National Media Retracts Its Claim That There Was Violence at the Nevada State Democratic Convention

[Triana]

. . .

Even the Democratic National Committee — “neutral” in the Democratic primary — joined the fray, adding its voice to the major-media chorus singing Bernie Sanders’ swan song.

Barbara Boxer — who claimed she feared for her safety in Nevada — was subsequently shown in a video contemptuously and facetiously blowing kisses to the crowd as she was calmly escorted from the stage by the very same police officers who’d been in the room the whole time and not observed any violence whatsoever.

So of course, when video evidence showed Boxer having the time of her life trolling Sanders supporters (“Boo yourselves right out of the election!” she taunted from her perch at the convention’s main podium), and when the video of her kiss-blowing was disclosed, the major media immediately came out and retracted its earlier reporting about Boxer.

And more importantly it retracted, too, its claims about “chair-throwing” — which, by the admission of CNN’s Anderson Cooper on-air, was the only evidence of “violence” at the convention itself that the media had ever gathered.

How do we know that the entire national media retracted its claims that Sanders supporters committed acts of violence on the convention floor in Nevada? And that therefore the master narrative that lay behind that reporting — that it was time for Sanders to get out of the race because his movement had become disgraceful — in fact could draw no comfort from the events in Nevada? And how do we know that major-media reporting to the effect that Nevada State Democratic Party Chair Roberta Lange had followed all existing rules at the Nevada convention, which like all the other claims mentioned above was later proven false by video evidence, was later retracted?

It’s simple: because as I teach my undergraduates in Journalism 101, a media organization that fails to retract false reporting cannot be considered a media organization in conventional terms — that is, as it cannot be said to be undergirded by the pillars of journalism (objectivity, accuracy, fairness, and transparency) it is now something other than a news organization. A conglomerate of editorialists? Sure. But not an agency committed to that discrete element of journalistic practice we know as hard news reportage.

And so, because the AP, CBS, MSNBC, CNN, and NPR are all still regarded as news organizations, we can be certain that after Snopes and the Ombudsman for National Public Radio conclusively disproved the allegations of violence at Nevada’s state Democratic convention, all of those media organizations on-air or in print retracted their earlier reporting. . .

THE REST:

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/seth-abramson/national-media-retracts-its-claim_b_10132518.html

[NWCorona]

1. Maddow, Maddow

[SFnomad]

2. Politifact: Allegations of fraud and misconduct at Nevada Democratic convention unfounded

http://www.politifact.com/nevada/statements/2016/may/18/jeff-weaver/allegations-fraud-and-misconduct-nevada-democratic/

Our ruling

Sanders campaign manager Jeff Weaver said Nevada Democratic Party leaders "hijacked the process on the floor" of the state convention "ignoring the regular procedure and ramming through what they wanted to do."

Caucuses and delegate math can be incredibly confusing, and the arcane party structures don’t reflect how most people assume presidential selection works.

But the howls of unfairness and corruption by the Sanders campaign during Nevada’s state Democratic Convention can’t change the simple fact that Clinton’s supporters simply turned out in larger numbers and helped her solidify her delegate lead in Nevada.

There’s no clear evidence the state party "hijacked" the process or ignored "regular procedure."

We rate this claim False.

[AgingAmerican]

5. Doubling down on stupid

[Triana]

7. Snopes says the same: FALSE.

http://www.snopes.com/did-sanders-supporters-throw-chairs-at-nevada-democratic-convention/

[B Calm]

3. The DNC created it all to paint Bernie delegates in a bad light in preparation

for a contested convention.

[AgingAmerican]

4. Hillary supporters wasted a week on this lie?

They must feel like corporate dupes

[merrily]

6. Wasn't SandersVaticanPopeGate!!11!! more than a week?

http://www.democraticunderground.com/1280177128

I think I even saw a straggler post about it this week.

[bvar22]

8. DURec.

This was extremely well done.
I'm still waiting for the retractions and apologies owed to Sanders and his supporters.

[AzDar]

9. Shameful.

[Tarc]

10. "Seth Abramson"