This exchange is absolutely remarkable. I catch @MacaesBruno red-handed in a lie, but instead of deleting his tweet and apologizing, he replies with a joke! The specific point he makes really speaks volumes: basically, China is bad, so who cares about the truth? Shame on him.

Of course, after I called him out for his lack of integrity, he did what any person with no integrity would do and blocked me

This exchange really illustrates why you should always take with a huge grain of salt any story that reflects badly on China. Journalists clearly have strong incentives to cast Beijing in the darkest light possible and they know that they won't be punished even if they lie.

Moreover, everyone has a strong incentive *not* to call out this kind of behavior, because if you do, you can be sure that you will be accused of being a shill for China, which is exactly what @MacaesBruno did with me. This is one of the reasons journalism is so fucked.

It's not just @MacaesBruno and other journalists who are responsible for this state of affairs. Many people who retweet/like anti-China tweets no matter how ridiculous they are will see this thread but ignore it, because lies don't really bother them as long as they're good lies.

I'm really disgusted by this. This kind of cowardice and dishonesty is appalling, but nobody gives a shit. Not only will @MacaesBruno's career never be negatively affected, but it will probably be the opposite. He'll continue to lie and everyone else will continue not to care.

Lol, I didn't know that, but apparently my friend @MacaesBruno, in addition to being a lying piece of shit, was previously known for sending unsolicited dick pics to
@lilyslynch. https://visao.sapo.pt/atualidade/sociedade/2017-11-18-jornalista-acusa-bruno-macaes-de-lhe-enviar-fotografias-obscenas-intimidatorias/