# Tell me about this breaking news:  Russia and our power grid

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-me-about-this-breaking-news-russia-and-our-power-grid/775966>\
**Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\
**Created:** [December 31, 2016, 3:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-me-about-this-breaking-news-russia-and-our-power-grid/775966 "2016-12-31T15:51:33Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 3\
**Page:** 4

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**Author:** ![Quartz](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/quartz/32/267_2.png) [@Quartz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quartz)\
**Post date:** [January 8, 2017, 6:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-me-about-this-breaking-news-russia-and-our-power-grid/775966/61 "2017-01-08T18:16:03Z")

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That the Washington Post corrected the news story bespeaks them well; that they didn’t verify the story before publishing it in the first place bespeaks them ill.

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**Author:** ![running\_coach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/running_coach/32/15836_2.png) [@running\_coach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/running_coach)\
**Post date:** [January 8, 2017, 6:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-me-about-this-breaking-news-russia-and-our-power-grid/775966/62 "2017-01-08T18:21:51Z")

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> [@Quartz](#):
>
> That the Washington Post corrected the news story bespeaks them well; that they didn’t verify the story before publishing it in the first place bespeaks them ill.

How do you verify everything?  
You get told by an official that a laptop is found with malware designed to do [bad thing] and it might be capable of doing[bigger bad thing], who do you verify it with? How long do you take? Will your detractors give you credit for being thorough or do you get shit for “hiding” the story?

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**Author:** ![Okrahoma](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/90db22/32.png) [@Okrahoma](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Okrahoma)\
**Post date:** [January 8, 2017, 7:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-me-about-this-breaking-news-russia-and-our-power-grid/775966/63 "2017-01-08T19:32:25Z")

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> [@rbroome](#):
>
> I see no justification in saying that the WP did not make good faith mistakes. What evidence exists for that statement?

This evidence:

> **['Fake News' And How The Washington Post Rewrote Its Story On Russian Hacking...](https://www.forbes.com/sites/kalevleetaru/2017/01/01/fake-news-and-how-the-washington-post-rewrote-its-story-on-russian-hacking-of-the-power-grid/#60edac9291e5)**
>
> What the Washington Post’s rush to be the first to report on Russian hackers breaching the US power grid teaches us about how “breaking news” can all too often become “fake news” when we over-trust government sources and fail to verify facts

For example, they didn’t even try to contact the utility company until after they published the story.

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