In football, “chipping” is when an offensive player makes brief contact with an onrushing defender. The goal is not to halt them or apply a full-on block but to delay the other player just long enough to slow their scheme and allow the offense to make a play.
We need to remember that media people may claim to be “reporters,” but the fact that they file “stories” is closer to the real truth, which is that events are merely plot devices used to move the preferred narrative (story) along. It’s always been this way, think “Remember the Maine.”
So having gotten that out of the way, let’s deal with the unfolding story regarding how, allegedly, a media type got access to a principal’s call re: military strikes against the Houthis.
My introduction to the story came yesterday when somebody alerted me to a story in Politico. I found it strange that despite their assigning four reporters to the story, Politico was in fact only following up on a story broken by The Atlantic. Also the entire Politico story, nearly 1,000 words, was about reporting the reaction to The Atlantic. All those words, all that manpower, and they added nothing really of value.