This week Matt Posky (2020c) led off a post about a Biden cabinet nomination with a riff about “international money-laundering allegations against the Biden family.” The Truth About Cars reporter linked to a story that did not provide any meaningful evidence to back up the supposed allegations (Hemingway, 2020). Not surprisingly, the base story was posted at Real Clear Politics, which has “taken a rightward, aggressively pro-Trump turn over the last four years as donations to its affiliated nonprofit have soared” (Peters, 2020).
Why was Posky’s passage not deleted by Managing Editor Tim Healey? The supposed allegations have nothing to do with cars — or even the politics surrounding the auto industry. In addition, by linking to the story, TTAC was giving it legitimacy. Can Healey honestly say that the Real Clear Politics story met his journalistic standards?
If so, he would do well to stick with topics he knows something about. The supposed allegations have not received much visibility in the mainstream news media because they are a textbook example of right-wing disinformation. I assume that Posky thinks this is a feature rather than a bug because of his apparently rigid ideological predilections. However, Healey should know better — if for no other reason than TTAC’s readership could suffer if the website became known as a Trumpian scandal sheet.
Was Healey afraid to rein in Posky?
I would normally wonder whether time constraints were the main reason why Posky was not better edited. However, Healey was apparently concerned enough about Posky’s discussion about 2020 presidential election results to insert an editor’s note stating that “the Electoral College has certified Biden’s win.”
Also see ‘The Truth About Cars peddles increasingly convoluted EV conspiracies’
Some clarification was better than none, but Healey should have deleted Posky’s entire first paragraph. It was irrelevant to the rest of the story and only served to undercut TTAC’s journalistic reputation.
Did Healey hold back from doing more than an editor’s note because of fear that Posky would get mad at him? No decent boss likes to piss off his or her staff, but sometimes you’ve got to rein them in. If Posky couldn’t handle that, I imagine that Real Clear Politics might appreciate his propagandizing skills.
RE:SOURCES
- Hemingway, Mark; 2020. “Hunter Biden News Should Shame Dismissive Media Outlets.” Real Clear Politics. Posted December 14; accessed December 15.
- Peters, Jeremy W; 2020. “A Popular Political Site Made a Sharp Right Turn. What Steered It?” The New York Times. Posted November 17; accessed December 15.
- Posky, Matt; 2020c. “Biden Reportedly Selecting Buttigieg as Transportation Secretary.” The Truth About Cars. Posted December 15; accessed December 15.
Be the first to comment