The Sy Hersh effect: killing the messenger, ignoring the message, responsiblestatecraft.org

Kelley Beaucar Vlahos, Editorial Director of Responsible Statecraft

The story, released on Hersh’s new Substack last week, unleashed a Twitter war between Hersh’s defenders and detractors, but a simple Google search elicits a dearth of mainstream coverage, including extremely brief reports by Bloomberg, Agence France Presse, The Times (UK) and the New York Post (a conservative holding of Rupert Murdoch’s media empire). The Washington Times editorial board, also squarely on the right, wrote sympathetically about it on Monday, and Newsweek has covered it as well.

All other newspapers of record — the Washington Post, New York Times, Wall Street Journal — and European outlets — BBC, the Guardian, and most German newspapers (an interview on Berliner Zietung dropped late Wednesday  ) —  ignored it. Tucker Carlson and other hosts covered it on FOX News, another Murdoch staple, but the rest of the cable news circuit — CNN, MSNBC — are seemingly on board with what appears to be a total MSM blackout. […]

“If anyone has a more convincing story then come out with it, show us the goods,” charged Mark Ames, co-host of the War Nerd, which on Monday hosted Hersh in his first interview since the article was posted.

In an on-air exchange about the lack of media coverage, Ames, co-host Gary Brecher, and Hersh criticized what they said was a compliant media that unquestioningly supports U.S government aims in regard to the war in Ukraine. It’s that deference that accounts for the apparent lack of curiosity over the story and the urge to attack the messenger rather than grill officials over Hersh’s claims. Läs artikel