Media

How The Media Is Duping Readers With ‘Anonymous Sources’

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Amber Athey Podcast Columnist
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The media is using a sneaky trick to obfuscate who is serving as the “anonymous sources” in their reporting.

On Monday, Michael Cohen’s attorney Lanny Davis admitted to BuzzFeed News that he was one of the anonymous sources cited in CNN’s reckless reporting on the 2016 Trump Tower meeting. (RELATED: CNN Still Stands By Trump Tower Story Despite Lanny Davis Admitting He Lied To Them) 

In addition to debunking key parts of CNN’s reporting, Davis also inadvertently revealed how CNN duped its readers into believing Davis wasn’t a source for the story.

While Davis served as an anonymous source, CNN also allowed him to decline a comment on the record. This leads readers to believe that the only communication CNN had with Davis was for him to refuse to comment on the story — even though he was one of the sources feeding CNN the story in the first place.

Politico reporter Marc Caputo explained the duplicitous nature of such an arrangement.

Other reporters sounded off on the “remarkable” development in the story.

The Washington Post made the same tricky move in their “confirmation” of CNN’s July 27 report, telling readers that Davis “declined comment” despite later admitting that Davis had confirmed the story on background.

To WaPo’s credit, they covered Davis’ backtracking on the Trump Tower story. CNN has yet to update their original reporting or write a separate article covering Davis’ many contradictory claims.

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