Hey, I'm John Avalon in for Brian Stelter. It's time for reliable sources.

Our weekly look at the story behind the story, of how the media really works, how the news gets made,

and how all of us can help make it better.

The free press should lead the fight for a free country and a free world, but those principles

are under attack, and it's been another tough week in the war on truth.

With authoritarian impulses echoing in domestic and

international politics with dangerous results. This week we're going to take a look

at how China's crackdown on journalists may have contributed to the outbreak of the

coronavirus. While an op-ed in the New York Times by murderous Taliban leader drew criticism for its lack of context, even by the paper's own Afghanistan correspondent.

Meanwhile, here at home we're seeing presidential pardons for corrupt politicians and crooked

businessmen all petition for on Fox News. An upheaval in the intelligence community where

experts are being replaced by apparatchics, prompting retired General Admiral

McRaven to say as Americans we should be frightened. prompting facts are inconvenient. This is all amid new reports that the

President of the United States and Democratic frontrunner Bernie Sanders are

both having their campaigns boosted by Russia again and raising the specter of a

win win scenario for Vladimir Putin as he continues to sow the seeds of

chaos and division. They're at the heart of all disinformation campaigns.

This may seem ripped out of the pages of a Pulp spy novel, but it's happening in our time and

and our watch, and we cannot become numb to it.

With me now, as senior senior senior media reporter Oliver Darcy, correspondent for GQ magazine

Julie I-Offy, is out with a new op-ed title,

Why exactly does Putin love Bernie?

...