AOC Delivers Session of Media Criticism on Instagram, Says NBC Headline ‘Made My Life Hell’
Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) criticized the media in a series of Instagram stories on Tuesday in which she claimed an NBC News post about her “made my life hell.” Asked by a follower whether she sees “truth in media,” Ocasio-Cortez said, “OK so first things first: journalists & members of the press are people with jobs that are overworked, underpaid, and underappreciated. So I’m not here to dump on them because they deal with enough. I respect them a lot and admire those who conduct their work with integrity.” “But the institutions and incentives in media overall is absolutely incentivized towards conflict and drama, because that is what generates clicks, views, and revenue,” Ocasio-Cortez wrote. “That said, when you see a FACT that is reported, cited, and verified by several reputable outlets, 99.999% it’s going to be true. “HOWEVER! there is a BIG difference between a fact and the STORY. And the STORY (often the headline) that’s told surrounding the fact is frequently stretched, mischaracterized, or dramatized to get you to click,” she added. “Sometimes the STORY is so misleading that even though it contains FACTS it is told in such a way that people will walk away thinking the wrong thing, or just getting angry about something that’s actually not a big deal. And that creates lack of trust in media & institutions, and overall polarization.”
The congresswoman went on to cite as an example an NBC News post about her Democratic National Convention speech seconding the procedural nomination of Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT), which she attacked last week as “blatantly misleading,” “malicious,” and “completely unacceptable.” She wrote: “It was pre-recorded and approved by the DNC, Biden campaign, and Bernie. The DNC provided an advisory to the media DAYS ahead of time that I would be seconding Bernie’s procedural nomination. This happens at EVERY single convention (Dolores Huerta did Hillary Clinton’s in ’08, etc), and ironically it is considered an important step in UNITING the party by paying respect to the second-place finisher and their supporters and sets up a process so we all come together via roll call in the end. But how did @nbcnews cover it?” “NBC immediately framed this normal process as ‘AOC doesn’t endorse Joe Biden‘ when they KNEW this was normal and were ADVISED that the whole point of my role WASN’T to do that! But educating people on the process doesn’t generate as much clicks or money, so they framed this as controversially as possible. The FACT is true – I didn’t endorse Biden in this 60 sec clip – but the STORY was at best irresponsible.”
Ocasio-Cortez claimed the post “actually made my life hell in the immediate aftermath,” adding, “Floods of people, misled by NBC, directed a ton of abuse my way and I was cast as ‘going rogue’ and harming the party.” “NBC News has yet to apologize,” she lamented. “This stuff happens all the time.” The congresswomen also provided a list of “tips” for “consuming media & staying informed,” which included, “Don’t rely on only one source. Every outlet has their own biases and habits, even if they don’t want to admit it. Read multiple outlets to determine YOUR perspective.” “Get an idea for each outlet’s slant/vibe/perspective/whatever you want to call it. Media bias rarely shows up as ‘this outlet is out to get X politician’ (though there are some hacky, 2nd/3rd tier outlets or websites that are that way), but it’s more often a bias towards a certain class perspective that’s out of touch, or it’s a bias against context they DON’T have ie race,” she wrote. “Many headlines are designed to trigger an emotional response. So if you have the inclination to get angry, pause. Also: many journalists are not responsible for the headlines above their work. Which I find really sad, bc they will put in a ton of work on an article just for an editor to put in a horrible headline that undercuts all the work they just did. “I believe digital headlines should be held to higher editorial standards to preserve people’s trust. I believe we should hold headlines accountable too,” she added.
https://www.mediaite.com/politics/aoc-delivers-session-of-media-criticism-on-instagram-nbc-post-made-my-life-hell/