Thread by @PalmerReport

1) After New York Times reporter Davey Alba accused Palmer Report of being a "false content producer" without citing a single example of this supposed false content, I reached out to her to discuss. It's been 15 hours with no response. So I'm going to post my questions publicly:

2) When you decided to make this accusation, why did you feel justified in providing no examples to support it? Did you not feel compelled to do any research, or did you already know there were no such examples? What if any conversations did you have with your editors about this?

3) You claimed that ten news sites fit the description of "false content producers" but you only mentioned two of them by name. You provided no context for this. What was your editorial basis for singling out Palmer Report by name, and not mentioning eight other news sites?

4) You claim to basing your accusations on a NewsGuard-affiliated study. What if any research did you do into NewsGuard before citing them as an unimpeachable source? Are you aware of the controversy swirling around NewsGuard, its methods, and its personnel?

5) Most of NewsGuard's "research" appears to simply consist of peeking at what other fact checking sites have said, co-opting it, and then asking news outlets to respond to it all.

How much if any time did you spend scrutinizing NewsGuard before deciding to rely on it?

6) The New York Times appears to have a policy of contacting the subjects of stories and allowing them to provide comment for a story before publication. Considering the seriousness of the allegation you made against Palmer Report, why was I not contacted in this manner?

7) In fact, not only did you not give me an opportunity to provide comment for your story, you didn't even notify me once it was published. Were you hoping you could make this false allegation about me, without me ever knowing about it? Or were you just being lazy?

8) Speaking of laziness: if you had bothered to contact me in advance, I could have saved you a lot of work. I exposed the NewsGuard controversy two years ago, which NewsGuard then bizarrely punished on its own website: newsguardtech.com/feedback/publi…

9) Two years after launch, NewsGuard is an obscure, failed endeavor that's ultimately had zero influence or reach. What motivated you and the New York Times to suddenly cite its findings in your article this week? What third parties, if any, asked you to write this story?

10) When I asked for your contact information yesterday, you simply ignored my request. What is the New York Times' policy for responding to people who have requested a discussion of the factual accuracy of what you're published about them, and are you currently violating it?

11) Since you received my request for a dialogue yesterday, have you discussed it with your editors or superiors? If so, did they instruct you to ignore me? If you haven't discussed it with them, why are you trying to keep this controversy from them?

12) Various major media outlets famously published dishonest and baseless attacks on Palmer Report's integrity in 2017 and 2018. Did you think you could get away with doing the same this week, simply because you've seen others get away with it?

13) How much did these past attack pieces influence you when it came to publishing your false accusations against us without evidence, and singling us out by name from a larger list of more influential news sites?

14) Finally: how many Palmer Report articles did you personally read, before you accused us of being a "false content producer"?

If so, which specific Palmer Report articles led you to this conclusion?

Or have you never read any Palmer Report articles in your life?

15) Davey, you know how to reach me. It's odd that I can't find your email address on the New York Times website. I urge you to reach out to me and fix this. I'm not simply going to let it go. The more you drag this out, the more embarrassing your inevitable retraction will be.