Thread by @benimmo

Thread, in the interest of there being a clear record:

Sputnik has made a number of false statements about me.

This matters, because facts still matter.

Evidence follows. Will a retraction follow too?

cc @SputnikInt

1. Sputnik said I have "no discernible history" in political journalism.

In fact, I was EU and NATO correspondent for @dpa_intl. That fact is discernible, because it's in my Atlantic Council bio.

atlanticcouncil.org/about/experts/…

More: Sputnik +quoted+ my bio in the same article, and provided the link.

Looks like @SputnikInt either:

a) didn't read it;
b) didn't understand it;
or
c) chose to suppress a material fact.

2. Sputnik said I "smeared" Jeremy Corbyn by writing on RT's unbalanced coverage of him.

It quoted, i.a., a report I wrote for Parliament with @JEyal_RUSI.

Only para 25 said I +didn't+ accuse Corbyn of any conscious role.

A material fact, omitted.

data.parliament.uk/writtenevidenc…

This Sputnik paragraph tried to bolster the claim of a running smear campaign post-Corbyn's election as leader by quoting three articles, including the Parliament one.

They misrepresented all three.

I've already dealt with the Parliament one. The second one was Sputnik quoting the Sun, which had quoted an article I'd written.

Sputnik said my comment was about trolls "trying to boost the Labour leader's support."

It wasn't.

Here's the actual article. Corbyn wasn't even +mentioned+ in it, because it was about pro-Kremlin trolls attacking UK MPs, including @RhonddaBryant, @thomasbrake and @DavidGauke.

Sputnik's claim was false. Again.

Post: medium.com/dfrlab/russian…

The third was from the @Independent. Sputnik said I "suggested" Russian state bots were backing Corbyn, in an attempt to "connect" him to Russia.

Here are the +full+ quotes, where I said you +couldn't+ connect the bots to the Russian state.

Material fact. Omitted.

Sputnik also implied that I currently work for the Institute for Statecraft.

In fact, I worked for them in 2016, and was published by the Integrity Initiative, as is obvious from their website.

I left Statecraft at the end of 2016, and have since been working for @DFRLab. Again, that's obvious from a simple Google (and apologies to the long-suffering @grahambrookie for sending in so many long reads).

If Sputnik were confused, their job was to ask. They didn't.

Why is this important? Because the attack on me wasn't an isolated case. There's the promise of plenty more to come, targeting more people.

But facts are still facts. And they need to be out there. //

Thread ends.