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Deadline Gambit – THE GUARDIAN
The story was just too good to ruin with accuracy.
At The Guardian, they were really intent upon getting the goods on Tulsi Gabbard, so much so that they were not concerned about getting good information.
Cate Brown was eager to share the details about a whistleblower involving a call from an intelligence agent and someone in Trump’s orbit.
SCOOP: The NSA detected a phone call between foreign intelligence and a person close to Trump last spring.
— Cate Brown (@catebrown12) February 7, 2026
Whistleblower says that @DNIGabbard blocked agency from sharing report and delivered it to White House chief of staff. https://t.co/BxXkQJoNqL
As Ms. Brown excitedly shared her exposé, Alexa Henning, Gabbard’s Deputy Chief of Staff, not only categorically denied this report, she informs that she told Brown about the inaccuracies and would get her the correct information, but she stampeded with having her report published.
Your story is false. This headline is not accurate.
— Alexa Henning (@alexahenning) February 7, 2026
Your leaker lied to you. And you ignored our requests to give us time to get you accurate information and published your story before we could respond.
You are a total loser being used by your sources (likely Congress) to… https://t.co/kWyVWXR2yJ
The result: Brown had to come out with what she calls a “clarification.” It is, in truth, a revision. The phone call was actually now said to be between two figures outside the Trump orbit, and as the editor’s note in the piece now reads, the report was based not on the whistleblower’s words but what had been said by their attorney, who alters his comments.
Remember back when reporters were instructed to get corroboration from additional sources? That would have been a prudent rule to follow in this case.
Whistleblower attorney @AndrewBakaj revised his previous statement to the Guardian, saying that "The NSA picked up a phone call between two members of foreign intelligence involving someone close to the Trump White House."
— Cate Brown (@catebrown12) February 8, 2026
Updated for clarity -->https://t.co/BxXkQJofBd
Artisanally-Crafted Narratives – THE TIMES OF LONDON
Seems like further research would have been beneficial.
Another outlet has fallen prey to relying on a solitary source, and gets shamed as a result. The Times gave a report about Jeffrey Epstein having ties to Mossad, but as Ben Smith of Semafor notes, this was based on a lone dubious source, and no tangible evidence was provided to back the claim.
This is the kind of reporting that normally has disinformation/fake news/propaganda attached to it, where the usual outrage merchants are normally interested in calling this out.
https://t.co/IQ4v8GtQN4 pic.twitter.com/QXZbSb7jZH
— Ben Smith (@semaforben) February 9, 2026
Border-line Obsession – THE IRISH TIMES
You are upset that you are getting him back?
There is a story about a 20-year resident from Ireland being picked up by ICE and held for months. As the home country paper states, he has a “valid” green card. He is married to a U.S. citizen and has started his own business. But, as we have come to expect, there is always more to these stories.
While he does seem to be the very type of arrival who is beneficial, we see that he came to this country on a 90-day visa, and overstayed his permit – by nearly 20 years.
What is revealing is that he somehow navigated the labyrinthine process to start up his own company, but during two decades could not find a way to get the documents to become a naturalized citizen.
Seamus Culleton was arrested on September 9th, 2025, and has been in an Ice detention facility in Texas for nearly five months, despite having no criminal record, “not even a parking ticket” https://t.co/g4BKUlpQ3S
— The Irish Times (@IrishTimes) February 9, 2026
Reporting on the Mirror – WASHINGTON POST
A failure of creativity AND of timing.
Max Tani reports that there was yet another challenge experienced by the Washington Post. The paper was set to alter its tag line, moving on from “Democracy Dies In Darkness,” and going with a more generic-sounding and unoriginal line of “We The People.” But, just as they were set to make the announcement, MSNBC went with its forced rebranding, and the outlet used that same phrase in its PR campaign.
So as the Post was forced to pull back that effort, you have to wonder if any of the recently departed figures from the Post leaked this nugget to the cable network.
From @semafor media newsletter: The Washington Post was set to debut a marketing campaign with a new slogan, "We The People."
— Max Tani (@maxwelltani) February 9, 2026
But right before WaPo was set to go live, MS Now launched a $20 million brand campaign with the slogan "We The People."
WaPo scrapped its campaign. pic.twitter.com/ojVDhXg4UG
Legalized Press-titution – THE NEW YORK TIMES
The people of the city thank you for staying abreast of these vital details.
Looking at New York City, you have no lack of news worth covering. There are snow removal challenges, trash pickups polluting the city, and the mayor spouting off more and more disturbing instances of communist policies and strict Muslim practices. Then there is the not so small matter of the lack of efforts made with the homeless, leading to at least 18 people perishing in the cold.
With all of this building up, The Times dedicates its energy to what is most important: How Mayor Zohran Mamdani selects his winter coat purchases with the aid of his wife.
So glad that the @nytimes is continuing its hard-nosed coverage of the Mamdani administration. Democracy dies in darkness! pic.twitter.com/LsbeSulE6w
— Gary Weiss (@gary_weiss) February 9, 2026
