Veterans Affairs Secretary Doug Collins called out CNN for its “fake news” practices, saying it’s easy to see why the network was recently found liable of defaming a Navy veteran. As the secretary highlighted, you can't just run with a made-up story after the subject of said story tells you it's false. But that's exactly what CNN did.
In a thread posted on X, Collins singled out one reporter who calls the department regularly asking for a response to the faux controversy du jour. “His specialty seems to be regurgitating pre-packaged opposition research VA critics prepare for him,” Collins said of reporter Brian Todd.
“Late last week, Brian struck again, claiming to have a scoop about a proposal to ‘automate VA call centers.’ In reality, no such plans exist,” Collins said. “Brian’s scoop was based on false, deliberately leaked ‘information’ from people who aren’t involved in our planning process. In other words, Brian was the target of a disinformation operation designed to generate fake news.”
Despite being warned the allegations were baseless, Todd proceeded anyway and published a story, even though other outlets wouldn’t touch it.
“After his piece published, we contacted Brian to point out his error, & he refused to put us in touch with his editor,” Collins continued. “We only got through to an editor after calling everyone we know at CNN to complain about Brian’s story.”
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But what happened? Unsurprisingly, the network refused to retract the piece and instead called for a statement from the VA.
“What happened to the journalistic principle of verifying something is true before publication?” Collins wondered. “With standards like these, it’s easy to see why a jury recently found CNN liable for defamation and ordered the network to pay $5 million in damages.”
Collins concluded by calling on CNN’s Wolf Blitzer to hold Todd “to a higher standard.”
