Here's a good example of how it works in our current time with respect to that fake dossier with all the ridiculous allegations about Trump hiring prostitutes to piss on a bed in Russia..
The dossier was commissioned in part by the intelligence community (primarily the intelligence end of the FBI) when the Hillary Clinton and the DNC stopped paying for it.
The dossier itself was fabricated by ex-intelligence employees with continuing deep ties to the IC (Steele).
The information was leaked to the media and CNN opened the door for reporting on the fake news as if it were a fact. But CNN failed to disclose that CNN itself is quite connected to Fusion GPS,
http://dailycaller.com/2017/10/28/cnns- ... usion-gps/
People need to realize that quite a lot of this fake intelligence used to create fake news for political aims is fabricated by these private intelligence groups which are, in fact, a "fusion" of MSM and intelligence former employees. It's designed to create fake news stories based on "anonymous sources" and "intelligence reports" all based on lies. Nobody in that chain is unaware that this is totally fake news. They are in the business of propaganda and lies. The intelligence assets I can understand to some extent when their motives are not American politics but actually foreign intelligence and disrupting/influencing foreign politics. That's literally their job. The journalists who do this are dishonest, in my opinion, and I wouldn't lose sleep over them being exposed. When they target the American people with these lies, ALL of these people ought to be exposed for what they are. They are using the IC apparatus to undermine the American democratic process. It's borderline treason.