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This @Politico @Dlippman piece about @BernieSander’s flights is a concerning #BadMediaPrecedent: Someone can float a story, the facts get investigated, the campaign’s side is plausible and UNCONTESTED, & the hit piece publishes anyway. More in thread ... politi.co/2EcMfrR
First, let me put my biases out on the table. I support @ewarren. And I respect writer @Dlippman professionally. I know there are tough calls journalistically sometimes. My concern here is less this one piece than the #BadMediaPrecedent for #2020Election coverage going forward.
Next, let’s be clear on the the campaign’s core assertion via @AriannaiJones and @RaniaBatrice: If commercial was doable, they did it. If an ambitious campaign tour was scheduled that didn’t make commercial doable, they fly private. That only makes…all the sense in the world.
Clinton person agreed: “our working assumption was that 90% of the time it would be commercial...If he was trying to hop from city to city in a particular state and [commercial] didn’t work, we were open” to chartering. So if NOBODY alleges commercial was doable, no story, right?
The instances in @DLippman’s story when a private jet was used were all seemingly rigorous trips: “39 rallies in 13 states on behalf of Clinton’s campaign" 17 events in final week. 2017 DNC unity tour several states, several days. 2018: “nine-day, nine-state tour” for candidates.
Was there any a single fact in the entire story that undercut the idea that he only traveled private when commercial wasn't doable? One example saying “The campaign said X, but actually Y flight was easily available.” No. Seriously, not a single one. And it was a long story!
Not 1 fact undercutting @RaniaBatrice: “At no point did I ever say ‘he has to have a private plane for the sake of [it]…requests for a charter only came after the schedules were put in front of us. If a less rigorous schedule were put in front of us, [no charter needed]."
In the part of the story where you’d expect a rebuttal from Clinton camp, it was this (petty) nonsequiter: “To the Clinton staff, however, the issue of the senator and the private jets became so cumbersome that it turned into ‘a running joke in the office.’" So...what...
There's also innuendo Sanders spent other people's money extraneously. But Sanders camp gave DNC $100,000 to defray his participation in their 2017 unity tour & spent $342,000 mostly on a 9-day tour helping 2018 candidates. Seems like very real skin in the game...helping others.
Further buttressing Sanders, the piece grants that in the entire 2017-2018 cycle, “his Senate campaign committee spent $342,000 on Apollo Jets...primarily to pay for a nine-day, nine-state tour to support Democratic candidates." So…the entire rest of the two years, no charters.
Was also hypocrisy argument: How could someone fighting climate change & inequality fly CHARTER? Yet “The Clinton campaign itself spent a total of $15.9 million on jet charter” and nobody, including reporter, raised hypocrisy. Can Bernie not order a book on @Amazon either?
So @Politico should be honest. The REAL (legit for publication) story is some Clinton people are still bitter enough to try to undermine @BernieSanders in this moment. Anti-unity. But it can be reported in the context of debunking their petty snipes. Instead, #BadMediaPrecedent.
P.S. Fun fact, using Politico Playbook parlance. SPOTTED: @BernieSanders on commercial flight recently flying coach to major @NAACP speech in South Carolina.
