As part of their American Pravda series, Project Veritas has exposed the bias inside The New York Times. James O’Keefe and his team of undercover reporters are now placing the spotlight on The Washington Post newsroom, and it isn’t looking very flattering for a newspaper that proclaims neutrality and that “democracy dies in darkness.”
O’Keefe’s latest campaign hit a hurdle this week after The Post discovered that Project Veritas tried to sting the Jeff Bezos-owned publication. The organization had a woman approach the paper and falsely claim Alabama U.S. Senate candidate Roy Moore had a sexual relationship with her when she was 15 and got her pregnant.
This has clouded O’Keefe’s initial coverage of The Post, and two separate narratives have already blossomed. On the one hand, people are celebrating WaPo and accusing O’Keefe of providing cover for Moore and the Republican Party. On the other hand, commentators are pointing out that WaPo did what it is supposed to do: good old-fashioned journalism, something many say is lacking at the paper.
The Washington Post Fails to Take Bait
On Monday, The Washington Post published an in-depth report about its interactions with Jamie T. Phillips, a 41-year-old woman who was interviewed over a period of two weeks. She told the newspaper that she and Moore had a sexual relationship 25 years ago when she was a teenager. Phillips claimed he got her pregnant and then drove her to Mississippi to get an abortion.
Following multiple off-the-record conversations and shoe leather investigations, Post journalists came across a number of inconsistencies. They then followed Phillips and found her entering Project Veritas offices in New York, where she remained for about an hour.
Martin Baron, the newspaper’s executive editor, told reporters:
“This so-called off-the-record conversation was the essence of a scheme to deceive and embarrass us. The intent by Project Veritas clearly was to publicize the conversation if we fell for the trap. Because of our customary journalistic rigor, we weren’t fooled, and we can’t honor an ‘off-the-record’ agreement that was solicited in maliciously bad faith.”
Aaron C. Davis, one of the authors of the investigation, approached O’Keefe to ask several questions, including whether Phillips is employed by Project Veritas. The group’s founder avoided Davis’s inquiries, and instead flipped the exchange and asked some of his own.
The news outlet is now on red alert. According to a memo leaked to Project Veritas by inside sources, Tracy Grant, the deputy managing editor, is now requesting all staff to have students, visiting journalists, and government representatives cleared with her before arriving to the newsroom. The memo also encourages personnel to be “mindful about engaging in conversations about Post practices with people you don’t know.”
Email inside @washingtonpost obtained by @Project_Veritas shows WaPo newsroom on red alert for #ProjectVeritas. More video inside dropping this week. pic.twitter.com/1J9sK2vcrU
— James O'Keefe (@JamesOKeefeIII) November 28, 2017
Since Monday, the media has launched a full-frontal assault on O’Keefe, opining on his motives. His statement is that he sent an undercover reporter to “test the veracity of The Washington Post’s newsroom.”
Project Veritas Exposes the Post
On Wednesday, Project Veritas released its second video in its American Pravda-Post investigation. This time, undercover reporters spoke with Adam Entous, a national security reporter, who stated that “there’s no evidence” of President Donald Trump “being in cahoots with the Russians.”
Entous conceded that perhaps there may be evidence of Russian collusion by low-level people in Trump’s team, adding that “it’s a f—ing crap shoot.” But, as O’Keefe alluded to in the video, this is contradictory to the editorial board’s stance that the president is complicit.
The latest video also contained Melissa Hyde McCullough, director of newsroom operations. McCullough revealed that she hopes Trump “doesn’t get re-elected in another three years,” noting that he “is living on a different planet.”
Earlier this week, the entity posted a video with Dan Lamothe, a national security writer, who highlighted some of the newspaper’s editorial bias and admitted that the newspaper dislikes Trump. Lamothe also took a shot at some of his “over the top” colleagues in the rest of the media, notably CNN and The New York Times.
In one final message, O’Keefe averred that the media “wants me to kneel down and apologize. I will not.”
“Ascribing motive to us is easy and lazy.
The mainstream media wants to destroy Project Veritas. Why? Because we hold them accountable. They see us as their enemy. Those who dwell within the media complex cannot abide us. It is not just their jobs they’re worried about, it is their power. Their power to acquire money. Their power to protect their friends and causes. Their power over the elected and appointed. And their power over you and me.
Project Veritas has a stone lodged between Goliath’s eyes.”
O’Keefe has promised everyone more videos. What else will the American people see inside of newsrooms across the country? Whatever it is, newspapers and TV networks may be terrified by what else may be unveiled to the public. Stay tuned.
