Sometimes Truth needs a little nudge, as was the case recently when an anti-media organization, absurdly named Project Veritas, apparently invented a story intended to impugn The Post (and the media more broadly), while also helping Alabama Republican Senate candidate Roy Moore.
riefly, Project Veritas and its creator, the self-regarding (bad) actor James O’Keefe, seems to have hired a woman to say that Moore impregnated her in 1992 and that she got an abortion at 15. As if you could forget, Moore has been accused by several women of molesting them when they were teens and he was in his 30s.
Jaime T. Phillips presented herself to Post reporters with her scandalous tale, apparently expecting them to concede the paper’s bias against Moore, and, voila, a scoop! O’Keefe surely would have raced to present his findings, all filmed on hidden camera, his usual modus operandi, and launched a fresh fundraising drive.
Essentially, Phillips baited The Post and The Post declined to play. Or, rather, the paper did what it’s supposed to do and checked out the story. This isn’t cause for trumpets and heraldry, mind you. It’s what journalists do. As opposed to what pseudo-journalists — also known as typists — claim they do. With a little footwork, Post reporters were able to trace Phillips to Project Veritas and demonstrated that her story was a fraud.
It was — you may now cue the horn section — FAKE NEWS.
Thanks to O’Keefe, The Post also showed a skeptical public just how different real journalism is from the effluvia produced by what would be more aptly named Pretext Veritas. Perhaps there’s a place for him at Pravda.
riefly, Project Veritas and its creator, the self-regarding (bad) actor James O’Keefe, seems to have hired a woman to say that Moore impregnated her in 1992 and that she got an abortion at 15. As if you could forget, Moore has been accused by several women of molesting them when they were teens and he was in his 30s.
Jaime T. Phillips presented herself to Post reporters with her scandalous tale, apparently expecting them to concede the paper’s bias against Moore, and, voila, a scoop! O’Keefe surely would have raced to present his findings, all filmed on hidden camera, his usual modus operandi, and launched a fresh fundraising drive.
Essentially, Phillips baited The Post and The Post declined to play. Or, rather, the paper did what it’s supposed to do and checked out the story. This isn’t cause for trumpets and heraldry, mind you. It’s what journalists do. As opposed to what pseudo-journalists — also known as typists — claim they do. With a little footwork, Post reporters were able to trace Phillips to Project Veritas and demonstrated that her story was a fraud.
It was — you may now cue the horn section — FAKE NEWS.
Thanks to O’Keefe, The Post also showed a skeptical public just how different real journalism is from the effluvia produced by what would be more aptly named Pretext Veritas. Perhaps there’s a place for him at Pravda.
