BuzzFeed just published an incendiary report filled with salacious details about President-elect Donald Trump and his possible ties to Russia. The media outlet acknowledged the report was unverified and contained errors, but felt the public should have access to the same information currently circulating through the intelligence community and media circles. Others, including Trump, think it's nothing more than a smear job that endangers trust with the news industry. What do you think?
#DoYourJobMedia
Below is BuzzFeed editor Ben Smith's justification for publishing the entire Trump-Russia dossier. But the document opens up a host of problems in a "post-truth" world and raises real ethical concerns for journalists. Should journalists abandon the principal job of disseminating accurate, verified information in favor of just letting the public decide what's fact from fiction—especially when trust with the media is so low anyway? No one is sure.
Here's the note I sent to @buzzfeednews staff this evening pic.twitter.com/OcAloWzVzb
— Ben Smith (@BuzzFeedBen) January 11, 2017
Traditional outlets didn't break with norms and kept with the age-old advice of not publishing unsubstantiated information, even though many organizations knew about the dossier since last October. But media purists argue that putting out material containing false or unverified information jeopardizes trust with the audience and is a poor replacement for good, old-fashion shoe leather reporting.
“We, like others, investigated the allegations and haven’t corroborated them, and we felt we’re not in the business of publishing things we can’t stand by,” Mr. Baquet said.
The other major argument against publishing the dossier is that the ability for the press to hold the Trump administration accountable is now irrevocably damaged. If the document contains a lot of false information, the president can easily deflect all criticism or allegations (even true ones) as "fake news."
If news organizations are unable to earn trust with audiences, accurately inform citizens and hold the president accountable, then some are left to wonder what purpose the news media ultimately serves.
The Buzzfeed document has made it really easy for Trump officials to deflect questions about other reports with more validity.
— Abby D. Phillip (@abbydphillip) January 11, 2017
Here are perspectives from people who think BuzzFeed was wrong to publish unsubstantiated information.
I can't help but be amused, but yeah, BuzzFeed should not have published the report. https://t.co/1qqLIy9GyV
— Josh Barro (@jbarro) January 11, 2017
No. Without a source, unverified, Buzzfeed should not have published the dossier.
— TrueCopy (@TruthCopy) January 11, 2017
FAKE NEWS - A TOTAL POLITICAL WITCH HUNT!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 11, 2017
