Yesterday I took a long look at ProPublica’s effort to nail Pete Hegseth’s nomination as Secretary of Defense with a story that turned out to be false. When Hegseth preempted ProPublica with evidence rebutting the story, ProPublica editor Jesse Eisinger patted himself on the back for his and their exemplary “journalism.” In part 4 of his self-congratulatory 11-part X thread, Eisinger proclaimed: “You must give the subject of a potential story a fair chance to respond to all of the salient facts in the story.”
4/Now we thought we had the makings of a significant story.
But the first rule of good journalism is: No Surprises.
You must give the subject of a potential story a fair chance to respond to all of the salient facts in the story.
— Jesse Eisinger (@eisingerj) December 11, 2024
Yesterday it emerged that ProPublica had given Hegseth one hour to respond to its claim — not a question — that he had not applied to West Point 25 years earlier, let alone been admitted: “Why did Mr. Hegseth say he got in to West Point when that is not true?” ProPublica intended its story to be a killshot: “How can Mr. Hegseth be Secretary of Defense given that he has made false statements about getting in to the military’s most prestigious academy?”
“Our deadline is in one hour,” ProPublica advised. One hour constituted the “fair chance” that ProPublica gave Hegseth to respond.
"How can Mr. Hegseth be Secretary of Defense given that he has made false statements about getting in to the military's most prestigious academy?"
They ask this question, then when find out they were lied to, they just shrugged and dropped the story. Incredible. pic.twitter.com/FS2pvNlsMD
— John Ekdahl (@JohnEkdahl) December 12, 2024
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