It is only mockable when They do it, is the mindset.

This week, a massive story of journalistic incompetence came out. It was revealed that a Washington Post story from early January claiming President Trump spoke on the matter of the election to an investigator and instructed them to go ‘’find the fraud’’ was completely fraudulent. Through an FOIA request, The Wall Street Journal obtained a tape of the call and the contents show that no such quote was ever made.

This has been a major dose of what Brian Stelter of CNN, and many others, rail against the loudest — media misinformation. While some want to actually applaud WaPo and claim there is a sign of integrity, as they corrected things and got the story correct, this is a garbage assessment. WaPo did NOT ultimately get the story, they were exposed by another outlet, and they were forced to issue a retraction. 

Adding to this scandalous report is that not only did numerous other news agencies repeat the story, but many — including CNN — also claimed to have independently corroborated the report with their own witness testimony. After WaPo was shamed into backpedaling off a cliff, CNN issued its own lame correction on the story:

An earlier version of this story, published January 9, presented paraphrasing of the President’s comments to the Georgia elections investigator as direct quotes. The story has been updated following the discovery of an audio recording of the call.

This is not only a gross dose of journalistic malpractice but it exposes the nefarious nature of these media falsehoods. As much as they try to claim that only conservative news fabricates stories, and how dangerous this all is as a threat to our democracy, they are just as guilty of this pernicious behavior — if not worse. This report was included in the recent impeachment proceedings, a false story used as evidence in order to target President Trump. The appearance in multiple news outlets was held up as confirmation of the story by the Democrats, meaning it was used to try to bring down a sitting President.

After this complete miscarriage of journalistic ethics, it is then amusing how CNN felt that noting corrections seen recently at Fox News would warrant a mention. Maybe when the massive fraud being exposed and needing to be corrected is still fresh in the minds of the public looking scornfully at anyone else in this fashion is a bad dose of timing. In the Reliable Sources newsletter, a section written by Oliver Darcy tries to deliver the snark, from an ill-advised position.

Not to tell @BrianStelter and his Boy Wonder, Oliver Darcy how to write the Reliable Sources newsletter, but on the week when CNN is shamed into a massive correction on the fraudulent Trump phone call, mocking others is a bad look.
And Ollie having his own correction is precious. pic.twitter.com/kXGRbgcyZb

— Brad Slager- Tavernus Bourbonicus Neanderthal (@MartiniShark) March 18, 2021

The very fact that just a few lines down from his condescending Corrections coverage, Oliver is compelled to offer up his own correction only adds layers to the obliviousness on display. But it would not be CNN if there were not wild double standards at play on a regular basis. After all, Stelter and Darcy are the Dynamic Duo of Canceling, calling out for other networks to be taken down over media misinformation, as they judge it to be.

They continue to avoid the stark reality that they are among the biggest purveyors of fraudulent news coverage.