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Media Corruption Further Exposed By Pulitzer Board Refusing to Rescind Awards for ‘Russia Collusion’ Hoax

Posted on Tuesday, June 21, 2022
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AMAC Exclusive – By Claire Brighn

Pulitzer

More than a year after the Russia Collusion Hoax has completely unraveled, and as evidence continues to emerge that the entire narrative of supposed links between the 2016 Trump campaign and the Kremlin was entirely fabricated by top Hillary Clinton campaign officials, the Pulitzer Prize Board has yet to rescind its 2018 awards to The New York Times and The Washington Post for “reporting” on the false story. The longer the prize committee delays, the more its credibility – what little is left – will continue to erode, taking with it Americans’ trust in mainstream media institutions.

Late last month, former President Trump issued a third letter to the Pulitzer Prize Board requesting that it withdraw its 2018 award to the Times and the Post for “deeply sourced, relentlessly reported coverage in the public interest that dramatically furthered the nation’s understanding of Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election and its connections to the Trump campaign, the President-elect’s transition team and his eventual administration.” He urged them to pay “close attention” to the trial of Michael Sussman, Clinton’s 2016 Campaign attorney, showing he fed false information to the FBI with candidate Clinton’s approval. “There is no dispute,” Trump said, “that the Pulitzer Board’s award to those media outlets was based on false and fabricated information that they published.”

As Americans will well remember, the “investigation” into Russia’s supposed involvement in the 2016 election was a constant media firestorm throughout the first three years of Trump’s presidency, as the media openly suggested that Trump was an illegitimate President and Democrats in Congress bogged the administration down with mountains of document and interview requests.

Ultimately, after years of time wasted and millions of taxpayer dollars spent, the verdict was clear: no collusion, no corruption. Yet despite this finding, much of the damage had already been done – and even then, many in the mainstream media and even elected Democrats refused to stop pushing the lie that the Trump campaign had colluded with the Russian government.

Consequently, in his letter to the Pulitzer Prize Board, Trump asks the question: “Together with all the publications that have obsessively promulgated excessively false attacks against me…how do I get my reputation back?”

Under different circumstances, the Pulitzer Prize Board might rescind its prize, or The New York Times and The Washington Post might issue apologies to their readers for falling short of their journalistic charge of reporting “truth.” After all, history shows such a move would not be without precedent. In 1981, for example, after it was revealed that Janet Cooke’s infamous “Jimmy’s World” piece about an 8-year-old heroin addict was a complete fabrication, the Pulitzer Prize Board withdrew its award to The Post and the newspaper sent to its readership, in all caps, a note reading “WE APOLOGIZE.”

In 2000, following Times coverage of Dr. Lee, a Chinese-American scientist accused of giving U.S. secrets to China, the paper acknowledged that its reporting had stirred up a “political frenzy” and that, given “the stakes involved, a man’s liberty and reputation,” they would conduct a post-mortem. They found they could “have pushed harder to uncover weaknesses in the F.B.I. case against Dr. Lee,” often did not use “a tone of journalistic detachment from our sources,” and neglected opportunities to provide “balance.” Each of these self-criticisms could apply to Times coverage of the Trump-Russia scandal – yet no apologies have been forthcoming.

So what’s stopping the Pulitzer Board, the Times, and the Post from carrying out the same corrective measures today, in a case that has far greater implications for public trust in the media and the health of our democracy?

The answer seems to be that robust journalism and uncovering the truth were never the measuring sticks the Pulitzer committee used in bestowing the award on the Times and the Post. Rather, the most important criterion was exacting maximum political damage on President Trump.

Even Maggie Haberman, one of the Times staff who won the award, unwittingly confirmed this when she tweeted in 2017: “Folks involved in funding this [the Steele Dossier] lied about it, and with sanctimony, for a year.” This suggests at the very least that the Times became aware of bad sources yet failed to go back and fully check the veracity of its reporting.

Another serious problem this fiasco reveals is that the Pulitzer Prize “givers” and “receivers” are essentially one and the same – the prize is a grabfest of self-indulgent back-patting. In 2017-2018, for example, two thirds of the Pulitzer Prize Board was comprised of former Times and Post staff. In 11 out of 14 journalism categories, staff members of the these newspapers were nominated or won.

Dig a little deeper, and the corruption becomes even more evident. The jurors on the national reporting category – comprised of five individuals – did not nominate The New York Times among the finalists. It was the Pulitzer Board who pulled the Times articles in and merged them with The Washington Post stories, adding an extra shot of supposed credibility to the “bombshell story” of Russian collusion.

Lee Bollinger, President of Columbia University and a Pulitzer Prize Board member, said in his remarks at the 2018 Pulitzer Luncheon that “this year will stand out in the now century-long history of the prizes as among the most significant.” (Indeed, even a cursory glance at Google Trends analytics shows the “Pulitzer Prize” was a wildly more popular term searched worldwide than in any other year in recent memory). Bollinger continued: “on the political front I think it is clear that the nation is facing the most serious internal attacks on the fundamental values and institutional structures that define a democracy since the Pulitzers were introduced over a century ago” – therein referring to the Trump-Russia collusion hoax and confirming the weaponization of the Pulitzer Prize itself.

There is also the fact that ultra-progressive financier George Soros has donated close to $10 million to Columbia University since 2009, of which well over a million has gone to the Journalism school. According to the “Foundation to Promote Open Society,” $100,000 was donated in 2020 to the Journalism School alone, all “to study the phenomenon of partisan networks masquerading as legitimate news outlets for the purpose of spreading electoral disinformation.” In other words, the money was donated to fund attacks on conservative news outlets.

Considering that the Columbia School of Journalism runs the Pulitzer show administratively – Joseph Pulitzer actually founded the school – this sort of partisan funding immediately compromises the award’s integrity. Moreover, Steve Coll, Dean of the Columbia’s Journalism School, had once worked for The Washington Post. Dana Canedy, then-administrator of the 2018 Pulitzer Prizes, had also worked for The New York Times for over 20 years. Both were on the Pulitzer Prize Board.

The trouble, of course, as journalist Jack Schafer notes in his 2015 piece “The Pulitzer Prize Scam,” is that Pulitzers often set “journalistic orthodoxy” and “professional taboos.” If recent history is any indication, the copious use of anonymous sourcing – not ideal as the modus operandi of journalistic standards – will continue. But perhaps worst of all, the influence of the Pulitzer Prize, paired with the cultural sway of The New York Times and political contacts of The Washington Post, will trudge on. Already, The Post has already reaped another Pulitzer for its Jan. 6 coverage.

This will all undoubtedly continue to have great play in the American political scene, especially leading up to 2024, should Trump run again. But no one should hold their breath waiting for the Pulitzer Prize Board to rescind its 2018 award. The blatantly false content about the 2016 election – and indeed the entirely of Trump’s presidency – peddled out by the mainstream media was always purely a political exercise. The truth, as has so often become the case in American politics generally, was merely an obstacle to the quest for power.

Claire Brighn is the pen name of a conservative researcher and writer with previous domestic and foreign policy experience in the Executive Branch.   

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Kay
Kay
2 years ago

Congress still maintains President Trump has been impeached. This too should be cleared up. All the Russian collusion was a force and all made up by clinton and peelosi. Total hate and lies

ops
ops
2 years ago

Our minds are made up so please do not confuse us with the facts!! Follow the money!!

JEFFREY JONES
JEFFREY JONES
2 years ago

SAVE THE U.S.A….Arrest and deport all democrats ,libturds, and socialists to GITMO for treason and punishment!… It’s time to declare a civil war against the far-left loonies!…THIS IS NOT SPAM!…

Jake the snake
Jake the snake
2 years ago

So the polisher prize folks know the story was part of a made up story by Obama, ckinton, and biden to commit treason and insurecction.
Since the politzer group is liberal they are going to ignore the fact the story is fiction and leave the award anyway.

Dennis Belotti
Dennis Belotti
2 years ago

The vast majority of American conservatives know the “Pulitzer Prize” is a phony kick back scam and has no real merit. The New York Times and Washington Post are tabloid rags and propaganda machines for a corrupt Socialist Administration that stole the Election in 2020.

Michael Lewis
Michael Lewis
2 years ago

Senator Ted Cruz proposed 2014 Bill should be reviewed and passed in light of the lying news:

Ted Cruz Free Speech Act 2014
youtube.com/watch?v=JTCPcqPQu9g

SEN. CRUZ FILES BILLS TO PROTECT THE INDIVIDUAL RIGHT TO FREE SPEECH
cruz.senate.gov/newsroom/press-releases/sen-cruz-files-bills-to-protect-the-individual-right-to-free-speech

We all know that, as things actually are, many of the most influential and most highly remunerated members of the Bar in every center of wealth, make it their special task to work out bold and ingenious schemes by which their wealthy clients, individual or corporate, can evade the laws which were made to regulate, in the interests of the public, the uses of great wealth. – T. Roosevelt, 1905

In the words of E.W. Scripps: A newspaper must at all times antagonize the selfish interests of that very class which furnishes the larger part of a newspaper’s income… The press in this country is dominated by the wealthy few…that it cannot be depended upon to give the great mass of the people that correct information concerning political, economical and social subjects which it is necessary that the mass of people Shall have in order that they vote…in the best way to protect themselves from the brutal force and chicanery of the ruling and employing classes – E.W. Scripps – American Newspaper Publisher 1854-1926

The American people don’t believe anything until they see it on television. – Richard M. Nixon

After Watergate, to protect the public from the appearance of corruption, The Federal Election Campaign Act abridged the freedoms of speech press and assembly of the regulated class: candidates for Federal Office, political parties, PACs and individual citizens.

But the corporate media were exempted because government could not infringe their 1st Amendment rights

52 U.S. Code § 30101 – Definitions (9)(B) The term “expenditure” does not include— (i) any news story, commentary, or editorial distributed through the facilities of any broadcasting station, newspaper, magazine, or other periodical publication, unless such facilities are owned or controlled by any political party, political committee, or candidate; – law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/52/30101

This created a “Royal”, “State Approved” press!

But if candidates and political parties have to pay for time/space in the media, then why are favorable editorials considered to have no value if they are published by corporate media, unless the media is controlled by a political party, political committee, or candidate?

“The 20th century has been characterized by three developments of great political importance: the growth of democracy; the growth of corporate power; and the growth of corporate propaganda as a means of protecting corporate power against democracy.” -Alex Carey, Australian social scientist who pioneered the investigation of corporate propaganda

The people will believe what the media tells them they believe. – George Orwell

It is normal for all large businesses to make serious efforts to influence the news, to avoid embarrassing publicity, and to maximize sympathetic public opinion and government policies. Now they own most of the news media that they wish to influence. – Excerpt from Media Monopoly by Ben H. Bagdikian – 1920-2016

Sharon Ormsby
Sharon Ormsby
2 years ago

They’re waiting until this phony scam of a witch trial is over, so they can write more false stories and win other pundits. Frankly, I’m sick of the fake journalism that has taken over the world today. I’ve been watching the Dan Bornodino show, and it seems to be the only true journalism lately. Frankly, it’s a podcast, as well. Simply, observations about what is going on.I probably misspelled his name, lol.

Tom Claridge
Tom Claridge
2 years ago

They say: “the truth will set you free” or as Joe Biden famously said: “we choose truth over fact”
(ALL mistakenly thinking that was a gaffe as opposed to the actual Democrat Party agenda) you
see “TRUTH” is what the LEFT / DEMS. — SAY IT IS! Facts be damned twice over! THC

CLIFFORD F GERACI
CLIFFORD F GERACI
2 years ago

This is a HUGE problem. When the media are part of the conspiracy to delude and influence information to bias a line of thought, America is in deep trouble. They are the real “KING MAKERS” as they drive ANY narrative they deem worthy, regardless of its validity.


Steve Weidert
Steve Weidert
2 years ago

Just think of the millions of dollars we’d have if the Demon-Rats hadn’t squandered it on their foolish witch hunt. Maybe I could get my 2020 and 2021 tax refunds.

Old Silk
Old Silk
2 years ago

The devil only gets the upper hand for so long before he gets stopped.

Stengelese
Stengelese
2 years ago

My spin–let’s give the Pulitzer Prize Board props for recognizing and awarding these two liberal rags for their abilities to unconvincingly and falsely report on the whole Russian Collusion sham, and for all three entities to still continue the false narrative today.
It takes remarkable effort and endurance by the staff of NYT and WaPo, to try to maintain and further this deception, despite the facts and evidence available to the contrary. It speaks volumes that the Board could recognize this failing effort; and, without apology, still present them this award.
To the Pulitzer Prize Board, please DON’T rescind your prize. It further confirms and emphasizes the lack of credibility that the Board has, along with its prize winners.

Ali
Ali
2 years ago

how much more stupid can ANYONE get to actually believe the WaPo and NYT??? I have been constantly “exposed” to the two for about 70 YESARS through living in the DC community and communicating with same!!!! these two “wrags” ARE kin to the other RAGS that chase people around with tabloid fantacies…totally USELESS when involving ANY REAL TRUTH!!!

Deb Rockwell
Deb Rockwell
2 years ago

We need a catchy new name for the prize that exposes the organization for who they really are. How about the P.U. Litzer Prize? Or the Fool Litzer Prize? Feel free to post creative ideas. Let’s make the best one go viral.

Elaine H
Elaine H
2 years ago

Well now we know the Pulitzer Prize is worthless.
Anyone with a story (true or false) can now get an award from them. No prestige in that award!

Martin
Martin
2 years ago

Putzer has lost all credibility!

Stephen Russell
Stephen Russell
2 years ago

Who cares about PP more BS “awards”

Philip Hammersley
Philip Hammersley
2 years ago

Not the first times the SLIMES got a Pulitzer based on LIES. Walter Duranty, Stalin’s favorite “journalist,” wrote glowing articles about the wonderful Soviet advances and happy people while “Uncle Joe” was starving the Ukrainians because they opposed his communist farm programs. Duranty got $$$ from Stalin and a “girlfriend” as well.
The SLIMES also covered up the Holocaust. Mark Levin has done extensive research on that!

Honey
Honey
2 years ago

On another issue, I have been watching these January 6th hearings. Today’s had a lot of particularly moving things in it and made Trump look awful.

But anyone watching with half a brain can see the selective indignation of this committee. Even as they show these edited clips of Trump pressuring state officials to find more votes for him, and talking about this is the first time in our history there has been an effort to take down an election, we can see glaring inconsistencies all over the place.

Where is their anger at Hillary for her treasonous efforts to lie and stubborn Trump for four years? “He knows he is not a legitimate President.”

Where is their anger at all of the obvious lawbreaking in Pa. and other states during this election process.?

And above all where is their rage at all the real murders, violence and destruction of property in all of the liberal run cities all over the country for so long?

Those who were threatened by zealous Trump supporters for being good public election workers – their stories are sad and scary. But I am skeptical that those who threatened them were really Trump supporters. I believe they were, as they were so often before, lefties parading as Trump supporters to make Trump look bad. But even if they were Trumpers, where is the committee’s worry over the currentthreats to Supreme Court Justices’ homes?

I despise elective indignation.

Bob
Bob
2 years ago

You seem surprised. This is what democrats do.

jocko
jocko
2 years ago

libs=CANCER AND ARE THE ENEMY OF OUR NATION

Julia
Julia
2 years ago

Not surprised, guess someone will have to sue them for defamation?

D.P.
D.P.
2 years ago

Hey, I want a pulitzer prize…..for my memos to my wife as to my love for her and our many years of
life together…..all true…all verifiable, and all without any political spin………Hey Pulitzer Prize people, get off your high horse and do what you were originally slated to do….award professional and expert journalism……you are all hacks.

Barrett Smith
Barrett Smith
2 years ago

The Pulitzer Prize has now become meaningless. It is like a participation trophy handed out by an elementary school teacher.

Paul W
Paul W
2 years ago

Of course they’re corrupt!!! Alt-journalism is the only source to have some chance of finding the truth. Journalism is dead and buried in the “main stream”. In fact, it has been for a long time. Additionally, the “msm” is complicit in every tyrannical assault that we’re enduring. They omit, spin, obfuscate and flat-out LIE, blatantly. It’s 100% collusion, and the media are accessories before, during and most especially after the fact!

JudyG
JudyG
2 years ago

Well, it appears that the Pulitzer Board has also lost it’s collective minds! I cannot see how any future Pulitzer Award will hold the prestige it has in the past. Shame on them. Are they afraid they made a mistake or have they just jumped on board the crazy, irrational, illogical left-wing band wagon? Sheesh!

Luke
Luke
2 years ago

This is sleazy beyond compare. Pretty sure it goes back to indoctrination in public schools. Politicians use voter ignorance, gullibility and illiteracy to their advantage. This is why I thoroughly despise politicians. Unions extort money from ‘brothers and sisters’ in the union. Politicians are just parasites sucking the blood out of the American taxpayer.

Dave
Dave
2 years ago

Pretty soon the boast is going to be “Never won a Pulitzer!”

Patty
Patty
2 years ago

…. and yet they still expect us to believe Joe “won” in 2020 ????????????.
Until it comes from God’s lips, I will not believe it.

Bill T
Bill T
2 years ago

It’s NAZI PROPAGANDA,our leftist liberal socialist Democratic Party has been bought out, that’s the reality of it. And the RHINOS are even worse, we need a new political party! That’s unfortunate but true.

Tim Toroian
Tim Toroian
2 years ago

Trump didn’t say it loud enough, FAKE NEWS!!! If lawyers acted like the media Bar Associations would be useless.

Adelle
Adelle
2 years ago

So Soros and his billions$ now control lies over truth…this is the most despicable peversion of democracy and freedom in my lifetime. How do we allow one man, because he throws his $ to progressive liberals, to absolutely control the universities, the media and politics? WHY?

Derek Parker
Derek Parker
2 years ago

To tell the truth, I would not worry too much about this. The credibility of the Times, WaPo, and many other other mainstream news outlets has already been thoroughly shredded, and taking back (or giving back) the awards will not change that. They will continue to talk with increasingly shrillness to a decreasing number of people. It is a shame that the ultimate outcome will be a polarized society of sensible people (the majority) and wild-eyed wokesters, but if that is going to happen I know on which side I, for one, would prefer to be.

James Thompson
James Thompson
2 years ago

Time for a new ME TOO movement!
Hey Dems, what about ME?

K. Martin
K. Martin
2 years ago

Just like the Nobel (Obama? Really???), the Pulitzer has become nothing more than a joke.

Betsy Verloop
Betsy Verloop
2 years ago

And we are to believe the 2020 election wasn’t stolen? Did my eyes deceive me…

Rob Schellinger
Rob Schellinger
2 years ago

Au contraire. Just bear in mind, and remind everyone you know, that Pulitzer was a big league Yellow Journalist. It fits.

Marcus Ebenhack
Marcus Ebenhack
2 years ago

“…partisan networks masquerading as legitimate news outlets for the purpose of spreading electoral disinformation.”

If there’s a more accurate description of the New York Times and Washington Post I have yet to see it.

Marcus Ebenhack
Marcus Ebenhack
2 years ago

2018 Pulitzer press release:

NATIONAL REPORTING
Staffs of The New York Times and The Washington PostThe organizations were recognized for their reporting on Russia’s influence in the 2016 election, the Trump transition team and the presidential administration. The winning pieces included washingtonpost.com/world/national-security/sessions-spoke-twice-with-russian-ambassador-during-trumps-presidential-campaign-justice-officials-say/2017/03/01/77205eda-feac-11e6-99b4-9e613afeb09f_story.html?utm_term=.5f8b4a3a03b4″ target=”_blank” rel=”noopener nofollow ugc”>report in The Post that Attorney General Jeff Sessions had spoken to Russia’s ambassador to the United States during the presidential campaign, contradicting his confirmation hearing testimony, and follow a report in The Times that President Trump asked James Comey, then the F.B.I.’s director, to end an inquiry into Michael Flynn.

Interesting they don’t name individuals but I will. If Maggie Haberman (NYT, referenced in the article, or David Ignatius (WaPo,) and their cohorts had a shred of dignity or journalistic ethics they would put the sources that fed them this blatant propaganda. Alas none have. And these aren’t cub reporters who couldn’t find their arses with both hands ala Woodward and Bernstein in the Watergate saga, they are seasoned Democrat media operatives and as such weren’t duped by their “sources”, rather witting co-conspirators in their malfeasance.

Paul W Gregory
Paul W Gregory
2 years ago

Apparently, the Pulitzer Board is comfortable with condoning, and tacitly participating in journalistic misinformation. The Pulitzer has lost its credibility. Disgraceful.

Bruce Parker
Bruce Parker
2 years ago

The Pulitzer prize has gone the way of the Nobel Peace prize. Strictly political now and no need for integrity or effort to get either. It’s who you know….

Gary
Gary
2 years ago

Obviously the Pulsar Board is just as crooked as Clinton. I don’t see them withdrawing the award since their agenda corallites with hers.

Anthony Dellisola
Anthony Dellisola
2 years ago

So basically the Pulitzer Prize is not worth the paper it’s printed on or the metal is tarnished. This is also not the first time this low lever award was given out for no accomplishment. Obama received one for doing nothing!

Harry
Harry
2 years ago

All we do is talk. These people will never quit until we destroy them like they destroyed the US! Time to cut the bull sh*t an do what they do which people believe! Cheat and kill!

PFArizona
PFArizona
2 years ago

Wow. Fabulous article. It’s amazing how Soros has his money and influence everywhere in this Country! Thank you for this information. And President Trump should win the Nobel Peace Prize, but I’m guessing he won’t. Another unreliable organization.

Bill T
Bill T
2 years ago

This country is following the exact playbook of banana republic and tyrannical government countries, Propaganda and deceitful lies constantly being forced down on us everywhere and every minute. Our journalists and the media have become the source of politically influencing and extremely dangerous lies about everything. If it doesn’t fit into there narrative then it’s destroyed regardless of the truth. This is exactly the MARXISTS STRATEGY to poison the masses and then after it’s all completely ruined take everything over. Then out of the kindness and total understanding of the lower class MINIONS completely rule with an iron fist. You will own nothing and be tolerant of it , or else? Yes this the time of reckoning. These progressive Marxist traders and haters of all true American citizens have definitely declared WAR on our country and our constitution for which we all stand.

Ken
Ken
2 years ago

Everyone know that Nobel Prizes go to the highest bidder. They had them out to people that don’t have a clue about the subject, but are backed by the richest Universities, Corporations or Political groups.

Myrna Wade
Myrna Wade
2 years ago

The awards are bestowed by elites to those who are contributing to the Great Reset. The vicious globalists need to be exposed.

Lisa Skinner
Lisa Skinner
2 years ago

What a joke the mainstream media and newspapers have become.
How do these people sleep at night ????

Tony
Tony
2 years ago

The main stream media is corrupt

Navy Blue AMAC Action Weekly Update
Donald Trump speaking to supporters at an immigration policy speech at the Phoenix Convention Center in Phoenix, Arizona.
“All the nations of the world — friend or foe — will find that America is strong, America is proud, and America is free.” (Official White House Photo by Shealah Craighead)

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