One of the clearest and most important sentences you'll read, showing how US media really works, from WashPost op-ed by @RidT:

** "We must treat the Hunter Biden leaks as if they were a foreign intelligence operation — even if they probably aren't." ** https://www.washingtonpost.com/outlook/2020/10/24/hunter-biden-laptop-disinformation/

This is absolutely how mainstream US outlets think: exactly what is said there by Rid (one of those centrist Professor outlets use to elevate their unhinged conspiracy theories with a facade of expertise):

*We have no idea if this conspiracy is true, but we will say it anyway.*

There is no question -- none -- that mainstream US news outlets disseminate more unhinged, unproven conspiracy theories -- and do far more damage with them -- than QAnon, or whichever fringe group they want you to focus on, can achieve in 1,000 years.

See for yourself:

US media outlets outside of right-wing sites were desperate not to report the Hunter emails and to block their reporters from doing so. So they just started printing that it was "Russian disinformation," knowing there was no basis for that, until they could figure out what to do.

One of the US's best reporters, @mtaibbi, just published an great and well-researched article documenting how many lies US media outlets are telling to protect Biden.

It's on Substack. I doubt any liberal-left outlet would publish it. That's why Taibbi is more popular than ever.

Independent journalists like Taibbi, and platforms and outlets that won't censor, are more rare than ever, especially now when most national journalists are in full-on Elect Biden mode at the expense of everything else. Support them: https://taibbi.substack.com/p/with-the-hunter-biden-expose-suppression

The only silver lining in all of this is that media outlets are so desperate to help Biden win that they're not even pretending anymore. No pretense. There's great clarity in that. To the NPR Public Editor Note, the CNN panel and that Rid quote, add this stunning @camanpour clip:

No purported news outlet has worth if it constrains or censors writers and reporters and forces them to advance the partisan preferences of editors or to flatter the ideological presuppositions of their audience. Support independent journalism: only those outlets that are free.