This may be my favorite story in a while. Being a writer on the conservative side of things, we obviously deal with bias in media on a daily basis. If we aren’t writing about it, we are being targeted by it, especially in regard to social media. So when a story comes along that good and fully exposes how the sausage is made at major “news” organizations, it’s extremely satisfying to see.
Enter Glenn Kessler of The Washington Post. Emails have been released from someone the “fact-checker” contacted in the process of trying to orchestrate a hit piece against major CRT opponent Christopher Rufo. What they contain is a fascinating look into how the dishonest hacks at these supposed journalistic outfits operate.
Hi @GlennKesslerWP: @realchrisrufo and I were talking to the same anonymous tipster.
This person came to both of us with the same information. So, yes, that person absolutely exists. And no, I don't believe Rufo hijacked anything. I'm grateful for his work.
Hope this helps! pic.twitter.com/0wB65ioaWa
— Karlyn Borysenko, Knitting Witch of the West 🧶 (@DrKarlynB) August 5, 2021
Before I even get into the meat of this takedown, I just want to point out how dumb this “fact-check” is in the first place. Kessler was really going to write a piece about how Rufo was supposedly lying about where he heard about Critical Race Theory? Of all the lies flowing within political life right now, including those coming every single day from the White House, that is what he thinks is newsworthy? That alone is enough to demonstrate the abject bias on display.
Yet, the email gets much worse. We then see Kessler trying to drive a wedge between Karlyn Borysenko (to whom the email was sent) and Rufo, with the claim being made that Rufo had “falsely” said he had an anonymous tipster and that he had stolen the idea from Borysenko. Kessler presents that claim as fact in the email despite not having proven it yet. It’s clear he wasn’t aware of who he was dealing with as he tried to set up this hit piece.
Luckily, Borysenko is an honest actor and put Kessler in his place by making this public. She confirmed that Rufo had the same source and that he had not stolen the idea from her. She also seemed to take offense at the idea that Rufo’s work is spinning a false “anti-white” narrative.
Once that embarrassing email went public, Kessler responded, upset that he and his tactics had been exposed.
— Karlyn Borysenko, Knitting Witch of the West 🧶 (@DrKarlynB) August 5, 2021
No, he didn’t suggest the person didn’t exist. But he did suggest that Rufo was lying about knowing that person in a gross attempt to garner dirt when none existed. This is how the news media operates. They go into a story with a pre-determined outcome in mind, in this case, that Rufo lied and therefore can’t be trusted as an opponent of CRT. They then fish around for comments to take out of context to place in their article to make it seem factual.
Kessler was not fact-checking here. Instead, he had already decided what he thought Rufo had done and he was searching for someone to provide a money quote to back him up. He was foiled this time and got completely exposed for the hack he is, but imagine how many times he hasn’t been exposed while doing this same thing to other people?
So will Kessler still release the piece he was working on? I’d guess he will as no one in the mainstream media ever seems to know when to take a loss. But let this be a lesson to everyone — the media are like the police. Never talk to them.
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