In a time when the phrase “Fake News” is bandied about on a daily basis, it would make sense for reporters to check, double check and even triple check the information in any article.
That advice apparently fell on deaf ears when Mic senior political reporter Emily Singer went ahead with an item claiming President Trump had met with Russian operative Maria Butina in the Oval Office.
In a piece written by Brittany Hughes from our sister site MRCTV:
A political reporter made a major faux pas Tuesday when she tweeted that Donald Trump had met with a known Russian spy in the Oval Office -- a claim that ended up being absolutely, totally, indisputable false.
Singer ... tweeted the redhead in [a] New York Times photo of Trump meeting with Russian officials was, in fact, now-indicted Russian operative Maria Butina.
In a tweet, Singer claimed: “I thought this was a photoshop, but it’s not. This was Muria Butina -- arrested for being a Russian spy -- in the oval office with Trump.”
Butina, who allegedly tried to orchestrate a “back door meeting” between then-presidential candidate Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin during the 2016 election, was arrested earlier this week.
However, Singer had identified the individual in the photograph by noting that Butina has red hair. ”It turns,” Hughes stated, that the woman in The New York Times' photo “wasn’t Butina at all -- she was a National Security Council staffer named Cari Lutkins, who just happened to have similar red hair.”
Singer quickly deleted the post when people began pointing out her mistake, and she stated: “OK, all. This may be Carl Lutkins from the NSC. I may delete this tweet. ...”
“But of course,” Hughes noted, “that didn’t stop rumors that Donald Trump had met with a known Russian spy in the White House from zinging all over liberal Twitter.”
At that point, Andrew Wortman – who describes himself as a “proud gay man, a civil-rights champion and outspoken bad boy of the Resistance” – joined the fray.
“In case this couldn’t possibly get any worse,” Wortman added: “Butina -- the Russian gun-loving national just arrested in D.C. – at the Oval Office meeting with [Russian diplomat Sergey] Lavrov and [Russian senior diplomat Sergey] Kislyak. The one 8 days after Comey’s firing where Trump gave away national national security intel.”
Next up was Group Captain Mandrake, who tweeted: “Well lookee which newly arrested Russian operative attended that famous Oval Office meeting with Lavrov and Kislyak where Trump outed an Israeli intelligence operation.”
He noted: “It’s the NRA Russian cover girl, Ms. Butina!”
Hughes added: “Singer’s major flub (and the subsequent rumors it sparked all over social media) is just the latest in a rash of serious and exhausting ‘mistakes’ from reporters who’ve tripped over their own shoes in their rush to get the latest dirt on Trump.”
She also pointed to a conspiracy theory from earlier this month in which NBC News reporter Leigh Ann Caldwell claimed that Trump and retiring Supreme Court justice Anthony Kennedy colluded to pick Kennedy's replacement. After some serious embarrassment, she was forced to walk it back.
Of course, one of the benefits of being a member of the “mainstream media” like Emily Singer means never having to say you’re ‘sorry’ -- unless that correction is buried at the bottom of the page or the back of the website while the original article received front-page treatment.
