The Daily Beast's Lack of Journalistic Integrity

Yesterday, an article appeared in The Daily Beast that was written by Kevin Poulson entilted 'Wikileaks Veteren: I 'Cooperated' With Feds 'In Exchange For Immunity'  but no where in the article does it disclose that the author of the article was involved in the subject matter he is covering. The article is written from the perspective of an objective outsider with no conflicts of interest. 

However, Kevin Poulson has been involved with people in Wikileaks orbit and was accused by Julian Assange in his December 1, 2017 letter to the Freedom of the Press Foundation (FPF) of the following allegation:

“Poulsen is a key actor in the imprisonment of Chelsea Manning, and a confident of Adrian Lamo. Poulsen and [Micah] Lee have both been developers of SecureDrop. Poulsen manipulated the alleged Manning-Assange chat logs in an attempt to frame Wikileaks…”

Whether the allegation is true or not, obviously I do not know. But I think it's a violation of journalistic ethics and integrity not to disclose that you have personal conflicts of interest and involvement in the subject matter your writing about and a potential bias against the subject. 

For those of you that have been following Qanon, you will remember that Poulson was mentioned in at least one post that spoke of SecureDrop and how the MSM get their talking points. Aaron Schwartz and James Dolan were also mentioned in that post in reference to DeadDrop, and SecureDrop, but I must admit I remain confused about some of the details. 

I reached out to Kevin Poulson via email for comment about the potential conflict of interest and bias (perceived or legitimate) and if he could clarify some questions in regards to SecureDrop.

Kevin acknowledged that SecureDrop was DeadDrop, just that it had been renamed. He said he did not see a conflict with his reporting and lack of disclosure regarding a potential conflict or bias. 

He was very polite but declined to comment any further. 

I'm not sure what to make of this whole thing, what are your thoughts? Comment below and keep the conversation going. Thank you friends!