Get access to Brad Slager's "Riffed From the Headlines," a daily VIP feature where he looks to bring accountability to the mainstream media. Use promo code FAKENEWS to get 50% off your VIP membership.
Body Checking the Fact-Checkers – POLITIFACT
We assume there is a difference between arriving from off-campus and being "Outside" campus.
To establish a baseline, we have been told that those involved in the pro-Palestinian/disinvestment/antisemitic demonstrations springing up across the country are "campus protests" conducted by "student activists." One major problem for the narrative has been that a large number of those arrested at these protests are not from the student body. In many cases, at least half of those taken into custody are not students, with many in their 30s and 40s and one professional agitator in her 60s.
But Politico has a problem with people describing them as "outside agitators," despite them being from the outside, marshaling students, directing many of the activities, and bringing funding into the movement. The best is Politico turning to experts to decry this type of reporting:
'It was used as sort of a phrase that would link protesters, no matter how peaceful they were, to Communists and other infiltrators who were causing disruption.' [Timothy] Zick said the term is used by those seeking to discredit protests by casting doubt on the protesters’ sincerity. People who want to cause disorder may show up.
Regardless of whether it has been used in the past, currently, it is entirely accurate, but the facts are a tad inconvenient for this one.
Police, city and university officials have blamed “outside agitators” for anti-war protests on U.S. campuses. Experts say this type of narrative is frequently used to delegitimize protests. https://t.co/biqhDm6fnU pic.twitter.com/FOOx6Kwist
Body Checking the Fact-Checkers – POLITIFACT
They are "Fact-Checkers," not "SPELL-checkers"!
There was a brilliant dose of comedy about the idiocy of these college protests when Seattle music star Macklemore released a music video highlighting one of these........