Washington Post Makes Bizarre, Factually Incorrect Claims About Glenn Greenwald, Can't Figure Out How To Update

from the keep-working-at-it.. dept

Wed, Jul 10th 2013 1:31pm — Mike Masnick

The Washington Post's institutional jealousy towards the Guardian and its role in the Ed Snowden leaks continues to be quite bizarre. At the same time that some of the Post's reporters are doing excellent work on the story, including breaking a few of the stories themselves, the old timers seem to be reflexively attacking the Guardian for doing the same thing -- and, at the same time, attacking Snowden himself for being a source. The latest example is Walter Pincus, the octogenarian and long-term Washington Post "national security" reporter, who wrote a bizarre column "asking questions" of Ed Snowden, and by association, of Glenn Greenwald, filmmaker Laura Poitras (who has assisted both the Guardian and the Washington Post with the Snowden story) and Julian Assange. Pincus makes a bunch of "connections" that he finds concerning about the Snowden ordeal, suggesting strongly that the whole thing was somehow orchestrated in secret by Julian Assange.

The only problem with this is that a very large number of the factual claims made by Pincus are complete bunk. Not only that, but they're such complete bunk that even a basic fact check would have told you they were complete bunk. It's a perfectly legitimate journalistic practice to ask questions based on information presented -- but when those questions are based on complete falsehoods, it makes you wonder. Much of Pincus' piece is based on the incorrect claim that Greenwald has a close connection with Assange and Wikileaks, stating, falsely, that Greenwald "wrote for the WikiLeaks Press's blog about Poitras and WikiLeaks being targeted by U.S. government officials." That's completely untrue. Greenwald wrote his piece for Salon not for Wikileaks, and has never written for Wikileaks in any manner.

Greenwald confronted Pincus about this and other inaccuracies in the piece, leading Pincus to grudgingly admit that it was a mistake, but saying his confusion was because the Salon piece "was carried on the Wikileaks Press page without attribution to Salon as the originating venue."

Except, that's not true. The blog clearly carries just an excerpt with a link to the full piece at the end. Still, Pincus promised that a correction would be coming but, despite being aware of the mistakes for at least a day, the Washington Post (at the time I'm writing this) still has not posted a correction. Pincus told the Washington Post's Erik Wemple (who has been doing good work on the story, and who rightly scolds Pincus for his actions) that a correction "is in the works." Not sure why it should take so long, through.

Of course, there are a number of other pretty big factual errors by Pincus, which he has refused to acknowledge. For example, the claim that Julian Assange "previewed" the first Snowden leak a week before Greenwald published it in the Guardian. However, as anyone following these issues knows, Assange was talking about a completely different NSA surveillance program (Stellar Wind), which had been leaked many years ago and was shut down a few years back. Instead of admitting this error, Pincus is doubling down, telling Wemple that perhaps his point was "badly phrased," but Assange and Greenwald were talking about the "same program."

Except, they're not. They are both NSA surveillance programs, but Stellar Wind was revealed years ago. The Greenwald revelations were much more detailed and were about very different programs, many of which came after Stellar Wind. Considering that Pincus is supposed to be the Washington Post's "national security" expert, you'd think he'd recognize that. Instead, he tells Wemple that the complaints are "argumentative." Pincus also, falsely, suggested that Snowden only worked at the NSA for 3 months, ignoring -- as has been widely reported -- that Snowden worked at the NSA as a contractor for four years. He merely switched which firm he was contracting for (from Dell to Booz Allen).

Again, asking questions is a perfectly reasonable activity. But those questions should be based on facts. And... when those facts are shown to be wrong, you issue a correction. And, once you've admitted you're flat out wrong, and say that you'll fix it, it shouldn't take over 24 hours to do so....

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Filed Under: ed snowden, erik wemple, glenn greenwald, laura poitras, walter pincus
Companies: the guardian, washington post, wikileaks

47 Comments

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Anonymous Coward, 10 Jul 2013 @ 2:00pm

It's taking so long to do a correction either because he's actually doing some fact checking on what needs to be corrected, or because he's trying to come up with a "correction" that still accuses Greenwald of the same thing.
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- Trails (profile), 10 Jul 2013 @ 2:41pm
  
  Re:
  Imo, he probably just got lost on the way back from his cardiologist's office.
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- Atkray (profile), 10 Jul 2013 @ 3:46pm
  
  Re:
  Nah he is smarter than you think, he knows people are waiting for the retraction and all those visits are counting as hits on the page.
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  - velox (profile), 10 Jul 2013 @ 4:05pm
    
    Re: Re:
    Oh he's being smart alright, but I think its for a different reason.
    If he waits long enough, then almost all of the people who are ever going to read his story will have already done so and will have moved on to the next day's news. Not too many people are going to come back and look to see if there are any changes after a day or two. By delaying, he is able to leave group of readers who were not really informed on the situation with the same incorrect beliefs he wanted them to have in the first place.
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Anonymous Coward, 10 Jul 2013 @ 2:09pm

Why so long?
Here's why it takes so long for an 80-year-old to correct a mistake: Do you know how long it takes to find a bottle of Wite-Out these days?
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- Rikuo (profile), 10 Jul 2013 @ 2:35pm
  
  Re: Why so long?
  Ya mean like this?
  
  http://cl.jroo.me/z3/r/5/p/d/a.aaa-corrector-on-monitor.JPG
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  - Ninja (profile), 11 Jul 2013 @ 4:40am
    
    Re: Re: Why so long?
    LOL! Gold! Have my +funny dear sir.
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PopeRatzo (profile), 10 Jul 2013 @ 2:16pm

stenographers
The senior people at the Washington Post have been nothing but government stenographers for a long time. While there is some good reporting at the paper, you'll never see any serious challenges to the government's agenda, especially if there is intelligence contractor money at stake.

Just take a look at their editorial pages to know what I mean.
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- Trails (profile), 10 Jul 2013 @ 2:42pm
  
  Re: stenographers
  Ya, or how wapo has totally ignored this Snowden thing. Oh wait...
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Anonymous Coward, 10 Jul 2013 @ 2:59pm

Again, asking questions is a perfectly reasonable activity. But those questions should be based on facts. And... when those facts are shown to be wrong, you issue a correction. And, once you've admitted you're flat out wrong, and say that you'll fix it, it shouldn't take over 24 hours to do so....

I love how Mike, who is too chicken shit to do actual journalism, is on the soapbox telling real journalists how they should act. Classic douchebaggery.
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- Anonymous Coward, 10 Jul 2013 @ 3:28pm
  
  Re:
  Hi Walter. Passed your Ethics class yet?
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- Anonymous Coward, 10 Jul 2013 @ 4:46pm
  
  Re:
  I like how AJ, who is...
  
  Oh, why bother.
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Anonymous Coward, 10 Jul 2013 @ 2:59pm

Cluck.
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Anonymous Coward, 10 Jul 2013 @ 3:00pm

LOL! Mike is so thin-skinned and scared of me that he is now censoring the word B ** A ** W ** K.

(Remove the **'s.)

ROFLMAO. Wow. Just wow.
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Anonymous Coward, 10 Jul 2013 @ 3:01pm

Bawwk Bawwk.
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Anonymous Coward, 10 Jul 2013 @ 3:02pm

It's so futile, Mike. Why are you being such a censor??

Bawwwwkkk. Bawwwkkk.
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Anonymous Coward, 10 Jul 2013 @ 3:08pm

Lucky sob
Like the time Glenn Greenwald was in an orgy with Hitler, Barney, and the 1991 Denver Broncos.

Oh, Jesus Christ.
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Anonymous Coward, 10 Jul 2013 @ 3:08pm

Every anonymizer you block. Every TOR node you block. Every word you don't allow people to post. Everything you do to silence a critic.

I win. And you know it.

Why are you acting like a Chinese dictator, Mike?
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Anonymous Coward, 10 Jul 2013 @ 4:11pm

Oh noes, I'm being censored!!!

Quick, chubby, block and censor!!!

LMAO @ Censoring DB Mike.
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- Anonymous Coward, 11 Jul 2013 @ 4:40am
  
  Re:
  AJ,
  You still don't get how this works.
  
  You are not being "censored" (I can still read your crap), the users of the site report your posts. When you get enough reports your posts get minimised to stop them from irritating everyone.
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Anonymous Coward, 10 Jul 2013 @ 4:12pm

Dodge. Duck. Dive. Dip. Dodge.

But whatever you do, don't engage on the merits!!

Why does honest conversation about issues that matter scare you so much, Mike??
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- Anonymous Coward, 10 Jul 2013 @ 4:49pm
  
  Re:
  Like the movie Dodgeball, you have become nothing but comedy. It's hilarious.
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    Anonymous Coward, 10 Jul 2013 @ 6:18pm
    
    Re: Re:
    Not nearly as funny as how Mike is too scared to have a substantive discussion about something that matters. Look at how far he has gone to try and stop me from reminding everyone what a DB he is. It's awesome.
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    - Anonymous Coward, 10 Jul 2013 @ 7:49pm
      
      Re: Re: Re:
      One day you will have a scientific article written about you.
      
      Not in the way you'd like, of course.
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      - Anonymous Coward, 11 Jul 2013 @ 10:10am
        
        Re: Re: Re: Re:
        So you are talking to yourself now? Clearly not a sign of insanity.
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    - techflaws (profile), 10 Jul 2013 @ 10:45pm
      
      Re: Re: Re:
      Above all it's complete bullshit.
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    Anonymous Coward, 10 Jul 2013 @ 6:18pm
    
    Re: Re:
    I'll discuss anything directly and honestly, answering his questions truthfully and without weasel words.
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    Anonymous Coward, 10 Jul 2013 @ 6:19pm
    
    Re: Re:
    Nothing scares him more.
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    Anonymous Coward, 10 Jul 2013 @ 6:20pm
    
    Re: Re:
    Mike can't function like that.
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    Anonymous Coward, 10 Jul 2013 @ 6:21pm
    
    Re: Re:
    Ha. Mike is so scared of criticism that he is now censoring the phrase "run ** away" (but without the **).
    
    LMAO
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    - Tman, 10 Jul 2013 @ 7:39pm
      
      Re: Re: Re:
      Does it even cross your mind that calling someone a coward while posting as an Anonymous Coward looks really stupid?
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      - techflaws (profile), 10 Jul 2013 @ 10:46pm
        
        Re: Re: Re: Re:
        What mind? This douche is a brainless troll.
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    - The Groove Tiger (profile), 12 Jul 2013 @ 9:35am
      
      Re: Re: Re:
      It used to be that people always clicked in the flagged comments, to find out what hilarious nonsense was being posted by the trolls.
      
      After this, people will just (rightly) just skip them, as it's likely just more of your spam (which, at this point is just that, it no longer even qualifies as trolling).
      
      So kudos for streamlining the way people use the comments section, I suppose.
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Anonymous Coward, 10 Jul 2013 @ 5:14pm

Where was Pincus in 1991?
Did Walter Pincus rape and murder Glenn Beck in 1991? Why has Walter Pincus not denied that he raped and murdered Glenn Beck in 1991? People are just asking the questions!
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- Anonymous Coward, 10 Jul 2013 @ 5:42pm
  
  Re: Where was Pincus in 1991?
  You don't have to make up dumb rumors about Pincus -- he really was a CIA spy on US student dissidents the 1960s and he really was involved in ruining Valarie Plame's career as retaliation for Joe Wilson's failure to find (or make up) yellowcake in Iraq.
  
  Being an curmudgeonly octogenarian columnist for the Washington Pravda is just Pincus' way of postponing retirement.
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  - art guerrilla (profile), 10 Jul 2013 @ 7:03pm
    
    Re: Re: Where was Pincus in 1991?
    thanks, i was just going to say something like this...
    
    he has been 'covering' the national security beat for decades, it would not be surprising if he was not still an 'asset' of one stripe or another...
    
    (it was bernstein who reported that there were HUNDREDS of mainstream media droids who were direct or indirect assets of 'the company', and some were out-and-out cover jobs for 'real' spooks...)
    
    *AT THE VERY LEAST*, he has become dependent upon the very people he is supposed to be 'investigating', so i have ZERO doubt he is being fed bullshit and lies to spew about Snowden and Greenwald, et al...
    
    of course, the graham family which owns the post has been spooked up for generations; katherine graham has famously said that us 99% do not DESERVE or NEED to know all the skullduggery done in our names, with our money...
    'cause -you know- that is the province of elites like her...
    
    nowadays, their mighty media empire is crumbling, but they are rising pheonix like from the ashes to be one of the top educational ripoff companies -kaplan- to take advantage of the testing regimen, etc...
    
    (oh, if you want to know who 'leave no child's behind left unspanked' is meant to benefit, you only have to look at the companies who make tests, etc... THEY are the only ones who benefit from this madness...)
    
    art guerrilla
    aka ann archy
    eof
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Anonymous Coward, 10 Jul 2013 @ 6:22pm

I'm going to start a list of all the words Mike is now censoring on Techdirt. It's awesome. He's so scared of me criticizing him that he's locking down the words people are allowed to post. I love it. Thanks, Mike. Every move you make to censor only means I'm winning all the more.
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- Anonymous Coward, 10 Jul 2013 @ 6:26pm
  
  Re:
  Maybe if you spent your time actually critiquing him, instead of mimicking barnyard noises, you wouldn't actually trigger the spam filter and blocker. Most responsible forums do this; trip the filter too many times, you get banned. And here you are, still posting.
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- Anonymous Coward, 10 Jul 2013 @ 7:49pm
  
  Re:
  Here is the list of words Mike is censoring:
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- techflaws (profile), 10 Jul 2013 @ 10:48pm
  
  Re:
  Yeah, being regarded as a troll for spewing inane bullshit and consequnetly being reported immediately is the new definition of winning. You outsmarted everyone!
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  - Anonymous Coward, 11 Jul 2013 @ 10:11am
    
    Re: Re:
    He must be drinking tiger blood.
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IronM@sk, 10 Jul 2013 @ 7:15pm

Not sure why it should take so long, through.
*though
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aldestrawk (profile), 10 Jul 2013 @ 8:16pm

The correction has been made, sort of
So, Pincus added an update in front of hist blog post correcting all the issues brought up by Greenwald. However, the actual blog piece remains the same, with all the errors unchanged. If one were reading this for the first time they might well have forgotten the update corrections by the time they reached the text that remains in error. Is this normally how corrections are made?
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- techflaws (profile), 10 Jul 2013 @ 10:49pm
  
  Re: The correction has been made, sort of
  Only if you're desperately trying to keep up the lies.
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Ed (profile), 11 Jul 2013 @ 4:27am

Pincus is so obviously trying to cover for his masters at NSA/CIA/FBI. He's always been their tool.
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Ninja (profile), 11 Jul 2013 @ 4:42am

http://falkvinge.net/2013/06/30/with-journalism-persecuted-the-united-states-is-now-at-event-horizon-to-a-police-state/
I have to agree with it. This is soft persecution against journalists... They'll wait till he slips slightly to put him behind bars without alerting the population too much...

Sad.
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Anonymous Coward, 11 Jul 2013 @ 5:38am

best thing for TWP to do is keep quiet! what is it going to do when a story of this magnitude lands in it's lap? take it to the Feds first or publish it? if it's the first option, they need to shut up shop, if it's the second, they need to think just what Greenwald has done and why they would act any different. unless, of course, they are being paid by those Feds to print only what they are told?
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