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I praised @brianstelter’s segment yesterday about Jussie Smollett. But today, he, @SopanDeb and others have bizarrely attempted to fully absolve the media of any blame for how the Smollett story entered the public consciousness. That introspection-free angle is wrong. 1/
@brianstelter @SopanDeb The headlines and chyrons of CNN, NBC News and CBS News from day 1 all clearly take, as fact, that an attack happened . The question raised was only if it was a hate crime. 2/ 
@brianstelter @SopanDeb One of the main issues with this @CNN tweet and others like it was a mischaracterization of what police were saying. This assumes police said the attack happened in the way that Smollett says, when the police ALWAYS said simply they were relaying what they were told. 3/
@brianstelter @SopanDeb @CNN Another issue with the media coverage of Smollett was the immediate secondary story. Here, demonstrated by @CNN and @BuzzFeed, any element of skepticism was dismissed by these tweets about celebrity response to the “brutal attack” (no “alleged” in there). 4/
@brianstelter @SopanDeb @CNN @BuzzFeed Another media error was in the instant analysis. Here, @washingtonpost tweets that Smollett “was assaulted.” But also, follows up with an opinion piece (but tweeted from their main account): “The Jussie Smollett attack highlights the hate black gay Americans face”. 5/
@brianstelter @SopanDeb @CNN @BuzzFeed @washingtonpost Another example: @thedailybeast tweets a column that instantly analyzes the situation, quoting the column with “what happened to Smollett was a form of white terrorism.” They had no problem in their 2nd day story calling it “an assault,” without any “alleged” present. 6/
@brianstelter @SopanDeb @CNN @BuzzFeed @washingtonpost @thedailybeast And of course, little editorializing that is now the norm within many journalistic outlets looks awful in retrospect. Here, @BrookeBCNN closes an objective segment by noting “This is America in 2019.” 7/
@brianstelter @SopanDeb @CNN @BuzzFeed @washingtonpost @thedailybeast @BrookeBCNN Perhaps no tweet exemplifies media re: Smollett more than this from @Yamiche of PBS. She attributes the report to TMZ, but adds “We have to do better as a country. This is disgusting.”
The media must take this misstep seriously and not dismiss it. Be humble, and get better. 8/
The media must take this misstep seriously and not dismiss it. Be humble, and get better. 8/
@brianstelter @SopanDeb @CNN @BuzzFeed @washingtonpost @thedailybeast @BrookeBCNN @Yamiche [some screenshots that didn’t fit my thread… @ABC calling it a “brutal attack” (no alleged), and @nytimes saying “assailants who yelled racist and homophobic slurs" (period). This media screw-up was ubiquitous.]
