(FiveNation.com)- The Federal Elections Commission has officially dismissed a complaint that claimed that Hillary Clinton’s 2016 presidential campaign broke the law by soliciting positive media coverage from journalists. The complaint, which was filed by Tony Dane in Virginia, was dismissed in a 6-0 vote by the FEC.
Citizen Tony Dane referred to the positive news coverage from a number of media outlets and specific journalists, including Maggie Haberman of The New York Times, John Hardwood of CNN, and outlets NBC Universal, The Hill, and Politico. He described how there was “evidence of coordination” between the journalists and news outlets and the Clinton campaign.
He cited news reports and emails that were obtained by Wikileaks, which shared a huge number of private emails from the Clinton campaign that showed explicit attempts to solicit positive media coverage from American journalists.
One of the examples given was a news article by Glenn Greenwald of The Intercept, titled, “EXCLUSIVE: New Email Leak Reveals Clinton Campaign’s Cozy Press Relationship.” The story, Dane says, also reveals how Clinton-friendly reporters were given stories by the Hillary for America campaign. It shows how Maggie Haberman had published two stories explicitly for the Hillary campaign.
And despite this evidence, the FEC just didn’t agree.
Dane pleaded with the commission to “stop these efforts” and to ensure that “full disclosure” from the 2016 Clinton campaign was obtained.
Critics of the complaint include a legal consultant from The New York Times – no conflict of interest there, then – who claims that the accusations are “without merit.” Dana Green said that the exhibits “do not support” the assertions and that Haberman did not publish the articles as a result of direct communication with the campaign.
It’s likely we will never see justice…
