CNN made a false claim Monday afternoon and various journalists ran wild with it.
It all started with a segment on CNN's The Lead which quoted prominent white nationalist figure Richard Spencer as wondering if Jews were actually people.
CNN host Jim Sciutto said, "of Jews Spencer said, 'one wonders if these people are people at all, or instead soulless golem.'""That is an alt right leader Richard Spencer talking about Jews," Sciutto added. CNN then had a panel with RealClearPolitics' Rebecca Berg and
The Boston Globe's Matt Viser with the chyron "ALT-RIGHT FOUNDER QUESTIONS IF JEWS ARE PEOPLE."
Except, Spencer did not make those remarks about Jews and was instead talking about political consultants on television.
"This was the year when
random shitlords on Twitter, anonymous podcast hosts, and dissidents working deep within the Beltway Right proved that they objectively understood politics better than the Republican strategists and the political consultants snarking at us every night on MSNBC," Spencer said at a white nationalist conference Saturday.
He added, "It's not just that
they are leftists and cucks. It's not just that many are genuinely stupid.
Indeed one wonders if these people are people at all, or instead soulless golem animated by some dark power to repeat whatever talking point John Oliver stated the night before."
Golem are clay creatures from Jewish folklore that get brought to life.
WATCH:
CNN's senior media correspondent
Brian Stelter has been railing against fake news for the past week or so. He said Sunday, "As a society we need to help each other distinguish between reliable and bogus stories. The more media literate you are, the less likely you will be tricked by propaganda, and that is what it is propaganda."
On Monday,
Stelter spread the false CNN story.
© Twitter
The Daily Caller reached out to Stelter and asked him if he had any comment about his network spreading a false story and he did not return a comment. CNN has also not responded to an email inquiring if they will apologize for getting their quote wrong on air.
Here are other journalists who have spread the CNN misquote.
Alanna Vagianos of The Huffington Post
Rosie Gray of Buzzfeed
Adam Serwer of the Atlantic
Maggie Haberman of The New York Times
Comment: It's pretty sad when CNN can't even accurately pillory a white nationalist whose listeners give
the Nazi salute during his speech. If they'd even read what he said they could have accused him of implying that "the Jews control the media" (i.e., by creating the "golem" political consultants). But they couldn't even get that right. Tell us again, why is CNN still a thing?
Update: Michael Hirsh, national editor at Politico, has
resigned after publishing Spencer's address on Facebook and calling for people to "excercise your rights as decent Americans". His next clarified what he meant:
"Completely agree we should mobilize against his hateful ideas, but what does knowing his home addresses do?" one Facebook user asked Hirsh. "Send a letter? Confront him in person? Seems like counter-speech is the main thing we can do. You can call it 'whining' but I'm not sure that's fair or constructive. Side note: Apparently the GSA-owned Ronald Reagan International Trade Center in DC felt obligated to host his organization's event because it can't discriminate against speech under the First Amendment, so there's that problem, too."
Hirsh responded in an unhinged manner: "I wasn't thinking of a f***ing letter, Doug. He lives part of the time next door to me in Arlington. Our grandfathers brought baseball bats to Bund meetings. Want to join me?"
Politico responded: "[Hirsh's posts] crossed a line in ways that the publication will not defend, and editors are taking steps to ensure that such a lapse does not occur again."
Comment: It's pretty sad when CNN can't even accurately pillory a white nationalist whose listeners give the Nazi salute during his speech. If they'd even read what he said they could have accused him of implying that "the Jews control the media" (i.e., by creating the "golem" political consultants). But they couldn't even get that right. Tell us again, why is CNN still a thing?
Update: Michael Hirsh, national editor at Politico, has resigned after publishing Spencer's address on Facebook and calling for people to "excercise your rights as decent Americans". His next clarified what he meant: Politico responded: "[Hirsh's posts] crossed a line in ways that the publication will not defend, and editors are taking steps to ensure that such a lapse does not occur again."