To: Martin Baron, Executive Editor, The Washington Post
Smearing is not reporting. The Washington Post’s recent descent into McCarthyism – promoting anonymous and shoddy claims that a vast range of some 200 websites are all accomplices or tools of the Russian government – violates basic journalistic standards and does real harm to democratic discourse in our country. We urge The Washington Post to prominently retract the article and apologize for publishing it.
Background:
- The Intercept: Washington Post Disgracefully Promotes a McCarthyite Blacklist From a New, Hidden, and Very Shady Group
- Consortium News:Washington Post’s “Fake News” Guilt
- Common Dreams: Journalists Denounce WaPo Fake News as Red Scare Redux
- Fortune: No, Russian Agents Are Not Behind Every Piece of Fake News You See
- Rolling Stone: The Washington Post “Blacklist” Story Is Shameful and Disgusting
