It did a huge, successful hack of the Trump campaign, but forgot to line up distribution
That’s a fundamental error in judgment. Iran itself is really good at hacking, but it’s worthless as a political tool if they just then assumed if they did the heavy lifting, US media (and/or the Biden administration) would grab the baton and do the rest…
So it didn’t bother to recruit and pay influencers in the US, like Russia did. So now it’s got all this information it’s giving out willy-nilly to people who are dead-ending it. Iran has no media distribution channel. China does, actually. Though I’m not suggesting they team up. Only pointing out that if the 2 biggest and most active online superpowers are thinking so much not just about harvesting but also about distributing damaging email leaks on people they perceive to be political foes, Iran should’ve had a clue. Or at least not been so steadfastly confident all Americans would always put their own personal gains ahead of ethics.
Rookie mistake.
Especially since there are so many people out there–yes even on the left–who aren’t ethical at all.
Meanwhile, Iran goes straight to the biggest players with their intel. Another rookie mistake. Almost always, big news in the form of leaks starts at smaller, more hungrier outlets. And then the big news organizations (who already have it) move on it after it becomes a story. Like “yeah, we knew about it all along.” Happens every day. But maybe Iran feared distributing that way would lead to doubts about the sanctity of their information.
But still doesn’t explain why there was no Plan B.
Yeah, we don’t need Johnny Macentee’s fettuccine Alfredo recipe, but there’s almost got to be “stuff” in there.
Of course a lot of online commentators on the left are arguing for the use of the hacked material, saying it’s only fair. But screw fair.
Is it newsworthy?
If it isn’t: I agree don’t use it. If it is: publish!
Obviously, I can’t say; I haven’t seen it. So I have a question for the people who have: are you not acting on it out of an abundance of caution? Or is there really really really nothing in there? Because it’s really easy for me to believe the former, and really hard for me to believe the latter. But again, this isn’t based on any knowledge of mine. Just my experience as a journalist on how these things work.
I’m more likely to believe you don’t want to be labeled an agent of Iran, and I understand that. Although lots of right-wing quipsters didn’t seem to have any problems actually being agents of Russia. Unwittingly, my ass. Someone comes to you with so much more money than you know your distribution is realistically worth and you aren’t going to think on it before you take it. Guys, it’s pretty obvious.
The only other thing I have to believe is if there is something in there, it’ll somehow work its way out before Election Day. But who knows?