NY Times backs off its correction of "all 17 intelligence organizations" after only one day. Repackages it as "the unanimous conclusion of United States intelligence agencies." It wasn't the conclusion of even one agency. Per James Clapper it was conclusion of "hand picked" analysts from 3 agencies plus his own office-Lazare, Consortium News

"Clapper further acknowledged that the analysts who produced the Jan. 6 assessment on alleged Russian hacking were “hand-picked” from the CIA, FBI and NSA. 

Yet, as any intelligence expert will tell you, if you “hand-pick” the analysts, you are really hand-picking the conclusion."...

6/30/17, "The Mad Chase for Russia-gate Prey," Consortium News, Daniel Lazare

"As the Russia-gate imbroglio proves, a grave danger in journalism comes when the pack is running headlong in pursuit of the same prey and casts aside normal standards of care and fairness."...

"The New York Times also got caught up in its enthusiasm to hype the Russia-gate case on June 25 when it ran a story slamming Trump for “refus[ing] to acknowledge a basic fact agreed upon by 17 American intelligence agencies that he now oversees: Russia orchestrated the attacks [on Democratic emails], and did it to help get him elected.” 

The “17-intelligence-agency” canard has been a favorite go-to assertion for both Democrats and the mainstream news media [and machine Republicans], although it was repudiated in May by President Obama’s Director of National Intelligence James Clapper and CIA Director John Brennan. 

So, on June 29, the Times apparently found itself with no choice but to issue a correction stating: “The [Russia-hacking] assessment was made by four intelligence agencies — the Office of the Director of National Intelligence, the Central Intelligence Agency, the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the National Security Agency. The assessment was not approved by all 17 organizations in the American intelligence community.” 

This point is important because, as Consortiumnews.com and other non-mainstream news outlets have argued for more than a month, it is much easier to manipulate a finding by hand-picking analysts [Clapper said analysts were “hand-picked”] from a small number of intelligence agencies than by seeking the judgments and dissents from all 17."... 

["Clapper further acknowledged that the analysts who produced the Jan. 6 assessment on alleged Russian hacking were “hand-picked” from the CIA, FBI and NSA. 

Yet, as any intelligence expert will tell you, if you “hand-pick” the analysts, you are really hand-picking the conclusion."... 6/29/17, "NYT Finally Retracts Russia-gate Canard," Consortium News, Robert Parry]

(continuing): "Despite the correction, the Times soon returned to its pattern of shading the truth regarding the U.S. intelligence assessment. On June 30, a Times article reported: “Mr. Trump has repeatedly cast doubt on the unanimous conclusion of United States intelligence agencies that Russia sought to interfere in the 2016 race.” [6/29/17 (6/30 print ed.), "Trump to Meet With Putin at G-20 Gathering Next Week," NY Times, Julie Hirschfield Davis]

 The Times’ phrase “unanimous conclusion” conveys the false impression that all 17 agencies were onboard without specifically saying so, although we now know that the Times’ editors are aware that only selected analysts from three agencies plus the DNI’s office were involved.

 In other words, the Times cited a “unanimous conclusion of United States intelligence agencies” to mislead its readers without specifically repeating the “all-17-agencies” falsehood. This behavior suggests that the Times is so blinded by its anti-Trump animus that it wants to conceal from its readers how shaky the whole tale is.... 

The pain began on June 8 when ex-FBI Director James Comey testified that a sensational New York Times article declaring that “members of Donald J. Trump’s 2016 presidential campaign and other Trump associates had repeated contacts with senior Russian intelligence officials” was “in the main…not true.”"...

 


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