WASHINGTON — Hacked emails and other documents published over the past week by WikiLeaks and the Intercept show how journalists allowed Hillary Clinton’s campaign to shape the narrative in exchange for access to the candidate.
An email obtained by WikiLeaks shows New York Times reporter Mark Leibovich allowing Clinton’s staff to edit a story he was writing about her.
This included removing a reference to Sarah Palin as well as the quote: “and gay rights has moved much faster than women's rights or civil rights, which is an interesting phenomenon somebody in the future will unpack.”
In a hacked Clinton campaign strategy document cited by the Intercept, then-Politico writer Maggie Haberman is referred to as a “friendly journalist” who had “teed up” stories for Clinton.
Haberman was discussed in a section titled “Placing a Story,” a brief but textbook example of how interviews conducted “on background” are used by to plant ideas in the media without revealing the source or their motivations.
Most of the documents have been released as part of WikiLeaks ongoing drip feed of hacked emails from Clinton’s top aides, others were provided by Russian hacker persona Guccifer 2.0.
Obama administration officials claim the emails were stolen by Russian hackers, and many pundits believe they are part of an information war being waged by Moscow to get Donald Trump elected.
Leibovich tweeted yesterday that the New York Times agreed to the arrangement with “much reluctance” as it “provided our only entree to the subject.”
Haberman, who is now with the New York Times, declined a request placed 24 hours in advance of publication from the Intercept to comment.