Media Watch turns its eyes to Moscow as Paul Barry falls for Trump-Russia conspiracies

Media Watch host Paul Barry.

Media Watch host Paul Barry shared a link on Twitter, yesterday:

No idea if this is true … claim that Trump impeachment process has begun.

No idea if it’s true? Isn’t Paul’s TV show about holding the media to account? Media Watch website:

Conflicts of interest, bank backflips, deceit, misrepresentation, manipulation, plagiarism, abuse of power, technical lies and straight out fraud: Media Watch has built an unrivalled record of exposing media shenanigans since it first went to air in 1989.

No idea if this is true ... claim that Trump impeachment process has begun https://t.co/ZYBSGGSIfM

— Paul Barry (@TheRealPBarry) May 22, 2017

So let’s have a read of this “no idea if it’s true” Trump story. Patribotics, Saturday:

Sources … say that the Supreme Court notified Mr Trump that the formal process of a case of impeachment against him was begun, before he departed the country on Air Force One … Sources have confirmed that the Marshal of the Supreme Court spoke to Mr Trump.

Patribotics is the brainchild of former British Tory MP Louise Mensch, which should have been a big red flag. Vox, last Friday:

Louise Mensch, a former right-wing British parliamentarian and romance novelist, spreads the newest, punchiest, and often most unfounded Russia gossip to her 283,000 followers on Twitter.

She is married to a major rock band manager, that’s cool. London’s Telegraph, June 3, 2011:

(Louise) Bagshawe captured Corby for the Tories last year, while Mensch, 58, manages rock bands including Metallica, Red Hot Chili Peppers and Snow Patrol.

But would the Marshal of the Supreme Court tell Trump he’s about to be impeached? Uh, no, the Supreme Court gets involved only later on. The New York Times, May 17:

First, the House of Representatives votes on one or more articles of impeachment … Next, the proceedings move to the Senate, which holds a trial overseen by the chief justice of the Supreme Court.

And Mensch has pushed a fair share of wacky conspiracies before. Tweeting about the race riots in Ferguson, April 9:

That's because you, Russia, funded riots in Ferguson. See 0 hour I have your connections to Trump archived via Schiller and Scavino https://t.co/aTUDlCGkYi

— Louise Mensch (@LouiseMensch) April 9, 2017

She says Trump, Vice-President Mike Pence and House Speaker Paul Ryan are all about to be jailed. Patribotics, May 11:

On Donald Trump there is voluminous evidence he knowingly colluded with the Russian state … On Mike Pence, there is evidence that he obstructed justice … On Paul Ryan, Speaker of the House, normally third in the line of succession, I can report as fact that sources say that Ryan has been legally intercepted, and is on tape, admitting that he knew Russian money was being laundered into the Republican party.

And by the way, Mensch has superpowers because of her ADHD. The BBC’s Sunday Politics, March 13:

… when they’re interested in things and they have ADHD they can have a condition called hyper-focus, which means that you concentrate very hard on a given subject and you can see patterns and connections. That’s biological and I don’t resile from it for a moment.

So … it’s not true, Paul. You’d think after Media Watch’s recent history, you’d be all about checking facts first. The Australian, April 3:

In an unprecedented step, the Australian Press Council has lashed ABC’s Media Watch and accused it of getting its facts wrong.