Latest news with #investigativeJournalism
Fox News
28-05-2025
- Business
- Fox News
Atlantic editor doesn't 'understand' the narrative that media covered for Biden's health
The editor-in-chief of The Atlantic says he doesn't "understand" the "narrative" that the media covered for former President Joe Biden's health. "I don't understand how this narrative is developed that the media was covering for Biden," The Atlantic editor Jeffrey Goldberg said Friday in an interview he did with CNN's Jake Tapper and Axios' Alex Thompson's book following the release of their book, "Original Sin." The book looks into the efforts made by top Biden aides and allies to hide the truth about Biden's mental and physical health, providing a depiction of a president who was routinely confused and disorientated during his term. "I think what might be going on here is the lack of understanding about how reporting works," Goldberg said. "In order to prove that he's diminished, you have to have people, sources inside telling you this." In response, Tapper pointed to the sources he and Thompson spoke to. "What Alex and I have been able to do, which is after the election, all those Democrats, we talked to more than 200 sources for this book, almost all of them Democrats, almost all of them after the election, who were telling us what was really going on behind the scenes," Tapper said. "And the anecdotes and the concerns that we bring forward in this book is investigative journalism, and that is different from observational punditry." Thompson also mentioned the bombshell report from the Wall Street Journal about how some lawmakers began questioning Biden's health, which was met with fierce criticism by Democrats and some in the media. "I mean, look at the reaction to The Wall Street Journal story in June of 2024, just weeks before the debate," Thompson said. "There are a lot of reporters that sort of threw shade at that story. There was not as much solidarity." Thompson, as well as Goldberg, pointed to The Atlantic's June 2022 story titled, "Why Biden Shouldn't Run in 2024," which said, "Biden is by no means the more eloquent character he was in his younger days. It can be painful to watch him give prepared speeches. His tone can be tentative, and certain sentences can become hopscotching journeys. His aides in the room look visibly nervous at times." Goldberg said he is not trying to make "excuses" for the media, however said journalists can only do so much after they write a story. "Well, you can lead people to stories that you write, but you can't make them read them," Goldberg said. "And I think that's part of the issue. I'm not trying to make excuses. You've been very forthright about your critique of softness on the part of the media on the question." He also asked Tapper about the sentiment from Biden's staff that he would be physically able to take on emergency situations at 3:00 A.M. "We have cabinet secretaries in the book, as you know, who are telling us that by 2024, they do not have faith that Joe Biden could be relied upon for that 3:00 A.M. phone call, and that's chilling, chilling," Tapper said. Tapper also said President Donald Trump is not being transparent about his health records. "I don't think that the press should cover any president going forward, A, without demanding full and complete transparency about health records, which we're not getting from Trump," Tapper said. "We still don't know why he went to Walter Reed in 2019. And I think that we need to be skeptical of everything that we are told by people in power."
Telegraph
28-05-2025
- General
- Telegraph
If someone wants to come into this country illegally, there are people ready and willing to help
There are many things that will shock you about The Smuggler (BBC Sounds), investigative journalist Annabel Deas's 10-part podcast about a chap called 'Nick'. That a former Royal Engineer in the British Army could turn into a lynchpin – and pioneer – of the people-smuggling trade on the Channel. That some individual migrants repeatedly re-enter the country using the same methods. That Nick could get paid up to £12k per person (imagine how much the people above him in the chain were making). But the thing that will shock you most – and that certainly shocked Nick – was how easy it was. However Deas got hold of Nick (not his real name) and convinced him to spill the beans we'll likely never know (no money changed hands), but this is surely the scoop of her career so far. Across the episodes, Nick is extraordinarily candid about how he did what he did – though presumably less than honest about why – and his insouciance about the whole endeavour, while occasionally sticking in the craw, reveals an uncomfortable truth about our borders and about British society as a whole. It also makes laughable various politicians' repeated promises to tackle illegal immigration. The truth of the matter is this: if someone wants to come to this country illegally, there are people like Nick ready, willing and able to help them do so. Nick's story is that he fell on hard times – a self-employed builder hammered by the 2008 recession, with a baby on the way, he was desperate for cash. One of the men who worked for him, an Albanian named Matt, had repeatedly, cryptically mentioned Nick's passport to him. 'You'll always be OK,' Matt told him, 'because you have that passport'. One day, at a low ebb, Nick finally caved and asked Matt exactly what he meant. On a day trip to Calais, Matt showed him. Here's where you'll pick up a migrant and stick them in the boot of your car. Here's where you'll let them out on the ferry. Here's the knife you'll give them to cut a tear into the side of a lorry. Here's the phone you'll use to text one of my friends who'll be waiting in Dover. And here, hypothetically, is the £3,500 that will be waiting for you by the time you get home. Nick – white, British, confident – was a gift to the Albanians. His training with the Royal Engineers made him an expert in reconnaissance and concealment, while his knowledge of sailing would later become invaluable. Getting people on lorries inside the ferries proves as easy as falling off a log, once his early nerves settle down. Even when he messes up and loses one frequent flyer in the duty-free terminal, it is resolved in his favour, in the most farcical manner – I won't reveal exactly how, except to say that the ferry company should be extremely embarrassed. Nick's attitude throughout is that of Del Boy flogging a few VHS machines that fell off the back of a lorry. The most extraordinary revelation comes midway through, with Nick forced to think of alternative routes to the ferries. This was the mid-2010s, around the time of the Brexit referendum, and the idea of 'small boats' bringing migrants across was unheard of, even to the authorities who kept tabs on the smugglers. Even the Albanian gang he worked for thought he was 'mad' when Nick suggested the future was a small sailboat and a series of leisure marinas. 'I'm creating something,' says Nick, with no little pride. He monetised his ingenuity. It was, once again, startlingly easy, and life on the open water was a pleasure. 'I loved it,' he says of the sailing. Yet while Nick reveals the unsettling ease with which people can be smuggled into the UK, he also reveals an awful lot about himself. The desire to provide for his daughter was surely genuine, but it's hard to believe him when he says he had 'no choice' but to become a people smuggler. He admits he was a self-employed builder because he struggled to work for others, while he had to quit the Army following a fight with a fellow soldier. He also shows absolutely no sense of conscience towards the migrants themselves, convincing himself that he is a mere taxi driver for people making positive life decisions. When Deas mentions people-trafficking, not smuggling, he bristles. Yet he never asked any questions about who he was bringing into the country. Despite his eloquence and likeability, his charming breeziness wears thin by the end, with Deas gently exposing Nick's inability to think of the migrants as anything other than cargo. It's a vital listen, and one that will change your perception of the society around you. You'll certainly never look at the pleasure boats in your local marina – or your local builder – in the same way again.
Times
15-05-2025
- Times
Farewell to Andrew Norfolk, a fearless Times reporter
Journalism, the saying goes, exists to comfort the afflicted and afflict the comfortable. None did either with such fearlessness as Andrew Norfolk, who has died aged 60. For 24 years Mr Norfolk, who retired last year, was a correspondent and latterly chief investigative reporter for The Times. It is no exaggeration to say that no other journalist's work has had such a profound impact on British public life in recent years. Without Mr Norfolk's diligent, meticulous reporting, it is unlikely that any politician in this country would now be discussing the stain on British life represented by grooming gangs. It was on January 5, 2011, that his inquiries into the sexual exploitation of vulnerable girls by mainly Asian men across the north of England first
New York Times
08-05-2025
- New York Times
A Frightening Moment to Fly
A 90-second failure of Newark Airport's air-traffic safety systems, which blacked out communication to planes carrying thousands of passengers, has exposed a new level of crisis in air travel. Kate Kelly, an investigative reporter for The New York Times, explains what the problems at one of the country's biggest airports tell us about air-travel safety in the United States.
