The Washington Free Beacon responded to media criticism over the fact that it paid tens of thousands of dollars to GOP operatives to conduct research by declaring that it is “standard practice” for its reporting to rely on such consultants without disclosure, and comparing Media Matters' David Brock to a Nazi. 

Business Insider released documents last week revealing that the Free Beacon hired a Republican operative to obtain information for a series of anti-Hillary Clinton stories which failed to disclose this financial relationship to readers. The conservative outlet attempted to attack Clinton based on tapes obtained from the University of Arkansas archives that depict interviews Clinton gave in the early 1980s. Though Free Beacon reporter Alana Goodman's byline appeared on the pieces, according to Business Insider it was Shawn Reinschmiedt, the former research director for the Republican National Committee and founding partner of a GOP opposition research firm, who requested and received the tapes on which the reports were based.

The Free Beacon failed to disclose the partisan source of its anti-Hillary stories, and the dishonest journalism prompted Media Matters founder David Brock to caution the media against validating the journalistic legitimacy of the outlet as a source for accurate information. In a letter to editors and reporters, Brock likened the reports to “similar right-wing dirt-digging operations disguised as journalism conducted against the Clintons in the 1990s,” and told Buzzfeed that “The M.O. is the same. This is the Arkansas Project redux.”

In response, Free Beacon founder Michael Goldfarb doubled down on the underhanded practice, calling it “standard practice” for Free Beacon reporters to rely on outside consultants such as the GOP operative for stories' research components. Buzzfeed noted that the Center for American Freedom, which houses the Free Beacon, paid Reinschmiedt's partisan firm $150,000 for research services in 2012. 

Free Beacon's editor-in-chief went on to lash out against Brock in an email to Politico, comparing him to Nazi Josef Mengele:

Free Beacon Editor-in-Chief Matthew Continetti said Goodman traveled to Arkansas for all the stories based off the documents, and that Reinschmiedt was not credited “because the Free Beacon has never credited our researchers.”

“I urge anyone who has a problem with this policy to apply for a position on the expanding Free Beacon editorial team. Hearing a lecture on journalistic ethics from David Brock is like hearing a lecture on medical ethics from Josef Mengele,” Continetti said in an email.