![]() But no matter: The actions of Sandmann and his friends, as described by the media, generated apoplectic denunciation by conservatives, liberals, Catholics, celebrities, politicians, and virtually everyone else. These stories employed some cautious language- allegedly, seemingly, etc.-and attributed the stronger statements to Phillips, which provided a veneer of objectivity, even though readers were given little reason to think there might be more to the story.Ī truly discerning reader would have wondered why a trivial encounter that involved no one of significance and resulted in zero injuries or property damage was worthy of so much coverage at all. Since journalism in the modern era moves at a rapid pace, irrespective of the need to double- and triple-check facts, these two pieces of evidence were sufficient to launch dozens of stories in mainstream press that essentially indicted Covington's students as racists. (In fact, Phillips is a charlatan with a long history of allowing the media to misrepresent him as a Vietnam War veteran, even though he never served abroad or saw combat.) Phillips, it turned out, was a false witness: an on-the-ground source whose information seemed credible, but wasn't. He also claimed he had heard a "build the wall" chant, even though no evidence of this has emerged in any of the additional footage. The second was Phillips' brazenly inaccurate statements to the press: He claimed that he had intervened to protect the third group, the Black Hebrew Israelites, from the "predatory" boys, even though the boys were not threatening anyone. The first was the misleading video clip, which did not contain important context about what had happened immediately before the encounter between Sandmann and Phillips. It's important to recall that the mainstream media's textbook rush-to-judgment about the Covington teens relied on two key pieces of faulty evidence. But these outlets' Covington-related sins pale in comparison to those who continued to malign the teens long after the additional video footage was available. Indeed, these publications certainly deserve criticism, independent of the merits of the individual lawsuits. Sandmann's subsequent lawsuits have kept the Covington-sympathetic public focused on several of the outlets that misreported the initial story: CNN, The Washington Post, and others. Indeed, those who had defended the boys by disputing some aspects of the encounter-including me, in an article for Reason that changed many people's minds about what had happened-were engaged in " gaslighting": trying to make people think that something they saw hadn't really happened. Sandmann and his MAGA hat-wearing friends had identified themselves as members of Team Trump, and thus the national shaming they endured was deserved, this thinking went. ![]() One year later, the media's reckless mishandling of the story stands as an important warning against the kind of agenda-driven, outrage-mongering clickbait that unfortunately thrives in the world of online journalism.īut no less noteworthy was the news cycle that followed the initial flawed coverage, which featured a host of ideologically-motivated partisans doubling down on their initial assumption, digging for new information to justify it, and reassuring themselves that they were right all along. ![]() "You wanna punch a kid? How about this, see this face? Why don't you try punching me, Rez? Let's see what happens with that.On the weekend of January 18, 2019, a short video appeared on Twitter that purported to show a group of Catholic high school boys-one young man, Nicholas Sandmann, in particular-harassing a Native American elder named Nathan Phillips on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial. "Well, Reza, I have a question for you," Eric said. Have you ever seen a more punchable face than this kid's?" And their parents."Įric wrapped up with castigating former CNN commentator Reza Aslan for tweeting, "honest question. He also read Disney producer, Jack Morrissey's tweet, which said, "#MAGAkids go screaming, hats first, into the woodchipper," and a tweet from Vulture magazine writer, Erik Abriss, who wrote, "I just want these people to die. BlazeTV's Eric Bolling, host of " America," called out leftist celebrities and the liberal mob for inciting violence against the Covington (Kentucky) Catholic High School students, whose confrontation with Native American activist Nathan Phillips last week sparked a media firestorm.Įric shared a few examples, starting with "Daily Show" host Trevor Noah, who said, "Everyone that sees that smug look wants to punch that kid.
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