Ben Collins of NBC News is touted by the network as a “disinformation expert.” This made it notable when he rushed to the defense of embattled Harvard President Claudine Gay over multiple plagiarism charges.

Instead of contradicting the charges of academic fraud themselves, he decided to attack the source.

Conservative activist Christopher Rufo, a fierce critic of Critical Race Theory, was the first to document and publicize the accusations. Collins claimed that it’s media outlets taking Rufo’s charges seriously — and not the actual plagiarism charges — that is the primary issue.

As far as anyone can tell, the job description of a “disinformation expert” is to launch attacks against conservatives. 

The term arose out of leftist shock over Donald Trump’s surprise 2016 election victory and became a cottage industry to promote the establishment narrative.

Collins, it must be noted, was temporarily suspended by NBC late last year for a series of disingenuous tweets about entrepreneur Elon Musk. That gave viewers a break from his normal output covering “disinformation, extremism and the internet.”

NBC News 'Disinformation Reporter' Ben Collins Tells on Himself in Defense of Harvard's Claudine Gayhttps://t.co/TZdQZ21q8P

— RedState (@RedState) December 22, 2023

His posting over the Claudine Gay controversy was his first for the network in 81 days. NBC has not commented on why he had again been silent for so long. 

Rufo along with the Washington Free Beacon and journalist Christopher Brunet provided the initial coverage of the Harvard scandal. Since they broke the story, however, it has been featured by the New York Times, Washington Post, CNN, BBC and USA Today.

The online backlash against Collins was immediate and fierce.

Rufo declared that the NBC reporter’s stand “is designed to lull people into accepting the idea that 41 instances of plagiarism by the highest academic leader in America is not a big deal. A real journalist would prioritize the truth.”

He further noted that even though the story of alleged academic misdeeds originated with conservative outlets, it was not “legit” until mainstream leftist organizations picked it up.

Guy Benson of Fox News Radio wryly applied an appropriate headline to the diatribe by Collins. “IGNORE THIS STORY, demands frustrated activist.”