WHEN THE REPORTER FINALLY HAD ENOUGH

Mulholland Throws Alex Under the Bus

After being alerted to yet another Reddit post connecting personal conspiracy theories to his reporting, journalist Paul Mulholland didn’t defend the poster. He publicly distanced himself — and described the behavior as a long-running nuisance.

---

There is distancing yourself from somebody.

And then there is publicly telling Reddit that their habit of attaching personal theories to your journalism has become “a nuisance for a long time now.”

For Paul Mulholland, the second option appears to have become necessary after another Reddit user pointed him toward a post spreading claims about supposed intelligence connections involving New Jersey adult-content company D&E Media.

Someone Showed Mulholland the Post

In the Reddit exchange, another commenter specifically directed Mulholland toward a cross-post containing discussion of supposed intelligence ties being associated with his reporting.

Mulholland’s response was revealing.

Mulholland said he had not previously seen the post and thanked the commenter for bringing it to his attention.

Then came the part that matters.

He explained that dealing with posts like this was not the type of errand he enjoyed having to perform, before describing what he viewed as a recurring pattern: the original poster associating personal theories with Mulholland’s work.

This wasn’t presented as a one-time misunderstanding. Mulholland described it as a habit.

That’s More Than a Disagreement

The distinction is important.

Mulholland was not merely saying that he disagreed with one theory.

He was describing what he considered a repeated pattern in which somebody else’s personal theories became attached to his reporting.

That creates an obvious problem for any journalist.

Readers encountering those posts may not know where documented reporting ends and somebody else’s speculation begins.

If the speculation is repeatedly presented alongside a journalist’s work, the reputation and credibility of the journalist can become tangled up with claims the journalist never actually reported.

And This Wasn’t the First Public Correction

The comment becomes even more significant when viewed alongside Mulholland’s other public attempts to separate his reporting from claims being circulated on Reddit.

In another discussion, Mulholland explicitly rejected the claim that the owner of the company worked in government intelligence and complained about unsupported theories being associated with his work.

This newer exchange adds something important to that earlier correction: Mulholland characterized the issue as longstanding.

The Proverbial Bus Arrives

The expression “throwing someone under the bus” is usually reserved for moments when one person publicly distances himself from another when the association becomes inconvenient.

As a metaphor, it is difficult to miss here.

Whatever relationship, communication or shared interest may previously have existed between the people involved, Mulholland’s public Reddit comments leave little ambiguity about where he wanted the boundary drawn.

He did not adopt the theories.

He did not validate them.

He did not suggest that readers should treat them as extensions of his journalism.

Instead, he publicly complained about having his work associated with them.

Why the Screenshot Matters

Online disputes often deteriorate into arguments about what somebody supposedly meant, privately believed or allegedly said elsewhere.

This case is simpler.

The relevant statement is public.

Mulholland was shown the post, responded under his own account and explained his position directly.

Readers therefore do not have to guess whether he was comfortable having personal conspiracy theories attached to his journalism.

His own response answers the question.

The Bottom Line

The most damaging part of Mulholland’s comment is not an insult.

It is the implication of repetition.

A single unsupported theory could be dismissed as a misunderstanding.

A journalist saying somebody “has a habit” of attaching personal theories to his work — and that it has been a nuisance for a long time — describes something very different.