we like to pretend this is shocking, but it's old news. der speigel was doing this in the immediate post-war period. and, the new york times and washington post are also known to post stories written by intelligence. i've caught myself more than once yelling at the screen "who wrote this the fucking ci...yeah....". the idea that we have this free, open press is largely an illusion; it's just that the state manages to run it's state propaganda by coercing and intimidating the private sector, rather than taking direct control of it. it's mafia fascism, rather than direct totalitarianism.