Trump news spreads faster than reporters can verify
PASADENA, Calif. — The spread of a report about supposed damaging information about President-elect Donald Trump collected by Russia became a public test of journalistic standards, but burst into public consciousness even as those standards were being debated.
Hours after news reports circulated Tuesday that Trump had been briefed by intelligence officials about the existence of the dossier on him, BuzzFeed News published a summary of those allegations. It published despite its editor noting that there is reason to doubt the truth of them.
Most news organizations, including The Associated Press, held back on the specific allegations because they had not been substantiated. “Even Donald Trump deserves journalistic fairness,” tweeted David Corn, Washington bureau chief of Mother Jones.
Yet the news spread so quickly that by Tuesday night, one specific, salacious allegation was a top trending topic on Twitter.