Near the bottom of this piece about the biolab on Galveston, where journalism turns straight to PR.
Multiple ethical issues here.
First is the local newspaper not doing a story like the Consortium News reporter actually did. That's PR by omission.
Second is multiple subsets of ethics issues in Ferguson's attack.
First subpiece is publicly attacking another journo for fake journalistic reasons.
Second is, er, lying, as it seems, about what the other journalist actually said and did not say.
Third is repeating that seeming lie to yet other outlets.
I don't know if there's a third main ethics issue, but that could be. That would be if the Consortium News author contacted the Galveston publisher, who then doubled down on Ferguson.
And, given that Galveston sea level has risen two feet in the past century, we need MORE concern about the biolab.
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The bigger picture is that the "eastern front" probably does its fair share of turd-polishing.
