Journalism s New Propaganda Tool: Using Confirmed to Mean its Opposite

It seems the same misleading tactic is now driving the supremely dumb but all-consuming news cycle centered on whether President Trump, as first reported by the Atlantic s editor-in-chief Jeffrey Goldberg, made disparaging comments about The Troops. Goldberg claims that four people with firsthand knowledge of the discussion that day whom the magazine refuses to name because they fear angry tweets   told him that Trump made these comments. Trump, as well as former aides who were present that day (including Sarah Huckabee Sanders and John Bolton), deny that the report is accurate.

So we have anonymous sources making claims on one side, and Trump and former aides (including Bolton, now a harsh Trump critic) insisting that the story is inaccurate. Beyond deciding whether or not to believe Goldberg s story based on what best advances one s political interests, how can one resolve the factual dispute? If other media outlets could confirm the original claims from Goldberg, that would obviously be a significant advancement of the story.

via theintercept.com