Three major stories in political media were revealed this week to have serious flaws.
Russian Hackers Didn’t Actually Target Wisconsin And California’s Voting Systems
The Department of Homeland Security stated last Friday that Russian hackers tried to hack into the voting systems of 21 states including Wisconsin and California.
But DHS backtracked this week, stating that hackers targeted the California Department of Technology and the Wisconsin Department of Workforce Development but not voting systems in those states.
“Either they were right on Friday and this is a cover up, or they were wrong on Friday and we deserve an apology,” Mark Thomsen, chairman of Wisconsin’s Elections Commission, said Tuesday. Read TheDC’s full report here.
No, ‘Fake News’ Didn’t Dominate Twitter During The Election
Several news outlets reported that users saw more fake news than real news on Twitter leading up to the election. But those reports were seriously flawed and misleading.
The report the outlets all cited made that claim about “junk news — not fake news. The study’s definition of “junk news” included right-of-center sites like Breitbart and the Washington Examiner, TheDC reported Friday.
Media reporting then further the twisted study’s smear of legitimate news outlets as “junk news” into reports of “fake news.” Read TheDC’s full report here.
Media Falsely Report That Jared Kushner Registered To Vote As A Woman
Several media outlets falsely reported that White House adviser Jared Kushner had accidentally registered to vote as a woman. Liberal opposition research groups fed reporters the false info based on a search using research tool Lexis Nexis.
But despite the breathless reporting on the subject, Kushner was in fact registered as a male. Read TheDC’s full report here.