It appears the Guardian has simply taken this story, provided by spooks, at face value. Even if it later turns out that Manafort did visit Assange, the Guardian clearly had no compelling evidence for its claims when it published them. That is profoundly irresponsible journalism -- fake news -- that should be of the gravest concern to readers.
A pattern, not an aberration
Despite all this, even analysts critical of the Guardian's behavior have shown a glaring failure to understand that its latest coverage represents not an aberration by the paper but decisively fits with a pattern.
Glenn Greenwald, who once had an influential column in the Guardian until an apparent, though unacknowledged, falling out with his employer over the Edward Snowden revelations, wrote a series of baffling observations about the Guardian's latest story.
First, he suggested it was simply evidence of the Guardian's long-standing (and well-documented) hostility towards Assange.
"The Guardian, an otherwise solid and reliable paper, has such a pervasive and unprofessionally personal hatred for Julian Assange that it has frequently dispensed with all journalistic standards in order to malign him."
It was also apparently evidence of the paper's clickbait tendencies:
"They [Guardian editors] knew that publishing this story would cause partisan warriors to excitedly spread the story, and that cable news outlets would hyperventilate over it, and that they'd reap the rewards regardless of whether the story turned out to be true or false."
And finally, in a bizarre tweet, Greenwald opined, "I hope the story [maligning Assange] turns out true" --- apparently because maintenance of the Guardian's reputation is more important than Assange's fate and the right of journalists to dig up embarrassing secrets without fear of being imprisoned.
Deeper malaise
What this misses is that the Guardian's attacks on Assange are not exceptional or motivated solely by personal animosity. They are entirely predictable and systematic. Rather than being the reason for the Guardian violating basic journalistic standards and ethics, the paper's hatred of Assange is a symptom of a deeper malaise in the Guardian and the wider corporate media.
Even aside from its decade-long campaign against Assange, the Guardian is far from "solid and reliable," as Greenwald claims. It has been at the forefront of the relentless, and unhinged, attacks on Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn for prioritizing the rights of Palestinians over Israel's right to continue its belligerent occupation. Over the past three years, the Guardian has injected credibility into the Israel lobby's desperate efforts to tar Corbyn as an anti-semite. See here, here and here.
Similarly, the Guardian worked tirelessly to promote Clinton and undermine Sanders in the 2016 Democratic nomination process -- another reason the paper has been so assiduous in promoting the idea that Assange, aided by Russia, was determined to promote Trump over Clinton for the presidency.
The Guardian's coverage of Latin America, especially of populist left-wing governments that have rebelled against traditional and oppressive US hegemony in the region, has long grated with analysts and experts. Its especial venom has been reserved for left-wing figures like Venezuela's Hugo Chavez, democratically elected but official enemies of the US, rather than the region's right-wing authoritarians beloved of Washington.
The Guardian has been vocal in the so-called "fake news" hysteria, decrying the influence of social media, the only place where left-wing dissidents have managed to find a small foothold to promote their politics and counter the corporate media narrative.
The Guardian has painted social media chiefly as a platform overrun by Russian trolls, arguing that this should justify ever-tighter restrictions that have so far curbed critical voices of the dissident left more than the right.
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