No big deal, just Vice News’ DC bureau chief Shawna Thomas admitting that of course there were paid protesters at the Kavanaugh hearings to “create ‘viral’ moments”:
On @ABC's #ThisWeek, @ViceNews DC bureau chief @Shawna Thomas admits there were "paid" anti-Kavanaugh protesters "steering" people to create "viral" moments #TTT pic.twitter.com/OvGD6fjxl9
— Nicholas Fondacaro (@NickFondacaro) October 7, 2018
She later tweeted that she didn’t mean that there were people “being paid to protest who don’t care about the issue,” which nobody ever thought she said in the first place:
clarification: I said there were some official organizations in the mix who have staff & consultants that were part of these protests. And some of them were helping individuals with tactics. That is not the same as ppl being paid to protest who don’t care about this issue. https://t.co/SZykSAj8Vt
— Shawna Thomas (@Shawna) October 7, 2018
The Washington Post’s Dave Weigel compared the Kavanaugh protesters to “Tea Party groups paid field teams to organize real (unpaid) people”:
That's the distinction. People hear "paid protesters" and they think they rounded up actors. But just as Tea Party groups paid field teams to organize real (unpaid) people, Ultraviolet, CPD, etc have paid staff who organize real (unpaid) people. https://t.co/Ue0O6BSJiH
— Dave Weigel (@daveweigel) October 7, 2018
Yes, but:
And yet, it is considered an insane conspiracy theory for anyone on the Right to point out the existence of such paid staff even when multiple MSM reports disclose their direct role in particular public controversies like Flake's elevator confrontation.
— Dan McLaughlin (@baseballcrank) October 7, 2018
It wouldn't insane if they said "paid staff." It's insane when they suggest, say, that everyone arrested at a direct action was paid to be there.
— Dave Weigel (@daveweigel) October 7, 2018
The key point is that the professionals are often the ones pivotal to the made-for-TV confrontations, as if they are just random citizens. But then we get people accusing anyone who notices that of engaging in "crisis actor" paranoia.
— Dan McLaughlin (@baseballcrank) October 7, 2018
A modest proposal for the future:
Due diligence for covering ANY protest (regardless of the cause, regardless of left, right, whatever) should include, if applicable, who and/or which group is helping the protester, the extent of the help, who's backing the helper(s), role in umbrella organization(s), etc.
— Matthew Chayes (@chayesmatthew) October 7, 2018
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