Yesterday, David Sirota posted a thing about Snowden requesting Russian government security due to anonymous threats from, apparently, government officials in a Buzzfeed article (again, real smart, assholes). Among other things, he wrote this:
Along with Snowden requesting police protection today, the Moscow Times also reports that Snowden’s U.S. legal adviser, Ben Wizner of the American Civil Liberties Union, will “take relevant steps in the U.S. to identify officials from the National Security Agency who called for Snowden’s assassination.”
That’s quite clearly Sirota quoting Wizner via the Moscow Times.
Then this happened.
@davidsirota @PandoDaily That's odd. I never said that.
— Ben Wizner (@benwizner) January 22, 2014
Checking the Moscow Times article, it’s indeed the Moscow Times which falsely published this based upon an Anatoly Kucherena quote. Kucherena is Snowden’s lawyer in Moscow — he also happens to be a lawyer for the FSB, formerly the KGB. Suspicious? Sure. Here’s the Moscow Times passage:
Kucherena also said Snowden’s U.S. legal adviser, Ben Wizner, would take relevant steps in the U.S. to identify officials from the National Security Agency who called for Snowden’s assassination.
But Sirota posted it as a Wizner quote. Worse, Sirota trusted the veracity of Kucherena, who’s closely associated with Russian intelligence. Hilarious. So instead of retracting the quote, Sirota added this:
[Editor's note: Wizner disputes the characterization of his plans published in the Moscow Times, tweeting: "That's odd. I never said that."]
His plans? As in Wizner’s plans? No, no. Plans alleged by Kucherena and published in the Moscow Times.
The whole “Sirota: Whistleblower or Traitor” debate has been a convenient distraction from the shitty journalism that continues to be published about this story. Which I suppose is the point.
(h/t Shawn Sukumar)