RAY McGOVERN: New York Times Deploys Heavy Gun to Back ‘Intel’ on Russian Bounties
July 1, 2020
"The New York Times is pulling out all the stops in promoting its dubious story on Russia offering bounty for dead U.S. soldiers in Afghanistan.
Wednesday’s installment, a “news analysis” by Times veteran writers David E. Sanger and Eric Schmitt, treats the allegations that Russia paid Taliban or Taliban-related terrorists to kill U.S. troops as flat fact:
“Russia’s complicity in the bounty plot came into sharper focus on Tuesday as the The New York Times reported that American officials intercepted electronic data showing large financial transfers from a bank account controlled by Russia’s military intelligence agency to a Taliban-linked account.”
This is presented as “bolstering other evidence of the plot, including detainee interrogations.” The take from the Afghan-run interrogations is, ipso facto, highly dubious; and we need to know a lot more about the alleged new “electronic data.”"
[consortiumnews.com]?
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I was not totally accepting of the NYT first article -- and was thoroughly lambasted for it :
"More LIES from 45."
I suspect Bolton knows plenty more than he has said (perhaps all he can say) publicly.
The AP article adds some corroboration :
"AP sources: White House aware of Russian bounties in 2019"
A little background on Consortium News. No judgement, just background.
These media sources have a slight to moderate liberal bias. They often publish factual information that utilizes loaded words (wording that attempts to influence an audience by using appeal to emotion or stereotypes) to favor liberal causes. These sources are generally trustworthy for information, but may require further investigation. See all Left-Center sources.
History
Consortium News is an alternative independent news source established in 1995 by Robert Parry, who passed away in 2018. It is considered the first alternative investigative journalism internet news source. Consortium News covers stories deeply and has been responsible for uncovering scandals and important information that was not found/covered by the mainstream media. The website does not disclose current ownership.
Funded by / Ownership
The website lacks transparency and does not disclose ownership. Funding appears to be derived from donations.
Analysis / Bias
Consortium News has articles that many on the right may consider left biased: [consortiumnews.com]
While also having articles the left won’t like: [consortiumnews.com]
The reporting from consortium news cites itself as trying to find the truth. However, I would say that they do often report on things with a left leaning focus. With articles like the above pro-minimum wage or anything regarding the environment. I can see how some on the left would feel that articles like the above or another titled “Europe May Finally Rethink NATO Costs” can come off as right leaning. The reality is that truth has no side. Sometimes somebody on the right is correct and somebody on the left is wrong. The bigger issue is that the political environment of America has been moving the goal posts, of left and right, to the right for the last 30+ years. Meaning that somebody who is “left” today may in fact have been right 20 years ago.
Consortium News has experts from various backgrounds and not just pure journalist which also helps with its reporting to keep it as centered as one can get these days. They have articles about Hillary, Obama, Bush, and Trump all of which have negative things to say about them. They cite factual data with real sources and with minimum usage of loaded wording that you often find in other online only magazines. I would put this news source in your feed to get a more grounded perspective on many of the issues that are shaping up today.
The best way to describe Consortium News, is Wikileaks, without the leaks. They reject imperialism no matter what side is controlling it. They also often do not have a favorable view of President Trump: VIPS Memo to the President: Is Pompeo’s Iran Agenda the Same As Yours?
A factual search reveals they have not failed a fact check.
Overall, we rate Consortium News Left-Center Biased based on story selection and advocacy that mildly favors the left. We also rate them Mostly Factual in reporting due to a lack of transparency despite a clean fact check record. (D. Van Zandt 11/3/2016) (M. Allen 6/3/17) Updated (7/27/2019)
Analysis / Bias
Consortium News has articles that many on the right may consider left biased: [consortiumnews.com]
While also having articles the left won’t like: [consortiumnews.com]
Overall, we rate Consortium News Left-Center Biased based on story selection and advocacy that mildly favors the left. We also rate them Mostly Factual in reporting due to a lack of transparency despite a clean fact check record. (D. Van Zandt 11/3/2016) (M. Allen 6/3/17) Updated (7/27/2019)