Last night the office of Ossoff, who is in a tight, closely watched race for a congressional seat in Georgia, barred Free Beacon writer Brent Scher from attending a campaign event. The campaign was apparently upset by Scher’s report about Ossoff living in an adjacent district to the one he’s seeking to represent. Supporting the ban of the Free Beacon, former Vermont Governor Howard Dean tweeted:
Sam i beg to differ. The Beacon engages in fake news and propaganda. Half a step up from Daily Caller. They are not legit. https://t.co/TQiR5UQsXn
— Howard Dean (@GovHowardDean) June 20, 2017
Dean is wrong. Much of the conservative press is terrible but the Free Beacon is far superior to propagandist fare like The Daily Caller. Unlike other comparable conservative websites, the Free Beacon makes an effort to do original reporting. Its commitment to journalism should be welcomed by liberals.
As Mother Jones noted in 2015, “In its short history, the Free Beacon’s tiny staff of fewer than two dozen journalists has pulled off an almost unprecedented feat: Amid a conservative movement that has often evinced something between disinterest and disdain for the work of investigative reporters, it has built genuine muckraking success.”
This judgement still stands. And given the problems of disinformation and propaganda in the Trump era, liberals would do well to encourage any effort to improve conservative journalism.