We've seen a lot of examples of the mainstream media seeming to act like an arm of the Democratic Party.

But a story from Catherine Herridge may tell the tale of how much media has truly abandoned their purported jobs of journalism. Herridge explained on News Nation how she had the opportunity in the fall of 2023 to do a live interview with X owner Elon Musk on X about the revelations in the Twitter files.

That would have been a big interview with a lot of things breaking at the time from the files, revealing a lot about social media censorship and government involvement.

But listen as Herridge explains what happened next. //

She took it to the CBS executives and they told her she "couldn't do it live."

She asked, "What do you mean I can't do it live?"

"Well, we don't know what he's going to say" was their replay according to Herridge.

She said she replied to her bosses, "Isn't that what journalism is all about?"

Herridge explained that CBS then tried to condition the interview with possible alternatives, including having it edited, taped, and only on CBS. She said she felt so ashamed that a news organization would place so many restrictions on an interview like that that she couldn't go back to Elon Musk, the free speech advocate. But it indicates how fearful CBS was that something that they might not want to come out might come out in such an interview. When you think that way, you're no longer operating as a journalistic organization. You should want to report on the truth, whatever it is. //

This story just cements it, but that's one of the reasons why people no longer have any trust in legacy media. They also can't get the viewership that stories can now get on X, as Herridge explained last week. People can find the news on X without having to view it through a legacy media filter.

Legacy media seems to be imploding. This CBS story is a great example of why.

This time around the mood is more morose. Perhaps it has to do with the fact they failed to stop him from regaining the White House. Maybe after so many busted narratives - Russian collusion, Nazi Fascism, death to democracy as we know it, et al. - they have run out of material. Or, most likely, it is dawning on them that these vacant narratives delivered in bulk and applied with the nuanced precision of a Caterpillar front-loader not only are unsuccessful but have driven off a large core of the intended audience.

These failed techniques are not only played out, but publishers are no longer tolerant just to let their staffers work untethered. From Jeff Bezos at WaPo to Mark Thompson at CNN and the publisher of the LA Times, the names above the mastheads are no longer tolerant of these tactics. Peter Baker and others are facing a harsh reality – they may have to actually work for a change.

Rogan chastised the media types who were losing "authority," yelling, "No, you're not!" at X being the news.

"You guys f**ked us too many times," he scolded.

And we don't believe you anymore! And so, the only way to find out what's real and what's not real is someone posts it online and then everyone looks at it. And then you get the Community Note. And that's way better than The NY Times telling me that the Fruit Loops in Canada are exactly the same as the Fruit Loops in America, except for a bunch of sh** that's banned, and that's the point...Meanwhile they're factchecking RFK Jr, so now I don't trust you any more either. //

Rowe explained how the media had "abdicated on skepticism" and "become something else."

So, you can't really blame people for considering what we used to dismiss as conspiracy theories when those theories start to be borne out, and when there's such a level of eroded trust in once-credible institutions.

Indeed, she proves it herself with her own trajectory. That's why she's there on X, rather than signing up for another network news job after her parting ways from CBS. And she's still calling out CBS for not releasing the transcript of the interview that "60 Minutes" did with Kamala.

Musk helped make it all possible by freeing X more and encouraging independent media. With X, he's then able to immediately weigh in on what Herridge said.

Elon Musk @elonmusk
·
𝕏 has far more reach than any other news source

Catherine Herridge @C__Herridge
“The data doesn’t lie.”

30 million engagements on @X versus 4.5 million “viewers” on Network Evening News.

@X is where the growth is.
That's where the diverse audience is.

“I feel like this is the next chapter for media.”

Our 22+ minute subscribers only interview also…
Embedded video
7:33 AM · Nov 30, 2024

Ironically, one lesson from this election is the danger of both the press and pundits in becoming increasingly out of touch with most of the country. The shock expressed by many is due to a lack of exposure to opposing views — not the need for further ideological isolation.

That cathartic effort is evident in many subscribers who are now boycotting the Washington Post and MSNBC. MSNBC contributor and Washington Post columnist Jennifer Rubin appears to support such efforts. Rubin is an avowed Marxist. Groucho Marxist, that is. Marx famously said, “I don’t want to belong to any club that would accept me as one of its members.” -- Jonathan Turley //

Jorge Bonilla @BonillaJL
·
.@ScottJenningsKY: But isn't the issue that the left has gotten so used to controlling almost all institutional information distribution arms in this country that when one little piece of it, whether it's @X or MSNBC or anything else gets taken away, the panic is so outrageous?

8:59 AM · Nov 26, 2024

Technology evolves and with it society evolves. It's been a tale as old as time, from the discovery of fire to the telegraph, humanity has changed alongside its discoveries and inventions. X opened up a completely new path for humanity that changed things radically and quickly. Many people are still catching up to these changes, as the shift hasn't been fully realized.

But a shift did happen, and the Democrats are behind on it, and because they're behind on it, you're now seeing an emperor with no clothes. They're nakedly lying in an attempt to manipulate you. You can now see their abuse of you in real time. They're exposed as the frauds they are, with no media protection available.

The new media is you. It's the citizenry. It's the people that don't run in elite circles. It's you and me.

And this is a fantastic development. Information should never be controlled by one overarching entity, as that will always lead to corruption. You can see just how corrupt things were right now as Democrats like AOC continue to operate in the old way.

But this is the new era. //

Cliff-Hanger
an hour ago
AOC is one of the youngest members in congress, yet she still operates by the old ways of Democrat propagandizing.
Democrats (progressives, Marxists, communists, whichever) are not known for new ideas, only for the theft of new ideas and attempting to repackage old crap with a new label.

“I didn’t understand how a senior executive like George Cheeks could tell me that this was a high priority for the network and for his boss, and yet the executives at CBS News showed producers anchors could refuse that,” she said. //

Here we have yet another news story showing that the press is full of incognito activists posing as journalists. If the details of Herridge’s story are accurate – and there's no reason to think they're not – it is clear that CBS News’ executives were acting more as political operatives and preventing the news outlet from discussing issues that could have reflected negatively on President Biden and Democrats.

Yet, these same people will claim the network is a neutral journalistic outlet when it is abundantly clear that it is little more than a propaganda mill for Democrats. //

Intheknow
7 hours ago
Hunter Biden may have accidentally saved America. By CBS covering this up, it allowed people to see the trainwreck that Biden was and it led to the massive win for Trump. I am convinced that 2024 Trump will be better than 2020 Trump would have been due to what has been exposed over the last 4 years both policy wise and the lengths that desperate government employees will go to to keep their power. I see the Biden WH as a gift. //

Largo Patriot
7 hours ago
"I did everything I could to put CBS first on a story that was not popular among a lot of people in that network."

Journalists with integrity report all the news, not just the news that's popular with network staffers.

REPORTER: I noticed that when you urge people to action, you often include the word 'peacefully.'

PRESLER: Peacefully

REPORTER: Is that to avoid another Jan 6 type incident?

PRESLER: With all due respect, it's to avoid people like you guys saying that I'm anything but. My motto is to just be super cute, have my data and facts, treat everyone with love and respect, and as you can see, an army of people will follow.

The bias was displayed before the reporter even got the question out of her mouth. Notice that the chyron refers to Presler as a "controversial activist." I'm struggling to determine what is controversial about legally registering people to vote. Is it the reaching out to the Amish part? Or just the fact that it helped Trump win Pennsylvania, which no doubt, CNN finds very controversial? //

I remember when Stacey Abrams, who refused to concede her 2022 election loss to Brian Kemp, was pushing disinformation on voting machines. Her get-out-the-vote organization was also caught up in a scandal, eventually being shut down. Has CNN ever described her as "controversial" in her many appearances on the network? Of course, not.

But they apparently weren't done yet. They hit the trifecta on Friday when they had to, for the third time in a week, read legal notes, and this time, they had to do it four times in a single show. //

Doug Powers
@ThePowersThatBe
·
Follow
“And now a word from our attorneys” has become my favorite daily segment on The View.
Nicholas Fondacaro
@NickFondacaro
Sunny Hostin sighs as she's forced to, for the third time this week, read a legal note about The View's claims against Matt Gaetz and Pete Hegseth.
Joy Behar then baselessly accuses Hegseth of witness tampering. No legal note was provided for that false claim.
Embedded video
1:52 PM · Nov 22, 2024

In a grotesque display of utter disdain for America and its citizens, MSNBC legal analyst Danny Cevallos wrote an article entitled "Laken Riley's Killer Never Stood a Chance," in which he argues that Jose Ibarra, the violent, remorseless thug who took Laken Riley's life, "apparently had no chance with the judge" who found Ibarra guilty and sentenced him to life in prison without the possibility of parole.

It's the sentencing that seems to have gotten under Cevallos's skin and led to that headline. The judge decided that Ibarra should serve his numerous convictions consecutively and not concurrently, meaning Ibarra will never again be a free man. Deservedly so. Based off that hideous headline, however, it's easy to conclude that Cavallos, and, indeed, MSNBC, think Jose Ibarra should get out of prison someday and live a life of freedom, something that has been denied Laken Riley. //

It's not the merits of the case that's the point here; it's the sentiment of the media as embodied by MSNBC and that sick headline that's the true story. Illegal alien Jose Ibarra, though undeserving, got the very best of the American judicial system, and he received the verdict he so richly deserved. But MSNBC's takeaway is that the U.S. is not doing nearly enough for the illegals who are wreaking havoc on our society.

As this article's own headline says, the media hates you far more than you hate them. //

This crime should never have happened. Jose Ibarra should have never been here, and Laken Riley should be, at this very moment, getting ready to spend Thanksgiving with her loving family. Shame on MSNBC for their terribly bad take.

The Rabbit Hole @TheRabbitHole84
“I think our reverence for the truth might have become a bit of a distraction that is preventing us from finding consensus and getting important things done.”

— Katherine Maher (NPR CEO). //

The Rabbit Hole @TheRabbitHole84
·
If she’s not seeking truth I’m curious what the real agenda is

MarciJoy @msmarcijoy
·
Can we stop funding organizations like NPR if they aren't willing to recognize the importance of truth? If you don't base journalism on finding the truth, what do you base it on?

Heather Hammond @Queen_Heather88
·
Without truth, you have no idea what needs to be fixed, or what to unite over.

Arthur MacWaters @ArthurMacwaters
The truth really is inconvenient when you’re trying to get everyone on board with The Message™️

It has been a real eye-opener to watch the left go from smug confidence that Kamala was preordained to be the 47th president of the United States to the depth of despair as Donald Trump racked up 312 electoral votes and a popular vote victory to become the first president since Grover Cleveland to be elected to non-consecutive terms.

Matthew Watkins @MWatkinsTrib
·
Just an absolutely unreal graphic showing Trump's gains in Texas-Mexico border counties since 2016. Starr County, population 65,920 and 97% Latino, shifted 75 PERCENTAGE POINTS in Trump's direction. https://texastribune.org/2024/11/06/donald-trump-near-sweep-texas-border-counties/
10:58 PM · Nov 6, 2024

Ryan Saavedra
@RealSaavedra
·
Follow
Trump increased his support in 49 of 50 states.
4:42 PM · Nov 7, 2024 //

So, what caused this seismic shift? A sane person would say that the Democrats suffered from a spectacularly horrible candidate, a repulsive agenda for America, or both. But if you are a Democrat activist, you blame "right-wing media." //

Michael Tomasky, the neo-communist editor of The New Republic, has the same view. Trump won because right-wing media overpowered the truth. //

It's really hard to know where to start on this bullsh**. To a large degree, conservative media has emerged organically because we were shut out of mainstream media. It is very difficult to find anything more than a token center-right voice on any of the networks, major papers, or cultural magazines. The Atlantic fired the pseudo-conservative Kevin Williamson. The New York Times staff ran Bari Weiss off, even though she was only mildly conservative depending on the sunspot patterns. NBC fired Megyn Kelly. My old blog project, RedMaryland, had a deal to provide a mainstream conservative viewpoint to the Baltimore Sun's editorial page, we were booted thanks to a faux issue drummed up by Media Matters. Movies like Matt Walsh's "What is a Woman?" (see This May Be the Most Absurd, Telling Exchange in Matt Walsh's 'What Is a Woman?') and "Am I a Racist?" (see Matt Walsh's 'Am I Racist' Uses Major DEI Figures to Expose and Lampoon It As the Racist Grift It Is) get no media promotion. Leftist media continues to dominate ratings. //

The real question is, how can so much leftist media have so little impact on political discussions?

As Stephen Miller observed, Rogan is not conservative. Jordan Peters is not conservative. Our YouTube and Rumble channels rely on viewers, not George Soros or some other leftist billionaire, to survive. Here at RedState, if you don't read us, we don't get paid. //

What makes us different than the media owned by the left is that we deeply believe in what we write, and monied interests don't control us. Our writers and influencers are not a collection of paid-for twinks. The extremes to which the Biden administration went to silence us through coopting Meta and pre-Elon Musk Twitter gave us credibility that no leftist outlet will ever have because it demonstrated that the establishment feared our message. The authenticity of our message cuts through the clutter because it has the ring of truth.

The left can't compete because they don't have very many ideas, and those ideas they have cut against human freedom and autonomy. But if Kamala can drop a billion is leftist money on a losing election, those same donors can drop another building out another version of Air America radio network. //

Not Mao
8 hours ago
"...Let Trump Win" No. He earned it completely. No one "let" him do anything. He paid in blood, sweat, and tears. He reengaged old-fashioned politics, USA style. No one "let him win". He kicked their commie asses. He will continue to do so with the support of the American people. The sleeping giant has awakened again, Admiral Yamamoto. I'd sell any commie stock muy pronto. Next order of business is to take out the Chinese Communist Party of the People's Republic of China, the same way Ronald Reagan took out the Communist Party of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. Chairman Xi and his minions are far too smart not to see what's coming. Their time of murderous totalitarian evil is ending, setting the Chinese people free and removing a huge malignant cancer from the planet. //

Captain Sweatpants
9 hours ago
Also, for all of the talk about Trump losing the popular vote before, everyone knows that is not what wins the election.

Trump has said that he never campaigned for the popular vote, he campaigned for the EV. Trump said he would win the popular vote if he campaigned for it.

Well, this time Trump campaigned for the popular vote. When Trump was doing campaigning in NYC and in states where he was way behind, that was what Trump was doing.

And, the media laughed at him. //

USA_Proud Sam F. Jackson's favorite wor
7 hours ago
One extremely beneficial side effect of Trump campaigning in 'Deep Blue areas' like NY, NJ, and the like, is the massive swing in Legislative districts across the entire state(s) towards the GOP. While US House incumbents are very hard to displace, as typically only 5-10% get removed from Office each election cycle, one of the biggest issue is for them to face strong opponents in Primary and General Election. Many Democrat incumbents face a lackluster GOP candidate, as no Strong one wants to spend over a year in a losing battle. I believe that the recent GOP gains can free up dozens of Conservative GOP members to 'take the plunge' and decide to run for US House against Democratic incumbents. The MSM general consensus that Legislative GOP candidates supporting Trump were damaging their campaign has been shown to be untrue, as exhibited by dozens of DEMOCRATIC legislators in October and up to Election Day putting on ads describing how they 'Voted with Trump'. //

Romeg Captain Sweatpants
6 hours ago edited
Donald Trump 'lost the popular vote' in 2020 due to the Democrat machines that control the vote counting process in EVERY SINGLE ONE of the LARGEST PRECINCTS in EVERY SINGLE ONE of the Swing States in which they are located and in which ALL of them contributed OUTRIGHT counterfeit ballots and the ballots of ineligible voters to the election totals.

ANYONE who actually believes that Joe Biden received 81,000,000 votes is either a total Democrat toady or dangerously delusional.

This time, however, due to the depth and breadth of Trump's MASSIVE victory in which he had gains in EVERY SINGLE STATE but Washington State was simply too big to rig. That fact, combined with more diligent control over the vote counting process made Trump's victory an inevitibility. //

Larry Arnold
6 hours ago
The Left had a Joe Rogan. It was Joe Rogan, until they chased him out of the Left and California.

He isn't the only one, by a long shot. Red State et al are full of former Democrats. And it's not just media; RFK Jr. and Tulsi Gabbard spring to mind.

Heck, President Donald Trump was a Democrat until the Left chased him out of New York.

I think if anyone summed up the results the best so far, I'd have to give that to CNN contributor Scott Jennings.

Last night, Jennings sat on a panel with dumbfounded CNN talking heads who, judging by all the other clips, couldn't seem to wrap their heads around how Donald Trump, a man they convinced themselves was the epitome of evil and corruption, could have won the election. Jennings sat and thoughtfully explained it all masterfully as the rest of his panelists sat in silence, listening.

He began by calling this a "mandate," saying Trump won the national popular vote, and now he has to do what he said he was going to, including getting the economy back up and running, fixing the border, reducing crime, and creating a strong foreign policy.

But then Jennings dropped what is probably the greatest explanation of Trump's win I've heard, and likely will hear.

Jennings described the win as the "revenge" of the regular, anonymous American who "has been crushed, insulted, condescended to."

"They're not garbage, they're not Nazis, they're just regular people who get up and go to work every day, and try to make a better life for their kids, and they feel like they've just been told to shut up when they have complained about the things that have been hurting them in their own lives," he continued.

Next, Jennings came down on his own industry and, without saying it, the people he was currently surrounded by.

"I also feel like this election — as we sit here and pour over this tonight — is something of an indictment of the political information complex," said Jennings. "And the story that was portrayed was not true. We were told Puerto Rico was going to change the election. Liz Cheney, Nikki Haley voters, women lying to their husbands, before that, it was Tim Walz and the camo hats."

"Night after night after night, we were told all these things, and gimmicks," he continued, "were gonna somehow push Harris over the line, and we were ignoring the fundamentals. Inflation, people feeling they were barely able to tread water at best, that was the fundamentals of the election."

"And so, I think both parties should always look at the results of the election, and figure out what went right and what went wrong," said Jennings. "But I think for all of us who cover elections, and talk about elections, to do this on a day-to-day basis, we have to figure out how to understand, talk to, and listen to the half of the country that rose up tonight and said 'we've had enough.'"

Musk reminded the folks on X that "You are the media now," after the mainstream media has once again been so discredited. //

Maximus Decimus Cassius
43 minutes ago
Eff the Enemedia. They are becoming more and more irrelevant.

According to the Media Research Center, after analyzing the corporate news landscape for a time, MRC found that it set a new record in terms of lopsided coverage. Not only did it prop up Kamala Harris with positive news coverage by unforgivable amounts, it focused on painting Trump as the villain with negative news coverage even more:

One week before Election Day, a new analysis from the Media Research Center finds that broadcast evening news coverage of the 2024 presidential race has been the most lopsided in history. Since July, ABC, CBS and NBC have treated Democratic Vice President Kamala Harris to 78 percent positive coverage, while these same networks have pummeled former Republican President Donald Trump with 85 percent negative coverage. (See Methodology explanation at the end of this post.)

The difference in coverage between the two candidates is far greater than in 2016, when both Trump and then-challenger Hillary Clinton received mostly negative coverage (91% negative for Trump, vs. 79% negative for Clinton). It’s even greater than in 2020, when Joe Biden was treated to 66 percent positive coverage, vs. 92 percent negative for Trump. //

anon-89ic
8 days ago
You don't need a study. You just need to look at the New York Times and the Babylon Bee and you will see that they are equally satire, but the Bee seems more truthful. When satire becomes life and the press lies about it, then you have arrived in Orwell territory.

Our corrupt media swear the only personal investment they have in this election is ensuring it will be “fair” and consequently end with a peaceful transfer of power, concepts they have worked all along to erode and undermine with not a sliver of regret.

They care about fairness the same way they care about “democracy,” a once important term they’ve raped and bastardized so as to make it unrecognizable. It’s only democracy if their preferred candidate is elected. Likewise, things are only fair if they get to have the last word on what’s true, what’s false, and what’s open for debate. (Hint: True is whatever Democrats claim it to be, and anything to the contrary is disinformation.)

The media don’t get the excuse of being stupid or insane. They’re malicious and depraved. They knew what they were doing when they feigned ignorance over the dramatic degree to which President Biden had physically and mentally deteriorated. They were lying to the public because the full truth would hurt Democrats. They knew what they were doing when they explained away the devastating harm the Kamala-Biden admin was doing with hyperinflation and unchecked immigration at the border. They were lying to the public because the full truth would hurt Democrats.

They knew what they were doing when they looked the other way as a sitting president was removed as his party’s nominee for reelection in a bloodless coup, only to have an absolute joke of a candidate installed in his place with no transparency or discussion of how it happened. And when Democrats said this was all just fine, the media knew what they were doing when they collectively agreed and put their full weight behind convincing voters Kamala was a capable alternative. They were lying to the public because the full truth would hurt Democrats.

They don’t get to say they care about a “free and fair” election. They relinquished that right a long time ago, pissing away all of their credibility, cheapening the constitutional right to a free press, and abandoning any responsibility they had to truthfully inform the voters on the state of the nation.

Nobody needs to worry about whether this is going to be a “free and fair” election. The media already decided it wouldn’t be. What we should be concerned with once this is over is figuring out how it is possible to ever have one again.

Hasan has a history of whitewashing terrorism and peddling antisemitism. Hasan called Girdusky a Nazi. Girdusky made a hilarious joke. But Girdusky was fired, and Hasan is the aggrieved party.

This should be an object lesson for any conservative invited on one of the silly discussion shows on either CNN or MSNBC. You are a piñata. You are there as a punching bag. You are there as an object of hate and ridicule. Think of it as the political version of the old-school pro wrestling events. You are the villain. You must lose. So long as you follow the script, take the insults, and accept the lies, you've got a job. The moment a terrorist sympathizer calls you Hitler, and you respond, you're fired. //

ConservativeInMinnesota
3 hours ago
Legacy media rules. Calling a conservative a Nazi isn't offensive. Calling a bigot out for being a bigot is.

zerohedge
@zerohedge
·
Follow
There it is: The hard truth: Americans don’t trust the news media, by Jeff Bezos

"Most people believe the media is biased. Anyone who doesn’t see this is paying scant attention to reality, and those who fight reality lose. Reality is an undefeated champion."

zerohedge @zerohedge
Readership of mainstream media has fallen off a cliff and they are scrambling to salvage something, anything
7:39 PM · Oct 28, 2024 //

etba_ss
11 hours ago
Well, Bezos is half right. They are failing to be believed to be accurate. But they are also not accurate. He never acknowledges this.

He talks about people believing they are bias is a problem. They are biased. The problem is them. Do better. Hire people in the middle and right.

I get the feeling he doesn't want to tell the truth or get rid of bias, but to get better at lying so that they are believed. Like the 90s. //

chris on the right ty
10 hours ago
"Likewise with newspapers. We must be accurate, and we must be believed to be accurate. It’s a bitter pill to swallow, but we are failing on the second requirement. " sorry Jeff but your failing on the first part is the why people do not believe you

Gold Star families and former White House officials are slamming Jeffrey Goldberg’s attempt to smear Trump with another fallacious hit piece. //

Jeffrey Goldberg, editor-in-chief of far-left propaganda outlet The Atlantic, published an article Tuesday with glaring fabrications about former President Donald Trump’s interactions with the families of fallen service members and his outlook on military leadership.

Goldberg’s dishonest hit piece is the latest in a long line of far-left outlets lying and deceiving the American people before a major election. //

While Goldberg’s claims are sourced by “contemporaneous notes” and “a witness,” they were disputed publicly by senior members of the Trump administration who were actually in the room at the time of the alleged incident. //

Goldberg’s smear piece is in line with his 2020 lie, the “suckers and loser” hoax that was also heavily rebutted by nearly everyone involved, which he originated late in the election season as well. Conveniently, Democrats have since been rolling that hoax out every time Trump mentions the military, as they did again in the aftermath of Trump attending the Arlington National Cemetery ceremony.

As my colleague Jordan Boyd wrote, “Nearly two dozen Trump White House officials debunked the hit piece, which only received ‘confirmation’ from one source outside of Goldberg.” In the same way, Goldberg’s newest screed is thinly sourced and relies on anonymous testimony while ignoring or devaluing on-the-record statements.

Goldberg also appears to have invented out of thin air a denial from Meadows spokesman Ben Williamson, saying that Meadows “denied having heard Trump make the statement.” In reality, Meadows said Trump “absolutely did not say that.”

Ben Williamson @_WilliamsonBen
·
On the left: I sent Atlantic a comment saying President Trump “absolutely did not say that,” referring to the alleged comments about Ms. Guillen they printed.

On the right: Atlantic translated that comment to “didn’t hear Trump say it.”

Treat this dishonest piece accordingly.
6:07 PM · Oct 22, 2024

Jeffrey Goldberg published a bombshell story that convulsed the nation. No, I’m not talking about his recent Atlantic magazine piece claiming, based on the testimony of four anonymous sources, that President Trump had grossly disrespected America’s dead and wounded warriors in 2018.

I’m talking about Goldberg’s New Yorker feature claiming that “the relationship between Saddam’s regime and ­al-Qaeda is far closer than previously thought.” Published less than a year after 9/11, the story fed into the fervid pro-war atmosphere that then gripped the nation.

Headlined “The Great Terror,” the essay was based on a reporting trip to Iraq’s northern Kurdish zone. It recounted, in terrifying and admirable detail, Saddam Hussein’s 1988 poison-gas assault against Kurdish civilians in the village of Halabja.

Along the way, Goldberg did other things, too — chief among them, speaking to alleged terrorist detainees in a prison run by a pro-regime-change Kurdish faction.

The mostly unnamed prisoners, per Goldberg, informed him “that the intelligence service of Saddam Hussein has joint control, with al-Qaeda operatives, over [a local jihadist faction]; that Saddam Hussein hosted a senior leader of al-Qaeda in Baghdad in 1992; that a number of al-Qaeda members fleeing ­Afghanistan have been secretly brought into territory controlled by [the local jihadists]; and that Iraqi intelligence agents smuggled conventional weapons, and possibly even chemical and biological weapons, into Afghanistan.” //

Pretty chilling stuff. The Bush administration made Saddam’s ties to al-Qaeda a key plank of its case for regime change. The war happened. Saddam was toppled. But in the years that followed, the Iraq-al-Qaeda link posited by Goldberg unraveled.