Take the The Washington Post, which last month ran a flimsy piece purporting that the “flood of ‘fake news’ this election season got support from a sophisticated Russian propaganda campaign.” Last week, it reported that a Russian-backed computer hacking operation had been found inside the systems of a Vermont utility company. This could mean the Russians could have penetrated the entire U.S. power grid, which is genuinely scary stuff. Congressmen were demanding investigations, etc. A few days later, The Post, after much effort in saving the piece, had to finally admit the authorities “say there is no indication of that [hacking] so far.”
To say there is no indication that Russia tried to infiltrate the grid “so far” almost reads like someone is hoping the story might one day turn out to be true. There is also no indication that the Russians picked a US president – so far. In any event, everyone makes mistakes. But it’s difficult to imagine these sorts of pieces, hampered with numerous problems from the start, didn’t have something to do with partisan narratives about Russian influence infecting newsrooms. These kinds of pieces only weaken the impact of genuine foreign-hacking stories.
Many in the left-wing punditry have already taken to speaking about stolen 2016 election. “The NSA Chief Says Russia Hacked the 2016 Election,” says David Corn. New York magazine’s Jonathan Chait asserted — in a single paragraph — that not only was there “evidence that Russian intelligence carried out a successful plan to pick the government of the United States” but that it was “probable that the hacks swung enough votes to decide a very tight race” and that the latter could not be “proven.”
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