Media's 'fact-checkers' avoid false narrative Border Patrol agents 'whipped' Haitian migrants

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Media top headlines September 24

In media news today, AOC gets roasted for crying over Israel Iron Dome House vote, Joe Rogan predicts Trump will win against Biden or Harris in 2024, and The New York Times gets mocked for declaring that gerrymandering is a 'tactic long used by the Republican Party'

The liberal media's most revered fact-checkers have been quiet on the false claims that horseback Border Patrol agents were "whipping" Haitian migrants at the southern border. 

Several Democratic lawmakers and much of the media peddled a narrative that agents in Del Rio were using "whips" to attack Haitians attempting to enter the U.S. when in reality law enforcement was only equipped with reins to control their horses. 

That didn't stop prominent Democrats like California Rep. Maxine Waters and media figures like CNN anchor Chris Cuomo from invoking slavery. Even the Biden administration has fueled the narrative with the White House condemning the "horrific" images, and the Department of Homeland Security launching an investigation and removing the horses from Border Patrol. 

But the self-appointed arbiters of truth were kept in their stables as of Thursday night. 

MEDIA PEDDLES NARRATIVE HORSEBACK BORDER PATROL AGENTS USING ‘WHIPS’ ON HAITIAN MIGRANTS IN DEL RIO

None of the fact-checkers at The Washington Post, CNN, NBC News, The Associated Press, USA Today and Snopes addressed the "whipping" claims, according to their web pages. 

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Washington Post's Glenn Kessler squeezed in time this week to give Secretary of State Mike Pompeo "four Pinocchios" for a claim he made about money Iran received during the Obama administration and "two Pinocchios" to the Glenn Youngkin gubernatorial campaign in Virginia over a campaign ad attacking Democratic rival Terry McAuliffe but had no time to address the Border Patrol agents in Del Rio.

CNN's fact-checker Daniel Dale has gone on vacation, with his last report published last week. None of his "Facts First" colleagues, though, took on the subject in his absence according to the most "recent" fact-checks on their online database, which states, "CNN holds elected officials and candidates accountable by pointing out what’s true and what’s not."

NBC News' reporting duo Brandy Zadrozny and Ben Collins, whose author page bios claim they cover "misinformation," did not report on this Democrat-led misinformation. 

The AP Fact Check team kept busy this week by debunking various social media posts that went viral, particularly those about vaccines. One report even came to President Joe Biden's defense, insisting a video of hecklers that interrupted his stumping for McAuliffe at a campaign event was "manipulated" to make it appear they were chanting "F--- Joe Biden." Nothing was dedicated to the controversy at the border. 

USA Today, which was recently under fire for falsely claiming in a "fact check" that Biden didn't check his watch during a dignified transfer ceremony for service members killed in Afghanistan, published over a dozen other "fact checks," none of them about the events at the border. 

Instead, the paper tackled COVID and various viral memes, in addition to reporting, "Shouting profanity about the president is protected by the First Amendment, legal experts say."

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Snopes additionally skipped the "whip" controversy, choosing to focus on Alice Cooper's pantie-wrapped "School's Out" album, Samuel Adams' new beer, and a satirical article about Chelsea Clinton being arrested for child trafficking. 

Paul Ratje, the photographer behind the pictures told KTSM, the NBC affiliate in El Paso, Texas, that he and his colleagues never saw anyone get whipped.

"I’ve never seen them whip anyone," Ratje said. "He was swinging it, but it can be misconstrued when you’re looking at the picture."