Washington Post pulls some stories based on Steele dossier
Fox News contributor Joe Concha on the Washington Post correcting and retracting two stories regarding the Steele dossier.
The Washington Post corrected and removed large chunks of its own reporting on the discredited Steele dossier on Friday, but Americans who rely on CNN’s media program "Reliable Sources" for information would be clueless because ratings-challenged host Brian Stelter shockingly ignored it.
The ironically named "Reliable Sources" claims to examine the top media stories every Sunday, but the Washington Post adding editor’s notes, amending headlines and removing sections of two major reports didn’t make the cut for Stelter. The Post’s correction came as other news outlets, including Stelter’s CNN, have been criticized for failing to adjust reporting after Special Counsel John Durham’s investigation into the Trump-Russia probe further discredited the already-shaky dossier.
WASHINGTON POST CORRECTS, REMOVES REPORTING THAT RELIED ON DISCREDITED ANTI-TRUMP STEELE DOSSIER
Brian Stelter’s "Reliable Sources" drew only 645,000 viewers last week for its smallest audience of the year. (Photo by Kevin Mazur/Getty Images for CNN) (Kevin Mazur)
Stelter’s "Reliable Sources," which drew only 645,000 viewers last week for its smallest audience of the year, has a long history of ignoring media scandals and stories that would make Democrats and liberal news organizations look bad. Instead of covering the Post’s massive and significant corrections, Stelter treated viewers to segments on the "information disorder," Brian Williams leaving MSNBC, Steve Bannon’s podcast, whether or not Americans should believe inflation headlines, American journalist Danny Fenster being jailed in Myanmar, Britney Spears and a local newspaper fighting to survive.
It’s unclear why Stelter would avoid such a significant media story on his program that claims to cover the media industry. Perhaps he avoided informing viewers of the news because CNN anchor Pamela Brown repeated the Post’s now-retracted reporting as if it were a fact on November 16, 2017.
CNN did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The Post’s own media reporter even covered the bombshell corrections that his own employer decided were necessary to maintain any journalistic credibility.
Brian Stelter didn’t inform viewers of the Washington Post’s bombshell corrections.
"The Washington Post on Friday took the unusual step of correcting and removing large portions of two articles, published in March 2017 and February 2019, that had identified a Belarusian American businessman as a key source of the ‘Steele dossier,’ a collection of largely unverified reports that claimed the Russian government had compromising information about then-candidate Donald Trump," Post media reporter Paul Farhi wrote.
"The newspaper’s executive editor, Sally Buzbee, said The Post could no longer stand by the accuracy of those elements of the story. It had identified businessman Sergei Millian as ‘Source D,’ the unnamed figure who passed on the most salacious allegation in the dossier to its principal author, former British intelligence officer Christopher Steele," Farhi continued.
"Source D, according to the dossier, alleged that Russian intelligence had learned that Trump had hired Russian prostitutes to defile a Moscow hotel room once occupied by President Obama and Michelle Obama and possessed a video recording of the incident," Farhi wrote. "The allegation, which the dossier said was confirmed by a second person described only as ‘Source E,’ has never been substantiated."
Brian Stelter’s show regularly skips media scandals and stories that would make Democrats and liberal news organizations look bad. (Photo by David Becker/Getty Images)
The dossier – which was commissioned by a research firm hired by a Hillary Clinton campaign lawyer – provided CNN endless content and helped set the tone for years of intense Russiagate coverage pushed by the liberal media.
Durham indicted Russian national Igor Danchenko, who is believed to be the sub-source for Steele, who compiled the dossier. He pleaded not guilty Wednesday to making false statements about the source of information that he provided to Steele.
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"Buzbee said the indictment and new reporting by the newspaper has ‘created doubts’ about Millian’s alleged involvement. The new reporting included an interview with one of the original sources in its 2017 article, who now is uncertain that Millian was Source D, she said. ‘We feel we are taking the most transparent approach possible’ to set the record straight, she said," Farhi wrote.
"The newspaper removed references to Millian as Steele’s source in online and archived versions of the original articles," Farhi added. "The stories themselves won’t be retracted. A dozen other Post stories that made the same assertion were [sic] also be corrected and amended."
Fox News’ Andrew Kugle contributed to this report.