Now that numerous news outlets have authenticated thousands of emails from Hunter Biden’s laptop — dismissed by many when it was first reported as Russian propaganda — an editorial by The Washington Post called for a “reckoning” over the media’s handling of the story.
In a piece by the editorial board headlined “The Hunter Biden story is an opportunity for a reckoning,” the writers cited news outlets — including their own paper — that initially dismissed the story.
“For now, what’s more compelling than the assorted accusations about the Bidens’ behavior is this question: Why is confirmation of a story that first surfaced in the fall of 2020 emerging only now? When the New York Post published its blockbuster exclusive on the contents of a laptop said to have been abandoned at a Delaware repair shop by Hunter Biden, mainstream media organizations balked at running with the same narrative. Social media sites displayed even greater caution,” the editorial board wrote.
Facebook, for one, banned posting links to the original New York Post story. Twitter went further, suspending the New York Post. Meanwhile, numerous outlets either ignored the story or called it Russian disinformation.
The Washington Post board said there was reason for caution, but added that “doesn’t necessarily exonerate every action of every publication and platform.”
“This series of events has prompted allegations of a coverup, or at best a double standard in the treatment of conservative and liberal politicians by mainstream media and social media sites,” it wrote.
The liberal paper also sought to explain its own dismissal of the story, admitting fault for shutting down what turned out to be a valid report. “None of these dilemmas have easy answers. The lesson learned from 2016 was evidently to err on the side of setting aside questionable material in the heat of a political campaign. The lesson learned from 2020 may well be that there’s also a danger of suppressing accurate and relevant stories,” the editorial board concluded.
Independent journalist Glenn Greenwald, who had ripped the paper for ignoring the story, lauded the Post for addressing the media’s shortcomings, while still saying it seemed self-serving.
“The Editorial is filled with self-justifying caveats about why it was reasonable to have gotten the story so wrong. It downplays the full extent of the joint CIA/media/Big Tech lie,” Greenwald wrote on Twitter. “But at least the Post now stands alone in admitting the fraud and that an accounting is due.”
“As welcome as it is, much of what’s in the Post’s Editorial is arrogant ad hoc rationalizing. They think a story is only confirmed once the NYT & WP say so – lol. The evidence of the archive’s authenticity was overwhelming from the start. Many of us staked our careers on it,” Greenwald wrote.
Joseph Curl has covered politics for 35 years, including 12 years as White House correspondent, and ran the Drudge Report from 2010 to 2015. Send tips to [email protected] and follow him on Twitter @josephcurl.