September 15, 2020

"A fake FBI raid staged Monday by a notorious right-wing activist and conspiracist turned into an embarrassment for The Washington Post, which briefly reported the faux-event as if it were the real deal."

"The 'raid' on a house in Arlington, Va., actually involved actors recruited by Jacob Wohl, who has a history of making false accusations and has orchestrated dubious events in an effort to smear perceived opponents of President Trump. This time, Wohl recruited actors to pose as FBI agents, telling them they would be participating in a scene for a 'TV pilot,' one of the actors involved told the Daily Beast. The actors donned FBI-style windbreakers and pretended they were raiding a house during early-morning hours. It appears Wohl used photos of the event to trick a reporter into believing that Wohl’s longtime associate, Jack Burkman, was being targeted by law enforcement officials. The intended purpose of the deception was not clear. In a story written by Metro reporter Rachel Weiner, The Post briefly reported Monday that a real FBI raid had taken place. The story was updated about two hours later to note that the raid was a fabrication and later taken down entirely with an editor’s note in its place saying it 'was published because The Post failed to obtain appropriate confirmation.' The story unfolded as a confluence of outright falsehoods by Burkman and Wohl coupled with lapses by Post journalists...."

From "A fake FBI raid orchestrated by right-wing activists dupes The Washington Post" (in The Washington Post).

Here's The Daily Beast report: "Jacob Wohl Staged Fake FBI Raid on Business Partner, Actor Hired for Production Says."

38 comments:

mikee said...

Obligatory: Layers and layers of editors and fact checkers.
Optional: Those WaPo fools can't find their ass with both hands tied behind their backs.

Kevin said...

Media organizations need to stop taking down their errors. "Get the information right" has turned into the Ministry for Truth.

The right information includes that the Post got it wrong, and we deserve to have their complete errors as part of the public record.

That's just as true as everything else.

Dave Begley said...

Fake News exposed again.

The Fake News will never recover its credibility with thinking and reasonable people. This might be one of Trump's greatest accomplishments: exposing these partisan frauds.

Fernandinande said...

The story unfolded as outright falsehoods by Post journalists.

Did anyone smirk?

Michael K said...

There are some crazies on the Trump train. Like some commenters at CTH.

wendybar said...

Meh....They print false stories all the time, and don't really care, so why the big deal this time??

I'm Not Sure said...

"The story unfolded as a confluence of outright falsehoods by Burkman and Wohl..."

Just confirming that somebody said something isn't good enough? Who knew?

Joe Biden, America's Putin said...

I detest this kind of crap.
There's enough fake news already. Maddow's Russia Russia Hoax. Michael Brown/Ferguson never had his hands up and he wasn't shot in the back. He did, attempt to grab the officers gun and so on. Local Black businesses burned over that lie.


There is enough real news being ignored by mainstream sources.

Joe/Hunter Biden international tag team US Tax payer graft for starters. It's very real and very ignored.

Fernandinande said...

A notorious left-wing MSM outlet reported on the acting of actors and all I got was this crummy windbreaker.

Joe Biden, America's Putin said...

If there is a glint that someone on the "right" is going down, the media are all over it like hogs to the slop.

Leland said...

An all around story about how bad the DC swamp really is.

Achilles said...

The wapo is trying to start a race/civil war.

If they succeed everyone involved in that organization must be held accountable.

Especially at the top.

Fernandinande said...

A fake news report staged Monday by a notorious left-wing activist organization turned into an embarrassment, but they'll get over it.

Joe Biden, America's Putin said...

Then again - perhaps we should all do this to expose the extreme lazy partisanship of the hack-D press.

NorthOfTheOneOhOne said...

The intended purpose of the deception was not clear.

Well, it's patently obvious it wasn't done to make the WaPo look stupid.

gilbar said...

does anyone remember, back when the Washington Post was a Real newspaper? with Real News?
me neither

Wince said...

"Gonna come in and watch my 'FBI'?"

Rick and Cliff watch Rick's episode of 'FBI'.

(Rick takes Burt Reynolds' part.)

Temujin said...

People have way too much time on their hands these days. And picking on Journalists! seems like child's play these days. You're making Chuck Todd feel bad.

Achilles said...

This seems like a story.

Yancey Ward said...

Ask yourself this- if the fake raid's target had been a known lefty, would WaPo have reported on it?

It seems to me that Wohl hit his real target right between the eyes.

Ampersand said...

Bizarre story. What's the payoff? Seems awfully meager.

Joe Biden, America's Putin said...

Portland: Leftwing city officials are upset that Andy Ngo is posting the names of the antifa arsonists and rioters on his site.

Skeptical Voter said...

Hey the media had had some practice runs. There were only a couple of hundred of them with video cameras when Roger Stone as arrested around 0600 one morning--they were outnumbered however by the police/FBI/government agents who were "needed" to arrest one old man.

Mike Sylwester said...

Democracy Dies in Darkness!

Bob Smith said...

Actually the purpose of the deception is abundantly clear. It’s to make the WAPO reveal their stupidity. Worked too. Somewhere Saul Alinsky is having second thoughts.

Bob Smith said...

Actually the purpose of the deception is abundantly clear. It’s to make the WAPO reveal their stupidity. Worked too. Somewhere Saul Alinsky is having second thoughts.

William said...

Pick up my guitar and play
Just like yesterday
Then I'll get on my knees and pray
We don't get fooled again …

The Who, 1971

Bill Peschel said...

Apparently George Washington University's journalism school never taught Rachel Weiner the old bromide "if your mother tells you she loves you, check it out."

A hard lesson to learn, and if she learns it, she'll have no future in today's journalism.

Greg The Class Traitor said...

So, he wanted to provide a demonstration that the Washington Post is a worthless rag that will run anything anyone gives them, without bothering to check on it at all.

Mission accomplished!

"Oh, but the WaPo eventually figured it out and updated the story!"

Yes, that's nice.
1: At a minimum, you should never trust "breaking news" from the WaPo
2: What's the likelihood that the only reason they walked this back is that it was a hoax done by a person of the Right, and the WaPo therefore had an ideological interest in dropping the story? 100%. 99%

Never trust anything published by the Washington Post

J Melcher said...

Explain to me the difference between fake FBI agents acting out a raid and creating fake news -- and four anonymous (as because anonymous, perhaps fake) "insiders" or "whistle-blowers" acting out a leak and creating (perhaps) fake news. What is the difference? The Fake FBI agents outed themselves. The whistle-blowers were contradicted by a score of on-the-record "insiders" with direct access or knowledge of events AND by documents of the day.

If the actors and producers had not outed themselves, why would the Post not "stand by the story?" They had photographic evidence, for instance. What's the difference?

tim maguire said...

This Wohl fellow may be a nasty piece of work (or not, I'd never heard of him before just now), but did the WaPo really run a story about an FBI raid without calling the FBI for comment?

Bill, Republic of Texas said...

How long before this Wohl guy is changed with impersonating a police officer?

Kevin said...

Well, it's patently obvious it wasn't done to make the WaPo look stupid.

Fake news says what?

MadisonMan said...

Was anyone at the Post fired for doing a lousy job?

Rusty said...

Blogger gilbar said...
"does anyone remember, back when the Washington Post was a Real newspaper? with Real News?
me neither"
It is still the nations most widely read high school newspaper.

Tom Joad said...

Jennifer Griffin confirmed this story through her sources.

Tom Joad said...

Jennifer Griffin confirmed this story through her sources.

Russell said...

Were I a wittier person, there would be a good Burt Macklin joke in here somewhere.