OK, fine, then. thanks so much for clearing that up--we're done!" It was thrown out there to roil the waters, and it has done that.

I think there's a long game at work here. I keep bringing up Dan Rather. He got caught in one. We'll see...!