Media outlets deliberately twist Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez's DNC speech
Anybody who remotely understands political conventions would know what was actually going on — but they manipulated it for headlines, anyway.
Written by Eric Kleefeld
Published
A variety of media outlets are seeking to create an artificial controversy out of Tuesday night’s Democratic convention speech by Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY), who ceremonially seconded the nomination of former presidential candidate Bernie Sanders — a standard part of political conventions to symbolically recognize a contender who had passed the delegates threshold in the primaries.
As was also widely expected, Ocasio-Cortez used the opportunity to advocate for her political values, just as many convention speakers do so, along with the symbolic endorsement of Sanders. And she did congratulate Biden on the nomination when sharing her speech on her Instagram page.
But media outlets are instead attempting to turn this into a non-existent protest of Biden himself.
Among mainstream media outlets, CBS News and The New York Times both tweeted that Ocasio-Cortez didn’t mention Biden, seeming to stir up controversy where there was none. But above all, the worst such example came from NBC News, which tweeted that the member of Congress “did not endorse Joe Biden” in her speech. The outlet soon issued a correction — but not a particularly satisfactory one, as it earned a continued rebuke from Ocasio-Cortez herself.
Ocasio-Cortez also noted that the nature of her speech was shared with media outlets “WELL in advance” and that NBC News “knew what was going to happen & that it was routine.”
Right-wing media certainly had their share of bad-faith fun after Ocasio-Cortez’s speech aired. Serial right-wing misinformer John Solomon asked rhetorically on Twitter, “Was it a diss?” Fox News and talk radio host Mark Levin called Ocasio-Cortez a “classless creep.” (That description would certainly better fit Levin himself.)
'The Murdoch press was also ready with a standard talking point, as the New York Post ran a headline, “AOC nominates Bernie Sanders, snubs Joe Biden in DNC address.” And on Wednesday morning’s edition of Fox & Friends, Fox News correspondent Griff Jenkins called it “the snub of the night.”
In a later rundown of headlines, Jenkins further claimed that Ocasio-Cortez’s speech “shocked many” — which would not be true for anyone who understood the pageantry of modern political conventions.
Citation From the August 19, 2020, edition of Fox News Fox & Friends
GRIFF JENKINS (FOX NEWS CORRESPONDENT): Now, many people wondered what Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez would do with her short time. She nominated Bernie Sanders, which shocked many. She later clarified in a tweet that the convention organizers had asked her to do so, because Sanders had met the delegate threshold to be nominated. However, the organizers did not instruct her to specifically not mention Biden's name, which was perceived by many as a snub.
Fox's “straight news” program America's Newsroom has continued the network's poor coverage.