Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) is firing back at NBC News again for the network’s misleading headline for her speech during the Democratic National Convention.
On Thursday morning, Ocasio-Cortez took to Twitter to weigh in on a tweet posted by James Rosen, a journalism professor at New York University.
Ocasio-Cortez expressed concern about the impact of misinformation being reported to the masses as a result of the network’s blunder. According to Ocasio-Cortez, the tweet wasn’t a mistake but rather a form of “click-bait.”
“Yes. NBC’s misleading headline, which had thousands of people confused and angry, wasn’t a mistake,” Ocasio-Cortez tweeted. “It was clickbait. It wasn’t just a tweet, either. It was repeated in other headlines & posts. @NBCNews still hasn’t apologized. As stated here, this is on their entire news team.”
Yes. NBC’s misleading headline, which had thousands of people confused and angry, wasn’t a mistake. It was clickbait.
— Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (@AOC) August 20, 2020
It wasn’t just a tweet, either. It was repeated in other headlines & posts.@NBCNews still hasn’t apologized. As stated here, this is on their entire news team. https://t.co/oV12mFitci
The Democratic lawmaker went on to verbalize her concerns about the potential damage misinformation could cause for political candidates at such a critical point during the presidential and congressional race.
Ocasio-Cortex added, “I am taking this seriously because we have seen this recklessness before in ‘16. We have seen click-hungry media coverage bring voters to a froth for no reason but views. It was me this week, but they will do it to Kamala, Biden, or anyone else next week. It needs to stop now.”
I am taking this seriously because we have seen this recklessness before in ‘16.
— Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (@AOC) August 20, 2020
We have seen click-hungry media coverage bring voters to a froth for no reason but views.
It was me this week, but they will do it to Kamala, Biden, or anyone else next week. It needs to stop now.
Prior to Ocasio-Cortez’s tweets, Rosen retweeted NBC’s remarks at the center of criticism as he criticized their handling of the situation.
The network tweeted, “In one of the shortest speeches of the DNC, Rep. Ocasio-Cortez did not endorse Joe Biden: ‘I hereby second the nomination of Bernard Sanders of Vermont for president of the United States of America.'”
Rosen noted that the network only held its social media team accountable for a journalistic error. He also expressed concern about the amount of time it took for the error to be corrected.
“It’s a mistake to attribute it only to the social media team. Dozens of journalists were on duty for NBC last night,” Rosen tweeted. “They knew how misguided this was. The account broadcasting this pathetic error speaks in the name of the entire news division. But no one took ownership til 1 am.”
After identifying the error, NBC News did explain the situation and remove the tweet. However, according to Ocasio-Cortez, there was no apology for the misinformation.
