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Shooting the Messenger

online reporting by INDependent journalist Dean Sterling Jones

Category: All Posts

  • Daily Beast: Pecker Pulls Back on Pro-Trump Coverage

    National Enquirer boss tiptoes away from his pal Trump, with an assist from Hollywood’s leading talent agency. Check out my latest byline at The Daily Beast Via “National Enquirer Boss David Pecker Tiptoes Away From His Pal Trump as Scandal Swirls and Circulation Drops” by Lachlan Markay, Asawin Suebsaeng and Dean Sterling Jones, The Daily Beast,…

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  • Sex, Lies and Wikipedia

    Who scrubbed the Wikipedia bio of alleged Russian spy Maria Butina? Read my latest at The Daily Beast, plus coverage of the story by The Rachel Maddow Show Via “Who Whitewashed the Wiki of Alleged Russian Spy Maria Butina?” by Lachlan Markay and Dean Sterling Jones, The Daily Beast, July 24, 2018: Anonymous Wikipedia users engaged in…

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  • Pro-Trump Bot Campaign Tries to Hijack Daily Beast Article About Pro-Trump Bot Campaign

    An online media campaign to obscure unflattering news articles about Donald Trump has targeted a Daily Beast article I co-authored about the campaign Earlier today, Twitter purged tens of millions of fake and suspicious accounts in a seeming attempt to restore trust in the embattled social media platform, which had been exploited by Russian operatives…

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  • Byline at the Beast

    I just co-authored this investigative piece with The Daily Beast’s Lachlan Markay Since late last year, I’ve been researching an online PR campaign seemingly intended to manipulate Google’s search results in order to obscure unflattering news articles about Donald Trump’s Russian business ties. Yesterday, the story was published in The Daily Beast. Via “Inside the Online…

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  • Being Alexander Malkevich

    When the head of Russia’s new disinformation campaign arrived in Washington DC this week, reporters for NBC News and Foreign Policy were there to meet him Last week, I blogged an original story about Alexander Malkevich, a Russian government policy adviser and head of USA Really, a troll factory-linked propaganda organisation in Washington DC. Shortly…

    Read more: Being Alexander Malkevich
  • The Propaganda Game

    — Reporters at Singapore summit thought Donald Trump-produced video was North Korean propaganda At a press conference today at the Singapore summit, journalists were shown a video, filmed in the style of a movie trailer, about “the opening up of a new future” between US president Donald Trump and North Korean dictator Kim Jong-un, who had met…

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  • Beast from the East

    Round-up of news coverage re: Shooting the Messenger story about a DC-based Russian disinformation media campaign headed by a Russian government policy adviser Last week, I blogged an original story about a new Washington DC-based Russian disinformation campaign that was the culmination of over a month’s research. The story was subsequently picked up by The…

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  • Trolling the Electorate

    A Russian troll factory-linked media campaign headed by a Putin-approved government consultant claims to have an office facing the White House. For the past month, I’ve been closely following “Wake up, America!”—a mysterious “Russian ops” campaign that recently made headlines after it attempted to organise a flash mob event at the White House to celebrate Donald…

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  • Russian Trolls Cancel White House Flash Mob Following Media Exposés, Citing Deep State Conspiracy

    Organisers of the event applied for the wrong permit, before accusing U.S. authorities of conspiring against them. Update, June 14, 2018: USA Really’s website has posted a new article stating that the flash mob will go ahead “in downtown Washington not far from The White House.” source Last month, I scooped the story that a…

    Read more: Russian Trolls Cancel White House Flash Mob Following Media Exposés, Citing Deep State Conspiracy
  • Scooping McClatchy

    Shooting the Messenger scoop makes it to The Rachel Maddow Show via McClatchy DC For the past month I’ve been blogging about a new anti-US media campaign started by the Internet Research Agency (IRA), better known as the Russian troll factory. In April, my post about the campaign’s recruitment of “English-speaking journalists” was picked up…

    Read more: Scooping McClatchy