For an institution so enamored with the concept of “fake news” and how it can have devastating political ramifications, you’d think the mainstream media would be particularly careful when it comes to covering false reports.
Yet, when it comes to Trump supporters and stories of alleged violence, racism, and bigotry, the media falls for fake news over and over again.
Here’s another case, involving pro-Trump supporters who were accused of “harassing” other students following the President-elect’s victory in November.
Officials at Babson College in Massachusetts, turned two students who drove through the parking lot at their campus with a Trump flag on their truck while shouting ‘Make America Great Again,’ into an incident of harassment.
After several weeks however, the students were completely exonerated of any charges involving the supposed ‘hate crimes.’
Via Breitbart:
Following Trump’s stunning victory against Democratic opponent Hillary Clinton, Babson College students Parker Rand-Ricciardi and Edward Tomasso drove through Wellesley College in celebration.
Other students claimed Ricciardi and Tomasso drove through the campus harassing on-lookers, spitting, and yelling slurs at anti-Trump students, according to the Boston Globe.
Ricciardi and Tomasso strongly denied the accusations, saying all they had done was drive through the campus shouting Trump’s “Make America Great Again” slogan and waving a Trump flag.
The Wellesley College Honor Board has fully cleared the false accusations, announcing that they found no evidence to support that the two men had harassed or shouted epithets at other students.
We should note that it wasn’t simply local or collegiate newspapers who helped push this story of Trump supporters engaged in hate crimes.
In November, the New York Times ran with it in a column titled, Postelection Harassment, Case by Case.
Will the Times print a follow-up article titled False Claims of Harassment, Case by Case?
We wouldn’t recommend holding your breath.
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