DANG IT, WHAT IF NONE OF IT STICKS TO THE WALLS?:

Disinformation watchers on Wednesday were quick to point out the deeply problematic nature of the story and urge journalists and news outlets to be careful in how they covered it.

Peter Singer, a strategist at New America and the co-author of LikeWar: The Weaponization of Social Media, a book about disinformation, tweeted: "as I read stories like this, it makes me reflect on what some in media (especially on security beat) have learned from 1) the experience of being an unintentional player in info ops and 2) the perils of #bothsides equivalence."

Kyle Cheney, a congressional reporter for Politico, tweeted, "The 'smoking gun' email in the NY Post story -- even if it is authentic, given the massive red flags -- doesn't actually say what the story says it does."

Marc Ambinder, a security expert in residence with the University of Southern California Annenberg School, pointed out that that chain of events had all the hallmarks of a Russian disinformation operation.

John Scott-Railton with the University of Toronto's Citizen Lab project highlighted a thread on the subject by cybersecurity researcher Thomas Rid, author of Active Measures: The Secret History of Disinformation And Political Warfare.  "Every journalist should read this thread: Critical advice on vetting of questionable stories that involve emails," said Railton. 

Rid's thread picks apart the story and urges "journalists considering writing about this toxic story: don't--unless you can independently verify more details. And even if you can verify something, acknowledge the possibility of disinformation up-front, especially against the backdrop of 2016. Not doing so is bad practice."

Tweet   @brothersjudd