How a conservative columnist helped push a flawed Ukraine narrative
Back in March, the Hill newspaper published a series of stories and interviews that seemed, at the time, to be mainly of interest to foreign-policy wonks.
John Solomon, the papers executive vice president, interviewed Ukraines then-top prosecutor, Yuri Lutsenko, who alleged a startling conspiracy: that law enforcement officials within his country had leaked damaging information in 2016 against Paul Manafort, President Trumps former campaign chairman, to help Democrat Hillary Clintons presidential campaign.
Lutsenko also floated suggestions that Marie Yovanovitch, who was then the U.S. ambassador to Ukraine, was cooperating with the scheme to help Clinton and undermine Trumps campaign. The ambassador, Lutsenko alleged, was interfering in his ability to prosecute corruption cases and had even given him a list of defendants that he would not be allowed to prosecute, Solomon wrote.
Solomons piece urged a serious, thorough investigation of Lutsenkos claims.
The story touched off a brushfire within the conservative media, in which Solomon is a prominent figure, but stayed largely out of mainstream view.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/lifestyle/style/how-a-conservative-columnist-helped-push-a-flawed-ukraine-narrative/2019/09/26/1654026e-dee7-11e9-8dc8-498eabc129a0_story.html
mahatmakanejeeves
(56,885 posts)It's the Examiner. I'm not going to click on it.
by Paul Bedard | September 18, 2019 02:39 PM
That name keeps showing up:
Sean Hannity and John Solomon slimed James Comey. Will they admit it?
By Erik Wemple
Media critic
August 29
In the words of Fox News host Sean Hannity, it was a huge massive breaking news story: James B. Comey, the fired FBI director, would face a grim judgement from the Justice Departments inspector general in an upcoming report on his famous memos summarizing his encounters with President Trump. The DOJs watchdog, the Inspector General [Michael] Horowitz, is preparing a damning report on Comeys conduct in his final days as the FBI director that will likely conclude that he leaked classified information and showed a lack of candor. That would be lying, said Hannity during his July 31 program.
The revelation didnt come from Hannitys own sleuthing; it came from John Solomon, an opinion contributor at the Hill and part of the Hannity crew that supplies Fox Newss prime-time audience with often wobbly and salacious tidbits. That same day, Solomon reported the Comey details under the headline, James Comeys next reckoning is imminent this time for leaking. The opening paragraph:
{snip}
Perhaps Solomon should declare himself the new Justice Department inspector general.
....
Erik Wemple, The Washington Post's media critic, focuses on the cable-news industry. Before joining The Post, he ran a short-lived and much publicized local online news operation, and for eight years served as editor of Washington City Paper. Follow https://twitter.com/ErikWemple
empedocles
(15,751 posts)The attention from Hannity a fierce supporter of the president has led other conservative outlets to aggregate Solomons work, boosting his influence.
The Columbia Journalism Review, in one of several critiques of Solomon, wrote in 2012 that he has a history of bending the truth to his story line and distorting facts and hyping petty stories.
He has been a figure of some controversy within his own shop, the Hill, which he joined in 2017 as an investigative columnist and the head of its video unit. In late 2018, a group of newsroom staffers complained that his stories about a liberal lawyers effort to raise money for women who had considered making sexual misconduct allegations against Trump during the 2016 campaign lacked adequate context.
He also reported, in an October 2017 column, that Russian sources had paid Bill Clinton $500,000 for a speech and waged an influence campaign with then-Secretary of State Hillary Clinton at the time the Obama administration approved the sale of an energy company, Uranium One, to a Russian company, suggesting but not confirming a quid pro quo.
Similar internal complaints at the Hill trailed another Solomon-authored story that was favorable to Trump. Other news organizations have reached unfavorable verdicts on his columns.