Media 'empowered' to smear people like Covington students without consequences: Mollie Hemingway

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Mollie Hemingway: Media feel empowered to smear people like Nick Sandmann

There is little accountability and no repercussions for getting stories completely wrong, The Federalist's Mollie Hemingway says.

The media “feels empowered” to smear people like Covington Catholic High School students as there are no consequences for spreading misinformation, the Federalist senior editor Mollie Hemingway said.

Hemingway told Tucker Carlson on “Tucker Carlson Tonight” Thursday that the reason the lawsuits against NBC, CNN and the Washington Post brought by Covington Student Nicholas Sandmann are resonating is because “currently there aren't any repercussions really for getting stories completely wrong.”

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“You are seeing this where the media feels empowered to smear people including in this case a child who had come out to Washington, D.C., for the March for Life and they did this over the course of days,” she said.

“They said false things about this boy and his school that were demonstrably untrue and right now there's not a lot of accountability for this. They do these false stories, they get ratings, they get money, and they never really are held accountable for it. “

“They said false things about this boy and his school that were demonstrably untrue and right now there's not a lot of accountability for this. They do these false stories, they get ratings, they get money, and they never really are held accountable for it. “

— Mollie Hemingway

The comments came as Sandmann’s lawyer announced Wednesday a lawsuit against NBCUniversal for a whopping $275 million over the media coverage of the controversy.

Sandmann was at the center of a viral controversy back in January, alongside reports suggesting that he and his classmates had initiated a confrontation with Native American elder Nathan Phillips outside the Lincoln Memorial in Washington, D.C.

But the subsequent reporting and video evidence contradicted that version of events. A similar lawsuit was filed against the Post and CNN.

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Hemingway said that the media jumped on the story because it fit a negative narrative about the March for Life, a pro-life gathering, and the supporters of President Trump.

“[The media] liked this story because it was a way to make the March for Life, an event that they do not cover year after year, despite the fact that hundreds of thousands people attend it each year in Washington, D.C., a way to make the March for Life look bad and Donald Trump supporters look bad and so it was just convenient,” she said.

“It fit a narrative that they would like to perpetuate and if they would look at their own biases and how those biases can lead to really bad news, they might to start to think about other issues they have covered poorly.”

“It fit a narrative that they would like to perpetuate and if they would look at their own biases and how those biases can lead to really bad news, they might to start to think about other issues they have covered poorly.”

— Mollie Hemingway

The Federalist editor added that the Covington story resembles the Russia collusion story and the reporting of Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh, whose confirmation battle was dogged by allegations of sexual misconduct, with no people taking accountability for the falsehoods.

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“That is why the story has resonated so much with Nicholas Sandmann. They have done it to people who are adults, done it to people who they think deserve it. Donald Trump, you can do whatever you want to him or conservatives, Republicans,” she said.

“This was a boy. A teenage boy who was doing something good and got smeared as doing something bad. People sense the injustice of that and they want to see some people finally take responsibility.”