Democrat activist in intelligence agency (C_A):
Cheryl– don't know if you remember me. We worked together in the Clinton WH. I worked at the NSC for Sandy and Tony and worked a lot with Pat Griffin. I kept a Dem foreign policy list for the past 8 years or so, circulating national security op-eds and articles by DEMS TO DEMS.
I'm now working for Leon Panetta at the CIA, but I am not writing to you in that capacity. This is my OWN initiative.
https://wikileaks.org/clinton-emails/emailid/11868
CRAZY LONG HIT PIECE ON JOHN SOLOMON WITH THE LAMEST TALKING POINTS & THE HILL TRIES TO EXPLAIN NEWS VS OPINION. Excerpts:
While Solomon's columns on Ukraine were labeled as opinion, they largely read like news stories. Adding to the potential confusion between opinion and news, Solomon was identified as "an award-winning journalist" in his column tagline. When appearing on television to discuss his Ukraine columns, Solomon was not typically labeled an opinion writer by the broadcast programs. The Hill did not contact television producers to label Solomon as an opinion columnist. It should have.
Lending further support to an impression that the columns were more like news stories, rather than opinion columns, Solomon’s Ukraine columns were longer than typical opinion pieces, in many cases contained what could be viewed or was identified by him as original reporting, and stuck to one general topic. This may have suggested to many readers it was an investigative series, which normally resides in the news department, rather than opinion. Solomon’s subsequent appearances on Fox News where he was often identified as an investigative journalist further potentially blurred the distinction between news and opinion in the minds of some readers.
Certain outlets, including The New York Times and ABC News, followed Solomon's work on Ukraine with news articles of their own.
In many of his columns, Solomon did include caveats that Ukraine is infamous for corruption and disinformation operations, including Russian interference, and he did seek comment from parties who were mentioned critically in his columns. While appropriate for news reporting, that is not typical of opinion writing; it had the consequence of further blurring the distinction between news and opinion for some readers.
Unlike other employees, Solomon had a hybrid role at The Hill, working in Hill.TV, opinion and/or news. Solomon did not report to a specific management official in the newsroom, which was an unusual personnel situation at The Hill. This hybrid role further undermined the distinction between opinion contributor and news-based journalist, since Solomon could be seen as writing an opinion column in one section while reporting news as an interviewer on Hill.TV.
Contradicting assertions in Solomon's columns, in Politico and in some other media reports, State Department officials, U.S. national security agencies and the Senate Intelligence Committee have concluded that Ukraine did not meddle in the 2016 U.S. presidential election. Russian government officials, who have denied meddling in the 2016 election, have pushed the narrative that Ukraine interfered in that U.S. election.
In testimony before the House Intelligence Committee, administration officials described Solomon’s articles about Yovanovitch as central to a “smear campaign,” spearheaded by Giuliani on behalf of Trump, and characterized them as false or inaccurate.
https://thehill.com/homenews/news/483600-the-hills-review-of-john-solomons-columns-on-ukraine