The Media Dies in Lies
16th March 2021
The Washington Post issued a mammoth correction this week on a story about Donald Trump’s search for election fraud. The paper had admitted that they misquoted the former president twice. WaPo’s botched story is a cautionary tale of what happens when political biases cloud reportage and a reminder of why public trust in the media is so low.
The original story, which was reported in January and written by Amy Gardner, broke the news that Trump had a December phone call with Georgia’s top election investigator about the 2020 presidential election results. The scoop was sourced to an ‘individual briefed on the call’, who claimed Trump urged the official to ‘find the fraud’ and promised she’d be a ‘national hero’ if she did so. Both of these quotes were fabrications, according to a recording of the call published by the Wall Street Journal.
‘Democracy dies in darkness’, is the Post‘s pompous slogan. Well, the media dies in lies.