Our media business makes mistakes. That’s cool. Humans make mistakes. Here’s Saturday night’s WHAS11 report of a Republican governor interacting with Democrat volunteers.
Anchor Lisa Hutson reads claims from the Democrat Party that Governor Matt Bevin is harassing the Democrats but she doesn’t have any facts about what actually happened.
Hutson’s report mirrors accounts from other media outlets, and they are all wrong. No one fact checked the story, they just repeated the misleading claims of the Facebook post. News consumers are given the false impression that there is conflict when it actually the complete opposite.
I am impressed with these two Democrats who stood up against the media and social media fictional posts by people who weren't even there. We may not see eye to eye politically, but these two young Democrats have my respect. pic.twitter.com/SP1gTGOpX9
— Jon E. Park (@jpark1262) August 19, 2019
What’s changed in media is that very few mistakes are acknowledged once revealed. There used to be a corrections column or ombudsman to clarify prior mistakes. Today’s media machine trudges forward without reflection and a promise to try harder.
The latest case in point: Kentucky Governor Matt Bevin is photographed wearing a Trump jacket while, according to media, “trolling” Democrats at their Kentucky State Fair booth.
Here is @GovMattBevin trolling the @KyDems booth at the @kystatefair today with a jacket of President Donald #Trump's face. #KYGov pic.twitter.com/ak7Vh7vecA
— Philmonger (@phillipmbailey) August 17, 2019
But wait…that’s not true! How is that possible in a world of fair, impartial, nonpartisan media?
Even the Democrat workers in the photo says the @courierjournal headline is a lie. Bevin was discussing civil discourse. Do they fact check anything? It’s no wonder they are losing credibility and subscribers? This garbage sullies real journalism. https://t.co/SI4WsyPbnB
— Bryan Sunderland (@bryansunderland) August 19, 2019
The problem is that Governor Bevin was having a cordial conversation about civil discourse and mutual agreement with the Democrat volunteers in the fair booth.
Here is the Twitter response of Democrat volunteer Forest Clevenger: “I’m the volunteer in the red shirt. He wasn’t trolling us – he comes and talks with our booth every year. We primarily discussed civil discourse and touched on a few issues where we could try to find common ground.”
In another reply, Clevenger added: “I’m sure he knew the photo op would bring attention, but he began and ended the conversation by telling us how much he respected the work that we do. Don’t get me wrong, he has none of my support. But person to person convos like that are necessary to repair our polarization.”
Why did no media person think to check Twitter or ask the Democrats working in the booth about their interaction with the governor? Instead, newsrooms simply echoed misdirected social media posts by Bevin haters.
“NO NEED TO CHECK FACTS – LIBERALS ON SOCIAL MEDIA TELL MY TRUTH!” said the self-proclaimed impartial media sheep. Except they didn’t check the social media of the people involved in the actual “story.” The media just went with the sentiment of the daily Bevin bashers as if they speak nonpartisan truth.
TFW your moral compass is so broken it just points down. pic.twitter.com/b2XjniGIne
— Marc Murphy (@MurphyCartoons) August 18, 2019
Pathetic, lazy journalism. This embarrassment is the result of understaffed newsrooms and the overall standard that Liberal “feelings” should be elevated to “facts.”
Our dwindling media business suffers from lack of fact-checking, inadequate staffing, and avoidance of balance in favor of Liberal leanings.
Even the Louisville Democrats eventually deleted the Facebook post asking Bevin “How old are you?”
That appropriate corrective measure by Democrats was not mentioned by local media.