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Marcy Wheeler, also known as @emptywheel, appeared on a panel today at Columbia University and shed additional light on her decision to voluntarily hand over a source to the FBI. I was so honored to be able to ask her a question. Here's the exchange:
I also thought it was notable that Marcy disclosed she has "ties, certainly, in the Democratic Party." I'm curious about the full nature and scope of those "ties"
I can post the full discussion if people want (though I think Columbia will be posting it at some point). I still find it incredible that @keithgessen, moderating a panel about journalism in the era of Trump/Russia, failed to ask Ben Smith about the debunked Michael Cohen story
Anyway, I could not be more happy that I never went to "journalism school," which has always been a complete racket. Here's the estimated cost of attending the Columbia Graduate School of Journalism, per Columbia's own estimate 
I should clarify that @keithgessen did ask Ben Smith about tangential aspects of the Cohen story but didn't address the core "debunking" -- meaning that the reporters stood by the story for almost 5 months and didn't admit it was wrong till last week. Should've been more precise
It also wasn't addressed that Smith publicly defended the story on numerous occasions after it was obviously untenable (including on Fox News with me) and it was only after the Mueller Report was issued -- four months later -- that BuzzFeed effectively retracted the story
Nonetheless, I should have been more precise in my characterization. @keithgessen
My basic problem with this panel (and with media chatter post-Mueller Report more generally) is that none of the questions posed were premised on the media having done anything wrong. Rather, it was almost self-congratulatory. This was an epic fiasco and they won't acknowledge it
Ultimately, accountability is never going to come from within these insular elite spheres. They require non-accountability as a self-defense, and self-sustainment mechanism. It will have to be imposed from the outside. They’re just too far gone
