This may become a discussion in a wave of Lawsuits based on the media’s false reporting of an incident on Jan 18th, 2019. There was a short video showing what looked like a group of young students surrounding an elderly man. They ran this video and created a narrative. ( we know the details )

However, in the online world, a longer video was easily found, which showed that the students are the ones who were approached and not the other way around. Once you watch any one of the longer videos you see that these kids are being verbally harassed by one group of adults, and then, they are approached by another group of adults. This is a far cry from the reported news stories. It’s obvious and even admitted that today’s “News Game” is more about being first than being right.

Which would bring us back to how it is that social media users could easily find the truth, but a professional journalist(s) couldn’t? More accurately maybe, is that the news outlets being sued chose not to check the short video for accuracy, context, or validity before they ran with it. With CNN’s Jeff Zucker telling the NY Times “We are not investigators,”  This is how the question of are YouTube creators, bloggers, twitter, facebook users, doing a better job than the mainstream media?

This is a question that may become part of those Multi-Million dollar lawsuits. Well, the argument ( void of all the legalese ) will be how much if any due diligence and journalistic integrity were used? Since it would take 10 minutes for a Twitter user to find the long video. Why couldn’t a “Professional” Journalist have done the same?

Additionally, it seems in the CNN Lawsuit it’s also being asked that once the longer video showing a much different story than what CNN ran. Why didn’t they change their story?

The legal counsel representing Nick and his family, Todd McMurtry and experienced libel and defamation lawyer L. Lin Wood of Atlanta, said “They know they crossed the line,” McMurtry told the publication. “Do they want 12 people in Kentucky to decide their fate? I don’t think so.”

Here is a link to multiple videos on YouTube you make up your own mind who was harassing who.

https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=covington+catholic+full+video