MSM Runs With Media Matters Smear of Nikki Haley Over Misreported Confederate Flag Comments
The mainstream media and propagandists at Media Matters get caught in real time peddling a lie about former U.S. Ambassador to the U.N. Nikki Haley.
I’ve been blogging about politics and media bias since 2003, and I can honestly say that Media Matters is one of the worst websites on the left when it comes to making false or distorted claims about things Republicans say – even when video evidence proves them wrong.
On their about page, they note their mission is to provide “activists, journalists, pundits, and the general public … the resources to rebut false claims and to take direct action against offending media institutions.”
They left out the part about how their mission also apparently involves trying to smear Republicans with deliberately erroneous claims in hopes of canceling their legitimate contributions to current debates and destroying their political futures.
Worse still is how the mainstream media and Democratic politicians and candidates often promote and amplify their claims without bothering to check their validity.
The latest example of Media Matters’ blatant dishonesty involves the way they “reported” on comments former U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley made during a recent interview with Glenn Beck in which they talked about some of the things she wrote in her new book.
Under discussion was the Confederate flag in the context of the June 17, 2015 mass murders of nine African American churchgoers at Emanuel AME Church in Charleston, SC. Three otphers survived.
After photos surfaced showing the killer holding up a Confederate flag, the voices of those who had long wanted it removed grew louder. Haley was governor at the time, and after three weeks of debate, the state legislature approved the removal of the flag, which Haley had pushed for in the aftermath of the shootings.
Of the flag, Haley told Beck this during the interview:
“Here is this guy that comes out with his manifesto, holding the Confederate flag. And had just hijacked everything that people thought of .. and we don’t have hateful people in South Carolina. There’s always the small minority that’s always gonna be there. But people saw [the flag] as service and sacrifice and heritage. But once he did that, there was no way to overcome it.”
Clearly she was talking about what she thinks other people saw the flag as a symbol of, but here’s how Media Matters propagandist Jason Campbell “reported” her comments – by way of sharing a video clip that actually proved his claim wrong:
Nikki Haley says the Confederate flag was about "service, and sacrifice, and heritage" until Dylan Roof "hijacked" it pic.twitter.com/pqdhKIezRl
— Jason Campbell (@JasonSCampbell) December 6, 2019
Not only did liberal commentators and columnists for news outlets like CNN and the Washington Post run with Campbell’s lie, but mainstream media journalists from websites like Axios and WaPo also joined in – all based on Campbell’s tweet (keep in mind that his clip was the only one widely available and circulating at the time):
We've deleted a tweet saying that Nikki Haley said the Confederate flag represents "service, sacrifice and heritage".
Our story has been updated to reflect that Haley said: "People saw [the flag] as service, and sacrifice and heritage" https://t.co/oTIoBbXy4z
— Axios (@axios) December 6, 2019
Washington Post national correspondent Philip Bump also ran with the Media Matters interpretation but deleted the tweet, though his defenses of what he tweeted are still up:
I see that Philip deleted his tweet about Nikki Haley. That was a good idea. pic.twitter.com/uDlXWOfcn7
— Thomas Galvin (@ThomasGalvin) December 6, 2019
The Hill’s headline reads “Haley: Dylann Roof ‘hijacked’ Confederate flag”, and the opening paragraph to their story was not any better:
Former U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations and South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley (R) says that Dylann Roof, who shot and killed nine black Americans in a Charleston church in 2015, “hijacked” the meaning of the Confederate flag.
“Nikki Haley” trended on Twitter for a good part of the day Friday.
Twitter conservatives were quick to correct the record, and slammed Campbell, MMFA, the Democrat commentators, and media outlets who parroted the false quote:
This is the problem. MMFA hacks intentionally distort what someone in the right said. WaPo reporters follow left-wing hacks (and no right-wing hacks) and amplify/promote those distortions. Now it’s a mainstream narrative. https://t.co/XUWqnL78Fs
— AG (@AGHamilton29) December 6, 2019
I can't believe it's 2019 and people are still sharing Media Matters tweets without thinking twice about it being completely deceptive
— Caleb Hull (@CalebJHull) December 6, 2019
I am shocked — SHOCKED, I tell you — that a bunch of journalists and so-called "conservatives" and "Republicans" think @NikkiHaley said what they think she did about the Confederate flag before actually doing their homework
— Curtis Houck (@CurtisHouck) December 6, 2019
3 quick facts about Nikki Haley for the outrage mob:
1- She's not white.
2- She's the reason the confederate flag was removed from the South Carolina state house and said, "it should have never been there."
3- Her statements today were 100% consistent with what she said in 2015.— Tim Young (@TimRunsHisMouth) December 6, 2019
Make no mistake, the smearing of @NikkiHaley today plays itself out every single day on this platform. Lies worm their way from left wing oppo shops and "media reporters" to the pages/airwaves of the most powerful media organizations on this planet
— Saagar Enjeti (@esaagar) December 6, 2019
Comfortably Smug is even having a Google spreadsheet set up for people to document instances of the MSM/left wing journos/Democratic officials uncritically sharing MMFA talking points:
The response has been ENORMOUS@MatthewFoldi is setting up a Google document.
I understand these are office documents that are stored in clouds and people can all add information!!
Ping Foldi to join the war effort
— Comfortably Smug (@ComfortablySmug) December 6, 2019
Haley defended herself on Twitter Sunday morning:
1/2 Sad that the outrage media has gone crazy about my recent intv with Glenn Beck.What I said was accurate.Many in South Carolina did see the confederate flag as symbolizing heritage, and many others saw it as symbolling hate.That’s why it was such a difficult issue for so long.
— Nikki Haley (@NikkiHaley) December 8, 2019
2/2 I am proud of our state for coming together to remove the flag from our statehouse.If the outrage peddlers in the liberal media are really interested in my views on the flag, instead of distorting them, they should read the first 2 chapters of my book. https://t.co/IQq8YXBrtT
— Nikki Haley (@NikkiHaley) December 8, 2019
That the MSM and Media Matters work together is not new news, but this was one of the more notable instances where they were caught on social media doing it in real time.
In addition to Media Matters, national news outlets have also used distorted “reports” from the now-defunct Think Progress in order to smear Republicans in the past.
With Haley in particular, what this is all about is pretty straightforward: Democrats and the mainstream media are scared of her because she represents the type of GOP diversity the left claims doesn’t exist. Plus, they believe she’s angling for a future presidential nomination.
There’s no question that the media/left’s coordinated campaign to nuke her reputation in advance of 2024 is officially underway.
— Stacey Matthews has also written under the pseudonym “Sister Toldjah” and can be reached via Twitter. —
DONATE
Donations tax deductible
to the full extent allowed by law.
Comments
geee… the #MFM lies.
who knew?
The twitter post by Philip Bump where he quotes Campbell in the above article? The photo of Haley makes her look like Adolph Hitler’s twin sister. No, I’m not fashioning faces from clouds in the sky. The chin and jawline. The photo shadowing. The hair bang above the brow. She sports a faint shadow of a Hitler mustache. Did Campbell doctor the image?
Compare the two images. Just do it!
https://ehistory.osu.edu/sites/default/files/Hitler-Adolf_0.jpg
I should mention that I’m one of those people who never forget a face. At a glance can remember a face from forty years ago. I’m probably in some top percentile of adults with the ability for not forgetting faces.
That said, I’m not a pro photoshop guy, but I swear the image has been tampered with.
https://pbs.twimg.com/media/ELI6HZuU4AE0wLc.jpg
Media Matters was started through Soros funding. Is it any shock that that vile, evil carbon product would be a part of the propaganda brigade? This of course is intentional, lies and distortions are the propagandists tools of the trade.
They also know retractions never really work for the majority of people who heard the first reports. It’s why they do what they do.
When forced to retract their lies, it is buried and glossed over as barely a mention so they have “cover”.
The propaganda machine needs to have laws stripped that allow them to do this to “public figures”, many of whom they have made public figures, without repercussion. Legal suits should be allowed for this blatant disinformation that is put out. Retractions do nothing. Make them pay hefty fees and fines for lies they put out, through laziness and through purposeful intentions of pushing lies for political agendas.
Nikki Haley is a public figure, meaning that there is a mountain to push a libel-defamation case over the top. I would love to see one succeed, but it seems unlikely.
Media Matters speaks truth to facts, but the facts do not support their truth.
The dinosaur media, wholly owned subsidiary of the Democrat party, is all about narrative, if it won’t fit, no worries, just make up stuff until it does. No one will call them out.
columnists for news outlets like CNN and the Washington Post run with Campbell’s lie, but mainstream media journalists from websites like Axios and WaPo also joined in
—————————-
LOL, journalists. Thanks for the laugh.
The first mistake of the right is buying the left’s premise. I’m a northerner and have never thought the confederate flag has anything to do with slavery. It’s a symbol of an army and its loyalites, traditions and bravery.
Give in to the everything-offends-me premise and everything ratchets leftward.
I find the American flag offensive since Pelosi stood in front of it (them) to announce Trump’s impeachment hearings. Obviously it’s a symbol of leftism and false patriotism.
The “mainstream” media is a scam to cover for MASSIVE corruption in our goverment.
From joy behar, to george stephanopolis, to oprah, to hollywood and so on: they are all on the take, by virtue of being grossly overpaid to spew their handlers’ poison. There isn’t a single “mainstream” media outlet any of us here trust in the least. Not one.
The cat is out of the bag, so let’s not b.s. ourselves: Haley did not tow the swamp/left/islamic axis line, so she’s on the receiving end of the swamp/left/islamic axis’ “mainstream” media wrath.
As insane as this situation is (and it could not be worse), it has one benefit: we get to test our GOP leaders’ mettle and their honesty.
Bush, mccain, flake, corker, romney etc have failed miserably: as convicts would say (which is who the likes of these creeps belong with), the media has “pulled their tits out”.
So far, Trump has passed the test with flying colors. Let’s see if Haley makes it.
“Liberalism” (corrupt leftism, actually) backfires all the time, so why not now and in our favor?
She has to be Palinized before 2024.