Vice Videos, Pizzagate, and Real vs. Fake Conspiracy Journalism

• 20:28Andrew Basiago claims he time traveled and appears as a kid in a photo with Lincoln, which hucksters use as 'proof' despite the obvious absurdity.
• 21:56Tim describes the Lincoln photo as exactly what a fraud would find and present—good grifting material, not evidence.
• 24:40Montauk is remote enough that military testing could happen there without locals caring or noticing.
• 25:09Vice removed a video about credit card scammers because someone wasn't blurred enough and got threatened, leading to conspiracy theories about Bank of America suppressing it.
• 26:04The conspiracy theorist making claims about Vice censorship isn't entirely wrong to suspect something, but his reasoning is sloppy and unfounded.
• 26:53The Franklin scandal gets credibility because it has real victims who came forward and journalists who did actual reporting, unlike Pizzagate or Montauk Project claims.
• 27:19Montauk Project sources calling themselves super soldiers are frauds and clowns, so none of that can be taken seriously.
• 27:40Real investigative journalists like Nick Bryant, Russ Baker, and Jane Mayer have training and skill that separates genuine journalism from shoddy conspiracy work.
• 28:17Outsider conspiracy books do whatever they want, while trained journalists like Baker identify when they're making leaps from fact into association and editorialize accordingly.
• 28:46Good journalists explicitly identify what is and isn't a stretch, asking whether it would be unfair to presume a connection rather than presenting loose associations as proof.

The Montauk ProjectFranklin scandalAndrew BasiagoPizzagateMatt TaibbiMontaukNick Bryantthe Philadelphia ExperimentRuss BakerJane MayerBank of AmericaSeymour HirschAbraham Lincoln