Washington Post writers slammed for defense of Hunter Biden laptop coverage: ‘Fake new rules’
'Twitter files' on the Hunter Biden laptop story revealed collaboration with Democratic operatives to suppress the story
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Social media users attacked Washington Post writers Philip Bump and Glenn Kessler Monday for defending their paper’s dismissal of the Hunter Biden laptop story in 2020 by claiming they weren’t "given access" to the data.
Bump commented on it by retweeting political scientist Don Moynihan’s response to Elon Musk declaring the New York Times a "lobbying firm for far left politicians" after the paper reportedly ignored the "Twitter files" story the morning after the news broke Friday.
Moynihan quoted a Sunday New York Times article saying the outlet didn't receive copies of the "Twitter files" upon request and commented, "Musk et al complain about journalism but want media to repeat their claims w/o verification or context. So much for transparency."
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Bump chimed in, "This is also a major reason why other outlets didn’t match the NY Post’s original laptop story: they weren’t given access to the laptop data!"
Hunter Biden's laptop was at the center of a Big Tech censorship campaign in 2020. (Kevin Lamarque/Reuters)
Post fact-checker Kessler followed by agreeing that real reporting on the topic by the Washington Post didn’t happen until they received a copy of the hard drive.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}"Not until mid-2021 did a source provide The Washington Post a copy of the hard drive. Then my colleagues went immediately work on it. We hired experts to assess the veracity and produced articles based on material that could be verified," Kessler wrote.
The Washington Post didn't publish their report authenticating the Hunter Biden laptop until March 30, 2022.
Several Twitter users blasted their attitude towards journalism, especially since the Washington Post often publishes stories without having independent confirmation.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}"This is such a retcon. I've never heard this excuse before today," Podcaster Noam Blum exclaimed.
Pluribus editor Jeryl Bier tweeted, "OK, but... ‘the Washington Post has not independently confirmed...’" along with an image of the Washington Post’s coverage of allegations it couldn't confirm against Herschel Walker.
"Fun new journalistic standard - only share information if you have seen the specific underlying data yourself, otherwise you must not talk about it. Cable news would shut down, and Philip Bump would be out of a job...," Fourth Watch editor Steve Krakauer tweeted.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Townhall.com columnist Brad Slager wrote, "Such a lame deflection that it is disproven by @pbump himself. Phil, if you did not report it because you had no access then why did you push the Russian disinformation angle on the story, when there was ZERO evidence of that? You had no access to proof that does not exist."
Slager included a screenshot of a Fox News story on Bump's Sept. 27, 2021, column calling the laptop scandal a "conspiracy theory."
Twitter's suppression of the Hunter Biden laptop story in 2020 was a primary subject in a series of "Twitter files" released on Friday. (Fox News)
Others online hit the idea that reporters should immediately share access to their exclusive primary sources with competitors.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}"I didn't know the Washington Post handed over all the data and sources from its scoops to other newspapers," The Federalist senior editor David Harsanyi tweeted.
Substack writer Shant Mesrobian wrote, "Incredible to watch these people constantly make up fake new rules. Outlets report on stories broken by other outlets all the time without having access to the source material. Also, other media *did* cover the story: They spread the lie that it was hacked Russian disinformation."
MSNBC, LIBERAL ANALYSTS COMPLAIN HUNTER BIDEN TWITTER STORY IS A ‘SNOOZEFEST’: ‘M FOR MEH’
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Although the Washington Post did report on the Hunter Biden laptop story in 2020, many of the reports, including an "explainer" by Kessler himself, included suggestions that the story was part of a "disinformation campaign" ahead of the election.
"As Giuliani has sought to locate information about Hunter Biden and Ukraine, he has regularly interacted with a Ukrainian lawmaker who was recently sanctioned by the U.S. Treasury Department as being an ‘active Russian agent for over a decade’ and was engaged in an influence operation to affect the 2020 election. Those interactions have given rise to fears that the emails could be part of a broader disinformation campaign," Kessler wrote in 2020.
Kessler also appeared to undermine the story in a tweet two months later. "In his final weeks of campaigning, Trump repeatedly praised the NY Post for publishing the laptop stuff," Kessler wrote.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Washington Post fact-checker Glenn Kessler appeared to dismiss the laptop story back in 2020. (Getty images / Singerhmk - wiki commons)
The "Russia disinformation" claim was repeated by the mainstream media despite no evidence to suggest it at the time.
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Bump argued in a Post analysis Monday that the Hunter Biden story likely would not have affected the 2020 presidential election, despite its suppression by Twitter.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}"This isn’t how politics works. Not only was some version of this argument out there, so were its rebuttals. There was no reason for an undecided voter acting in good faith to assume the presentation above was true at the time of the election and no reason to think that, had they been looking for election information, they wouldn’t have heard some version of it," Bump wrote.