Image source: YouTube screenshot
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Some journalists, SJWs walk back Covington story. Others apparently love the false premise too much.
January 21, 2019
'Have you ever seen a more punchable face than this kid's?'
It's been quite the hoot watching journalists and social-justice warriors get caught up in yet another fake news story, dispensed to the Internet — whodathunk it? — before all the facts were in.
But more and more on Monday, folks were walking back their initial conclusions about the Covington student story — at first insisting with self-righteous glee that a group of white teens wearing Trump hats surrounded and taunted a Native America on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial last week only to learn that full context told a much different story.
Still, some notables just couldn't let go:
Follow @lisasharper if you want a breakdown was what really happened in the longer video of the Catholic school boys and Nathan Phillips. *Weirdly* none of what she chronicles (and i watched) is in any of allegedly exhaustive write ups by conservatives. https://t.co/2ZAMtdbyA0
— Kirsten Powers (@KirstenPowers) January 21, 2019
One theme of the conversations over the past 24 hours = how deeply familiar this look is. It's the look of white patriarchy, of course, but that familiarity — that banality — is part of what prompts the visceral reaction. This isn't spectacular. It's life in America. pic.twitter.com/TmziDwAjYA
— Anne Helen Petersen (@annehelen) January 21, 2019
Then there were the following folks who deleted their tweets about the incident; too bad for them the Internet has a pretty long memory:
Patton Oswalt deleted this tweet (using: Twitter for iPhone). #PattonOswalt #pattonoswalt #deletedtweet #screenshotbot #sshotbot pic.twitter.com/11AWw4ryjb
— Screenshot Bot (@sshotbot) January 21, 2019
Ana Navarro deleted this tweet (using: Twitter for iPad). #AnaNavarro #ananavarro #deletedtweet #screenshotbot #sshotbot pic.twitter.com/KUGOVbxJgM
— Screenshot Bot (@sshotbot) January 21, 2019
Just @CNN employee @Bakari_Sellers fantasizing about punching a 15-year-old in the face. pic.twitter.com/bsZQpV9RtV
— Matt Wolking (@MattWolking) January 21, 2019
You have to wonder how Reza Aslan — dropped by CNN of all places in 2017 after profanity-laced tweets against Trump — figured posting this message was a good idea:
Honest question. Have you ever seen a more punchable face than this kid's? pic.twitter.com/jolQ7BZQPD
— Reza Aslan (@rezaaslan) January 20, 2019
The repentant
Recode editor and New York Times contributing op-ed writer Kara Swisher deleted a tweet saying she was thinking of "finding every one of these s**tty kids and giving them a very large piece of my mind," as well as tweets about the students using slurs like "Nazi" and "nationalist," according to Mediaite.
But Swisher eventually came around and admitted she was at fault, tweeting Monday that she was "a complete dolt to put up this and several other obnoxious tweets yesterday without waiting to see the whole video of the incident and I apologize to the kids from Kentucky unilaterally and also for using that clip to make another point about, of all things, a razor ad."
Other notable folks reversed their positions, too:
Hey guys. Seeing all the additional videos now, and I 100% regret reacting too quickly to the Covington story. I wish I'd had the fuller picture before weighing in, and I'm truly sorry.
— S.E. Cupp (@secupp) January 21, 2019
My friend @robbysoave is one of the best journalists I know... I, like many others may have reacted too quickly. Apologize for being part of a media pile on. Please read his piece. https://t.co/WhJ5auQ3TQ
— Meghan McCain (@MeghanMcCain) January 20, 2019
A repentant Cincinnati-based writer Julia Irwin Zimmerman wrote for the Atlantic that "next time there's a viral story, I'll wait for more facts to emerge."
Larger breakdown
CBS News correspondent David Begnaud rounded things out, noting in a video segment that the incident did not take place as originally reported:
The Covington Catholic High School story is incomplete.
Here's the context - based on new video & an interview with Nathan Philips, who I asked what should happen to the young man who stared him down. He said, among other things: he should forgive himself. pic.twitter.com/QH1VEKOZ0J
— David Begnaud (@DavidBegnaud) January 21, 2019
(H/T: Mediaite)
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Sr. Editor, News
Dave Urbanski is a senior editor for Blaze News.
DaveVUrbanski
Dave Urbanski
Sr. Editor, News
Dave Urbanski is a senior editor for Blaze News and has been writing for Blaze News since 2013. He has also been a newspaper reporter, a magazine editor, and a book editor. He resides in New Jersey. You can reach him at durbanski@blazemedia.com.
@DaveVUrbanski →more stories
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