Is USA Today article just media bias or has it been used by the CIA to manipulate public opinion?
In 2007, when ex-CIA agent and torture whistleblower John Kiriakou revealed that the CIA regularly plants articles in US media outlets to manipulate public opinion, one of the news outlets he mentioned was USA Today. Unfortunately, this publication does not appear to be making any attempt to rehabilitate its image as an unbiased source of information.
In their recent piece about another whistleblower against the abuse of power, Tara Reade; USA Today opted not to speak to Reade directly, nor to her media representative, nor to her lawyer, but instead interviewed not one, but two US intelligence officials for comment, while stating “several former U.S. intelligence officials” had apparently contacted the journal with their opinions about Reade.
The article indulges in baseless speculation about Tara Reade’s motives behind her allegations against President Biden – rather than reporting her testimony about what happened to her; it claims that Reade “fled to Russia”– rather than accurately reporting that she visited the country to oversee translation of her book; and overall, the article seeks to create the impression that Reade is either a witting or unwitting asset of the Kremlin -- rather than stating the fact that she is a sexual assault victim who has been viciously maligned by the American media.
All the facts that USA Today chose not to report have been made available to the press, however they made the peculiar decision to instead publish the disparaging opinions of American intelligence officials and to litter the article with negative insinuations that do not align with the facts.
This, again, constitutes deflection on the part of the mainstream media from the core issue in Tara Reade’s story; i.e., that she has been persecuted in the US for going public with her allegations against then-Senator Joe Biden, and this persecution has left her stranded in Russia, unable to return to the United States with any confidence of her safety.
It would be within the realm of objective journalism to investigate both Reade’s accusations against Biden, and her claims of persecution; both of which can be substantiated. It is not objective journalism, however, to instead fabricate baseless suspicions about the motives behind Reade’s claims, or about her presence in Russia; particularly when these suspicions directly contradict her own statements and the facts which have been made available to the press.
It goes without saying that any criticism Tara Reade may express regarding the Biden administration and American foreign and domestic policy from a political perspective does not constitute disloyalty to the United States, and falls well within the spectrum of public discourse on these issues. It would be quite ominous to suggest that legitimate criticism of the US government is tantamount to sedition. Tara Reade is an American citizen who deeply loves her country, but she has suffered immensely for speaking out about a very traumatic experience because it involves someone with power. Through no fault of her own, and without any plan to do so, she has been forced to stay in Russia.
It is a textbook case of blame-shifting, and of victim-blaming, to cast doubt upon Tara Reade, her allegations, or her motives without so much as talking to her or her representatives; and this is precisely the kind of unfairness Reade has faced over the past four years from the American media which has contributed to her current circumstances.
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