Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez slams NBC News for 'totally false and divisive' clickbait on her DNC speech
The Democratic National Convention formally nominated Joe Biden as its presidential candidate on Tuesday night, but the roll call of states and territories also included the votes for runner-up Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.). Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.), a prominent Sanders supporter, seconded his nomination, and this is how NBC News recapped her short nominating speech: "In one of the shortest speeches of the DNC, Rep. Ocasio-Cortez did not endorse Joe Biden." After being criticized for political illiteracy, NBC News deleted the tweet and issued a clarification about how conventions work.
Editor's note and clarification (1/2):
This tweet should have included more detail on the nominating process.
We have deleted the tweet to prevent its further spread, but it can be seen here for the record. pic.twitter.com/txXo4CCMOt
— NBC News (@NBCNews) August 19, 2020
The framing had already spread by that point:
now the misleading headline gets picked up by the partisan FB pipeline. pic.twitter.com/Qx49vBw0Yk
— Alex Thompson (@AlxThomp) August 19, 2020
And Ocasio-Cortez — who tweeted her congratulations to Biden and said she "deeply look[s] forward to fighting for our future together and reclaiming our democracy in November" right after her speed aired — was not impressed with NBC's "clarification."
You waited several hours to correct your obvious and blatantly misleading tweet.
It sparked an enormous amount of hatred and vitriol, & now the misinfo you created is circulating on other networks.
All to generate hate-clicks from a pre-recorded, routine procedural motion. https://t.co/crDlEymgMD
— Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (@AOC) August 19, 2020
"This is completely unacceptable, disappointing, and appalling," Ocasio-Cortez added. "The DNC shared the procedural purpose of my remarks to media WELL in advance. @NBC knew what was going to happen & that it was routine." And she finished with a question: "So @NBCNews how are you going to fix the incredible amount of damage and misinformation that you are now responsible for? Because a 1:15am tweet to slip under the radar after blowing up a totally false and divisive narrative across networks isn't it."
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