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MTZehvor on 11 January 2017
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Soundwave said:
MTZehvor said:

The issue is that there is no one else verifying that what Buzzfeed is reporting is actually the personal information mentioned on websites such as CNN and MSNBC, and that is what makes me skeptical. I have a difficult time believing that numerous mainstrea media outlets would not only be privvy to information from intelligence briefings, but that if they did, only one of them would choose to publish it.

On top of that, it's, well, Buzzfeed, which has a reputation for being about as trustworthy as the National Enquirer when it comes to reporting accuracy.

The FBI is saying the British M1-6 agent who leaked the stories in the report that Buzzfeed chose to run is "credible". Buzzfeed didn't make the report, they simply published it, the report I believe comes from the M1-6 agent.

I'm clearly not explaining this well, so let me try again.

The FBI (or, more accurately, a number of intelligence chiefs) have announced they have a report involving Trump's ties to Russia. Multiple news outlets, including CNN and CBS, have said that the contents of this report are highly classified, and, as a result, news networks are not privvy to their contents. Meanwhile, Buzzfeed is claiming that not only do they have the same access to information as major news networks, but also have received the completely classified intelligence briefing as well as leaks that every other site lacks access to.

I'm not doubting the agent's credibility; what I doubt is that Buzzfeed actually has access to the information from this classified report at all. My suspicion is that they've been in contact with a less than reputable source who claims to have talked with this agent and supposedly got the leaks from him.

To illustrate this another way, imagine that Nintendo investors were just briefed by Shigeru Miyamoto on what the launch lineup of games for the Switch will be. A bunch of reputable gaming websites such as IGN, Gamestop, Game Informer, etc are aware that this briefing happened, but were not told which games will be launching. Meanwhile, Yahoo Esports publishes an article claiming that they've talked to a source who has talked to Miyamoto, and this source claims that Miyamoto told him everything that will be launching.

That's basically the scenario here. I think we'd all be a bit skeptical of that Yahoo report, and it's the same for Buzzfeed. It's not that I doubt that Miyamoto/this British agent are telling the truth, it's that I seriously doubt they would leak it to some random Buzzfeed contact.