The Washington Post, among other papers, put out stories trying to blame its reporting on Covington Catholic on the speed at which social media news moves. The same people who want the power to censor social media with their fact checks failed to do basic reporting.
Forget digging up more video footage. The media failed Fact Checking 101.
Native American activist Nathan Phillips faces questions about reports that he’s a veteran of the Vietnam war.
According to multiple news accounts, the activist is 64 years old, which means he would have been 18 years old in 1973, the last year any U.S. combat units were stationed in Vietnam.
Mr. Phillips also claims to be a Marine veteran, although the last Marine combat units left Vietnam in 1971.
A careful reading of Mr. Phillips‘ own descriptions does not make clear if he ever set foot in Vietnam. Instead, he has used much more careful language claiming he is a “Vietnam times veteran,” an ambiguous phrasing that led many media accounts to conclude he was a combat veteran.
That’s Blumenthalesque.
The dates are simple enough. The media could have checked. And had Nate announced that he was a Trump supporter and wanted to build a wall, you can bet that this fact, and every thing he had ever done wrong, down to that 30 year old parking ticket, would have shown up in the news. Instead the media pretended that a fridge mechanic was in line for the Medal of Honor.
Since Nate’s claims fit the media’s agenda, the hacks played Liberty Valance and printed the legend. And now they want to fact check us when they refuse to check their own facts.
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