WaPo Doxxes Twitter User, NY Times Attemps to Report on Airline Mask Joke as News, CNN Accused of Inciting Protestors to Riot (The Five for 04/19/22)

Hey, welcome to The Five.

This issue deals heavily with the accuracy of today’s reporting and the sloppiness of the media…because…well, that’s what’s in the news.

Let’s dive in.

[one]

The airline mask mandate ended today, which resulted in the New York Times attempting to report on a satirical tweet.

Here’s how it started:

“This is MAGA airspace” is a clear satirical nod to Jussie Smolett’s false claim that he was attacked by two MAGA-wearing white men who shouted “this is MAGA country.”

Apparently the New York Times didn’t get the joke, as a reporter DM’d Twitter user Jared Rabel to cover the story:

Rabel also shared a screenshot of his DM reply:

Hello Victoria, I would love to discuss the incident at your earliest convenience. I was pretty upset about the whole thing. Unfortunately it's satire that only someone at the NYT would believe. In my time of contemplation, I was wondering how your team deals with the multitude of false stories that you peddle out daily to use as political propaganda and if you could give me advice on how to take my satire to the next level?

Best wishes

Observations:

A) Why was the NYT ready to skip fact checking all together and simply report on this?

and

B) How is it that the “paper of record” employs journalists who are the only ones in the proverbial room who don’t get the joke?

[two]

To continue with the theme of “not the best week for the mainstream media,” Twitter founder Jack Dorsey accused CNN of inciting protestors to violence.

While it’s vital to understand that this story has not been investigated or fact-checked, Dorsey grew up just one neighborhood over from my current home, just miles from Ferguson.

So it’s entirely plausible he was on the ground during the unrest following the death of Mike Brown in 2014. Ferguson isn’t Dorsey’s hometown, but it’s very close by.

Dorsey’s claims a very serious, and should be investigated by a credible news outlet.

[three]

The Washington Post is being accused of “doxxing” a popular Twitter account, possibly putting the account’s owner in physical danger.

The New York Post reports:

Taylor Lorenz, the Washington Post’s internet culture beat reporter, is being accused of “doxxing” the anonymous woman who operates the popular Twitter account “Libs of TikTok.”

Lorenz, the former New York Times journalist who earlier this month broke down in tears on MSNBC while recounting “harassment” she has experienced online, published an article on Tuesday revealing the identity of the social media user.

“Doxxing” is the term used to describe the act of posting the personal information of those who wish to remain anonymous.

Critics accused Lorenz of hypocrisy after it was claimed that she showed up at the home of the woman’s relatives to ask questions.

The “Libs of TikTok” account, which posts TikTok videos from liberals and has generated more than 662,500 followers, posted an image of Lorenz outside the home of one of her relatives.

“Which of my relatives did you enjoy harassing the most at their homes yesterday?” read the caption attached to the photo of a woman who bears Lorenz’s likeness.

The alleged doxing comes at an interesting time, as just WP’s Taylor Lorenz was just on MSNBC’s Meet the Press and claimed that the online harassment and threats she faces as a journalist has left her suicidal at times.

We can’t confirm if it’s true or not that Lorenz has been harasser and threatened (she’s offered up no evidence), but it certainly appears that Lorenz has attempted to put the Libs of TikTok account owner’s personal information online…and the result of doxxing is almost always harassments and threats.

If you’re not familiar with the account, Libs of TikTok simply re-posts videos from left-wing Twitter accounts, and doesn’t create original content…so the perceived rage on the part of Ms. Lorenz…doesn’t seem to fit the crime here.

It’s safe to assume that the videos shared on Libs of Tiktok are meant to be seen, as the original content creators make them public.

[four]

A little known Democratic Primary House race has had more than $1 million in PAC (political action committee) donations funneled into it…and nobody knows where the money is coming from.

Politico reports:

What happened: A new, mysterious super PAC has dropped close to $1 million in a hotly contested Democratic House primary — but thanks to a quirk in the federal campaign finance system, the public won’t know who is funding it until after the primary. That's not an accident.

Justice Unites Us PAC — a new super PAC that describes itself as “a data-driven organization that uses research to drive grassroots engagement in the Asian American community” — disclosed more than $846,000 in independent expenditures for field operations to boost Carrick Flynn, who is running in the Democratic primary in Oregon’s new sixth congressional district.

So why won’t we know? The PAC is in the style of a “pop-up” super PAC, which appear shortly before elections and mask their donors until after voters have already cast their ballot.

The organization was first formed in late March, with paperwork filed just days before the end of the first quarter. A little over a week later, the PAC disclosed to the Federal Election Commission that it is spending the $846,000 on field operations in support of Flynn. But the date the field work started is important: April 5, after the end of the quarter.

Political Action Committees are nothing new…but this situation is unique due to the speed of the “pop up PAC” and the sheer amount of money being spent…on a primary race.

[five]

And finally, a Ukrainian millionaire has asked the Ukrainian military..to bomb his mansion.

The New York Post reports:

Andrey Stavnitser, CEO of TransInvestService, an IT company, said he saw via a webcam last month that Russian soldiers had taken up a position on his land, bringing along a dozen pieces of military equipment.  

“They destroyed most of the cameras inside the house, but there was one small amateur webcam,” he told ITV’s “Good Morning Britain” on Monday.

Rather than allow the invaders to shell Ukraine’s nearby capital from his land, Stavnitser, 39, said he reached out to Ukraine’s armed forces, passed on to them the coordinates of his mansion and asked them to bomb it.+

Until the next one,

-sth