A New York Times business correspondent in Hong Kong, a weekend editor at The Guardian who lives in New York, a British Business Insider reporter with a focus on the Saudis, and the executive editor of The Daily Beast.
A 48-year-old blogger who works for Rachel Maddow, a union activist who covers “extremism, far-right politics and media disinformation” for The Huffington Post, and the 29-year editor of the Arkansas Times.
A breaking news reporter at The Washington Post who wrapped up her most recent internship in May 2016, a 2016 University of Pennsylvania graduate who covers “young people doing big things” for Forbes, a 45-year-old former George Will intern who writes for CNN, and David Frum.
What do these people have in common, aside from their political ideology? Every one of them is a part of a machine that launders smears and opinions through newspapers, magazines, and television channels, presents the cleaned-up product as unimpeachable truth to the public, and then uses the fresh-minted facts to protect friends and hurt enemies. It’s called “the news,” and here’s how it worked for Arkansas’ Sen. Tom Cotton’s completely plausible theory that COVID-19 came from a Chinese lab.
That Hong Kong business correspondent? She wrote this headline for the Times in February 2020: “Senator Tom Cotton Repeats Fringe Theory of Coronavirus Origins.”
“Scientists,” the slug reads, “have dismissed suggestions that the Chinese government was behind the outbreak, but it’s the kind of tale that gains traction among those who see China as a threat.”
“Republican who floated virus conspiracy says ‘common sense has been my guide,’” the weekend editor at The Guardian dismissively explained.
“A GOP senator,” our award-winning Saudi investigator declared, “keeps pushing a thoroughly debunked theory that the Wuhan coronavirus is a leaked Chinese biological weapon gone wrong.”
“Sen. Tom Cotton Flogs Coronavirus Conspiracy Theory Dismissed by Actual Scientists,” the editor of The Daily Beast howled.
“Tom Cotton’s veiled threats really aren’t helping,” Maddow’s blogger chimed in.
“Don’t Listen To Sen. Tom Cotton About Coronavirus,” our “media disinformation” boy piped up.
“Tom Cotton and the virus conspiracy theory,” the three-decades’ veteran of an Arkansas weekly blogged, citing a Vanity Fair write-up that maintained far more nuance than the grizzled writer.
“Sen. Tom Cotton (R-Ark.) repeated a fringe theory,” the young Post staffer confidently led, “suggesting that the ongoing spread of a coronavirus is connected to research in the disease-ravaged epicenter of Wuhan, China.” That “theory,” her headline definitively states, “was already debunked.”
“Senator Tom Cotton Ramps Up Anti-China Rhetoric,” Forbes’ “Under 30 community lead” righteously wrote.
Hate hoax: School said ‘person of color’ created Instagram account from which racist messages were sent to students, police reports reveal
Police last month told The Blaze that a white high school student who said she was falsely accused of sending racist messages was not a suspect in the headline-grabbing incident — which the superintendent of White Bear Lake Area Schools in Minnesota had referred to as a “hoax.”
Now it turns out — according to police reports obtained through a public records request by the College Fix — the school had stated that a “person of color” created the Instagram account from which the racist messages were sent.
Previously all that officials were willing to say was that the responsible party is a female juvenile, which clouded the origin of the racist messages that spurred a student walkout and protest — and a lot of fear and false accusations.
What’s the background?
White Bear Lake Area High School students walked out of school on the morning of April 9 in protest over racist threats sent to several black students from an anonymous Instagram account, the Pioneer Press reported, which added that the messages contained death threats and repeated use of the N-word.
The paper reported in a follow-up story that a female student soon took responsibility for sending the messages, and Superintendent Wayne Kazmierczak said in a letter that the messages were “a hoax sent under false pretense.” He added that the student “poses no threat to students of color,” the Pioneer Press said.
But the paper said Kazmierczak soon penned a separate letter saying he regretted using the word “hoax” and didn’t mean to “minimize the impact that racism or racist acts has on students and families who have been marginalized throughout history and in White Bear Lake Area Schools.”
The superintendent also said he would recommend expulsion for the culprit due to violation of the district’s bullying and harassment policies, the Pioneer Press added.
At the time police would not comment on the race of the student responsible for the messages, and the school district did not respond to TheBlaze’s inquires about the race of the student behind the messages.
But Ellen Hiniker, White Bear Lake’s city manager, had said in a statement — which appears to have been taken down but still can be viewed at the Internet Archive — that the “juvenile female” who created the anonymous Instagram account did so “to raise awareness of social and racial injustice due to past incidents that occurred at school.”
“It has not yet been determined whether additional individuals contributed to the content of the postings associated with this account,” Hiniker added in the statement. “Although the investigation is ongoing, it is important that the information we have at this time be shared to help ease fears associated with this particular incident.”
White student said she was falsely accused
As the mystery deepened regarding the identity — and specifically the race — of the individual behind the racist messages, a white student told The Daily Wire she was falsely accused of the act.
Avery Severson, a sophomore at the high school, told the outlet that a black student accused her of sending the racist messages. The Daily Wire said the accusing student, Precious Boahen, shared a screenshot of the messages with the caption, “I bet you a billion bucks this is Avery Severson or one of her friends all mad because they can’t have their Turning Point club at school.”