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Media slowly figuring out that getting into bed with anti-Trump smear merchant Michael Wolff...
Washington Examiner ^ | 2/1/18 | Becket Adams

Posted on 02/01/2018 1:13:43 PM PST by markomalley

MSNBC’s Mika Brzezinski won scattered praise Thursday morning after she booted author Michael Wolff off "Morning Joe" for refusing to acknowledge his role in spreading the rumor that U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley is having an affair with President Trump.

Hold your applause.

Wolff’s penchant for factually challenged narratives and lurid innuendo was well-known long before the Haley episode. Brzezinski, “Morning Joe” co-host Joe Scarborough, and everyone else in media who made Wolff’s new book, Fire and Fury: Inside the Trump White House, a top-trending news story simply didn’t care. They either overlooked the author’s history of fabulism or they dismissed it outright.

Many even excused the factual errors in Fire and Fury as they promoted it.

In reference to a particular anecdote that was shown to be inaccurate, Brzezinski said, “The spirit of it was completely true."

“Morning Joe” guest John Heilemann, a self-styled D.C. insider who managed somehow to remain oblivious to his work partner’s long and storied history of sexual misconduct, said of Fire and Fury that, “It does ring true to a lot of people who've reported closely on this White House, including me.”

Scarborough explicitly downplayed the book’s significant errors, reasoning that, "It's not a front-page story for the New York Times or the Washington Post. It's a much bigger picture."

"Criticism of Michael's book, though, is that he doesn't get everything exactly right. That's what happens when you interview 1,000 different people, and everybody comes from their own version," Scarborough added.

MSNBC’s Katy Tur said elsewhere, “Here's the thing about the book. I read it. A lot of the stuff did read as – did feel true."

There’s "a lot of it that reads true, that feels true,” she added.

Over at CNN historian Douglas Brinkley said of Wolff’s new work that, “Some of it may be hyperbole or exaggeration, but the overall portrait rings true to an awful lot of people."

CNN host Brian Stelter added, "There's disappointment about the errors that are in the text, but the book itself does hold up.”

As “Fake But Accurate” made its return to newsrooms eager to promote the book, Wolff himself became the toast of the town, the featured guest on programs like the “Today” show, “The Late Show with Stephen Colbert,” and “Real Time With Bill Maher.”

But now that he’s out playing coy about whether he insinuated that Haley is having an affair with the president, well, that’s a bridge too far for some.

It was okay when Wolff’s book only suggested the president was mentally insane. It was okay when it was found to contain multiple obvious falsehoods. Brzezinski could look past all that, apparently. Never mind Wolff’s history of slipshod and dishonest journalism. Trump must be resisted!

Brzezinski will likely have company in denouncing Wolff. Others will likely jump ship. But when that time comes, resist the urge to award kudos.

These people all knew what they were getting into with this author.


TOPICS: Editorial; Politics/Elections
KEYWORDS: media; msm; wolff
Full headline: Media slowly figuring out that getting into bed with anti-Trump smear merchant Michael Wolff was maybe a bad idea
1 posted on 02/01/2018 1:13:43 PM PST by markomalley
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To: markomalley
"was maybe a bad idea "

But cheap gossip is basically all they know. If they couldn't lie and slander, what else would they do?
2 posted on 02/01/2018 1:20:00 PM PST by Telepathic Intruder
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To: markomalley

This is the genius of Trump; people lose their minds and their composure because of their anger towards him.


3 posted on 02/01/2018 1:21:48 PM PST by Repealthe17thAmendment
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To: markomalley

Good thing Hillary associated herself with it at the Grammys.


4 posted on 02/01/2018 1:22:28 PM PST by cincinnati65
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To: markomalley
It goes to show how far we've fallen. Even in 2004, Dan Rather, one of the most powerful on-screen personalities in the history of TV journalism, almost instantly lost his job over this kind of crap. In 2018, it's just part of the "resistance."

Who knew we would be looking back at Bush's presidency only a decade later and thinking he had it easy with the media.
5 posted on 02/01/2018 1:22:41 PM PST by The Pack Knight
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To: markomalley
A lot of the stuff did read as – did feel true."...There’s "a lot of it that reads true, that feels true,” she added.

Feelings..............nothing more than feelings............

6 posted on 02/01/2018 1:23:36 PM PST by Red Badger (Wanna surprise? Google your own name. Wanna have fun? Google your friends names......)
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To: markomalley
It's the journalistic version of the "walk of shame".

The next morning when you wake and see the sleazeball in bed beside you, and can't get out of there fast enough.

Used to be "fake but accurate" was good enough, at least marginally. Now it's just FAKE and that's definitely not good enough.

I predict Wolfe's book will skip the discount rack and go straight to the dumpster.

7 posted on 02/01/2018 1:26:53 PM PST by ZOOKER (Until further notice the /s is implied...)
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To: cincinnati65

Yep, that discredited book is officially endorsed by the Clintons and other assorted liberal Democrat anarchist types. Let’s always remember that. They can’t back off now and say this guy is full of it. No, it doesn’t work that way. They welcomed him and endorsed his book and gave him credence. They can’t back off from that.

And if the media say, well, we were fooled or duped, or this guy misrepresented his stories?? IN such case, then, we should ask, what does that say about the media, that they don’t fact check or corroborate or do any actual investigative reporting, before they run with a story??? I would love to hear the liberal media and Democrat answer to that.


8 posted on 02/01/2018 1:27:41 PM PST by Dilbert San Diego
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To: markomalley

What ought to be applauded and praised is God.

The modern conservative movement often acts like it knows everything important there is to know about God. But no, it doesn’t. It knows very little about how far God’s heart can go. The modern left burgeoned as much as it did because it promised to fill the heart hole, while conservatives were busy sounding like the so called holy men in the parable of the good Samaritan. Now conservatives weren’t utter curmudgeons. They did donate more to charities. But it still was largely as unto man rather than as unto God. To be spilled out and wasted for God wasn’t in many of their venaculars.

Let’s all unpinch our souls and give God glory when He moves, even a little. Encourage all such motions as this, and we will see more. When Donald Trump hailed God to bless America the other day, let it not be in vain. He is still loving his enemies even while calling them to account.


9 posted on 02/01/2018 1:33:55 PM PST by HiTech RedNeck (Tryin' hard to win the No-Bull Prize.)
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To: Dilbert San Diego

Art of the Deal..

Even bad press is good..when it turns out that you were right..

after awhile people will ignore the negative press if your right more than they are


10 posted on 02/01/2018 1:36:57 PM PST by Hojczyk
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To: Dilbert San Diego

Their idea of fact-checking is to call up each other on the phone and vouch for each other’s stories.

That just makes the pile of bull____ higher!


11 posted on 02/01/2018 1:40:55 PM PST by cgbg (Hidden behind the social justice warrior mask is corruption and sexual deviance.)
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To: cincinnati65

That book to Hillary is wishful thinking. And, her associating herself with the book is another example of her political tone deafness.


12 posted on 02/01/2018 1:41:37 PM PST by EDINVA
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To: markomalley

Too little, too late Crazy Mika...her hatred, lies, insanity and bias was on display long before the Wolff book.


13 posted on 02/01/2018 1:42:24 PM PST by tina07 (In loving memory of my father,WWII Vet. CBI 10/16/42-12/17/45, d. 11/1/85)
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To: markomalley

Does this mean that Hillary doesn’t win a grammy for repeating the lies in his book?


14 posted on 02/01/2018 1:44:01 PM PST by 1Old Pro
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To: tina07
Too little, too late Crazy Mika...her hatred, lies, insanity and bias was on display long before the Wolff book.

ABSOLUTELY. Crazy Mika ALERT!

15 posted on 02/01/2018 2:14:45 PM PST by PGalt
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To: HiTech RedNeck
Good luck; Diogenes...



16 posted on 02/01/2018 3:27:17 PM PST by Elsie (Heck is where people, who don't believe in Gosh, think they are not going...)
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To: markomalley

If Michael Wolffe realy wants to become famous he should start dishing dirt on the Obamas. The MSM will eat that stuff up! LOL!


17 posted on 02/02/2018 1:22:40 AM PST by Cowboy Bob ("Other People's Money" = The life blood of Liberalism)
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