A national security reporter at the conspiracy-laden Epoch Times has resigned after the publication signed on to Whiskey Pete’s new rules restricting news gathering within the Pentagon. Via the New York Times:
The reporter, Andrew Thornebrooke, submitted his resignation in writing on Friday. Although he did not have an active Pentagon press pass, he regularly covered issues related to the Defense Department and frequently reported from the cavernous military complex while working at the publication.
In his resignation email, a copy of which was obtained by The New York Times, Mr. Thornebrooke called The Epoch Times’s signing of the pledge a choice to “abdicate our responsibility as journalists in favor of merely repeating state narratives.”
He also cited a recent editorial directive to refer to antifa, the far-left ideological movement, as a terrorist organization. (Uh, Times editors, antifa is quite clearly a mainstream movement of America patriots. Did you miss the 7 million people marching Saturday?) There is no designation for domestic terrorism under existing U.S. law. The editorial change came soon after President Trump signed an executive order designating antifa a terrorist group.
With the direction the paper has chosen, including its increasing willingness to promote partisan materials, publish demonstrably false information, and manipulate the reporting of its ground staff to shape the worldview of our readers,” Mr. Thornebrooke wrote.
What’s fascinating to me is, did he not notice when he took the job? The Epoch Times has always been chock full of misinformation. What changed?