Politico had to issue a “clarification” on a Tuesday piece that attacked Murdoch-owned outlets for questioning the common media narrative about Russian collusion.
The piece mainly centered on the Wall Street Journal and its recent editorial and opinion pieces that “shift attention away from the president.” The WSJ editorial board wrote last week that Special Counsel Robert Mueller should resign, a contributor wrote on Sunday that Trump should issue a blanket pardon in the Russia investigation, and WSJ has asked for an investigation into Democratic ties to Russia in the wake of the Trump dossier.
In Politico’s attempt to bash the WSJ for representing these opinions, they quoted two anonymous former staffers and a New York Times reporter. They also snagged tweets from two former WSJ employees who were willing to put their criticisms under their names.
One of those former employees was Neil King, who left to join Fusion GPS, the opposition research firm that put together the infamous Trump dossier.
“I don’t know a single WSJ alum who’s not agog at where that edit page is heading,” King tweeted.
But King’s association with Fusion GPS was not initially identified in the piece, and Politico had to issue a “clarification” after it was published.
“CLARIFICATION: An earlier version of this story failed to mention Neil King’s work for Fusion GPS,” Politico plopped at the bottom of the piece.
Politico thus used a current Fusion GPS employee–without initially identifying him as such–to attack the Wall Street Journal for thinking the Trump dossier should raise questions about Democrats and Russia.