The big Wednesday story in the Hillary Clinton email news cycle centered around a bombshell Associated Press story by Jack Gillum and Ted Bridis, titled "Clinton Ran Own Computer System for Her Official Emails." The takeaway, as was reflected on dozens of news sites, was that Clinton had a so-called "homebrew" email server inside her Chappaqua, New York home. And of course that'd be the obviously takeaway by readers and other publications alike given the headline combined with this lede:
The computer server that transmitted and received Hillary Rodham Clinton's emails — on a private account she used exclusively for official business when she was secretary of state — traced back to an Internet service registered to her family's home in Chappaqua, New York, according to Internet records reviewed by The Associated Press.
It doesn't explicitly say that the server was located in Clinton's home, but the second line definitely does:
The highly unusual practice of a Cabinet-level official physically running her own email would have given Clinton, the presumptive Democratic presidential candidate, impressive control over limiting access to her message archives.
So, the lede described a "computer server" that was traced to "her family's home." The second sentence flatly stated that she's "physically running her own email." Naturally, anyone reading this would come away with the "homebrew" conclusion. And it's the AP, so the information is delivered with the heft of the wire service's reputation.
And then we reach the fourth paragraph where we see this:
In most cases, individuals who operate their own email servers are technical experts or users so concerned about issues of privacy and surveillance they take matters into their own hands. It was not immediately clear exactly where Clinton ran that computer system.
If it's unclear, why was the article published at all?... CONTINUE READING