Shady David Shuster's RNC peanut story and the knee-jerk media

All it took was a single unsubstantiated tweet from shady David Shuster to trigger a torrent of mainstream and social media coverage:

GOP Convention Attendees Ejected For Throwing Nuts At Black CNN Employee http://t.co/EToh3fon

— Speakeasy (@WSJspeakeasy) August 29, 2012

Update: @WSJSpeakeasy says 2 people were removed for throwing nuts at a black journalist at the RNC http://t.co/85t6NNPf

— Liz Heron (@lheron) August 29, 2012

From last night — An ugly incident in Tampa involving a convention attendee and a black camerawoman working for CNN: http://t.co/HMy4XTIQ

— POLITICO (@politico) August 29, 2012

From @HuffingtonPost, Republican Attendees Threw Nuts At Black CNN Camerawoman, Called Her An 'Animal' – http://t.co/MAEp1JAc

— rolandsmartin (@rolandsmartin) August 29, 2012

RNC attendee allegedly thrown out of convention after racist attack on CNN camerawoman http://t.co/kf7j9sMZ

— HuffPost (@HuffPost) August 29, 2012

https://twitter.com/zennie62/status/240774527360040960

It appears that David Shuster didn’t actually witness the nut-throwing event. It’s also worth mentioning that Shuster, who was indefinitely suspended from MSNBC in 2010, has been a frequent topic here at Twitchy, known more for his deplorable behavior than for his veracity.

,@CNN would not comment to me about RNCC attendee removed for incident with black camera woman. But, confirmation also now to @TPM_dk

— David Shuster (@DavidShuster) August 29, 2012

So David Shuster heard about this incident from … someone. CNN wouldn’t talk to Shuster, who is trying desperately to be relevant, but instead, spoke to Talking Points Memo:

CNN can confirm there was an incident directed at an employee inside the Tampa Bay Times Forum earlier this afternoon. CNN worked with convention officials to address this matter and will have no further comment.

But it’s also disgusting that the Left is using this incident to smear the entire Republican party and to brand every member as a thuggish racist, before any actual evidence of the nut-hurlers’ motives is known. The GOP-bashers automatically assume that race, rather than the target’s media affiliation, motivated the morons.

These specious character assassinations have been an ongoing narrative this week. Twitchy reported today that MSNBC scrubbed minority speeches from its coverage of the convention, in an obvious attempt to whitewash the RNC. Twitchy also noted leftist attacks on Mia Love at the convention and their insane obsession with #Negrospotting. And then there’s Yahoo! News bureau chief David Chalian, who made the disgusting comment that the “Romneys are happy to have a party while black people drown.”

The problem is that the details of this event are unclear at the present time. Twitchy was unable to find any tweets from eyewitnesses. Is it possible that the nut throwers were expressing anti-CNN sentiment rather than racist setiment? Many conservatives are unhappy with CNN’s unbalanced coverage of the convention and whitewashing of minority speakers:

https://twitter.com/mattersofmedia/status/240767414051143681

@chucktodd Surprised to see very little coverage from CNN about Ron Paul
At RNC what was his delegate count

— John L. Kish (@guru_1967) August 29, 2012

https://twitter.com/Youxia88/status/240813287653113856

https://twitter.com/HKirsh1/status/240843792419270657

So @erinburnett perhaps you can shed light on why @msnbc has cut every minority speech from its #RNC coverage? #racism ? #whiteparty ? @cnn

— Hillaryemailsecurity (@MartyLeft) August 29, 2012

Many Twitter users are raising their own questions about the media’s coverage of the nut-throwing incident:

@LabelsNLove24 Maybe, but we have one report by David Shuster and the average GOPer has a low opinion of CNN, not of african americans.

— BrightlyWrought (@BrightlyWrought) August 29, 2012

Did this really happen?– #RNC attendee throws nuts at black camerawoman http://t.co/P9gVLhlk

— Van Anh Tran (@vananht) August 29, 2012

CNN should reveal details of nut-throwing incident – The Plum Line – The Washington Post http://t.co/tlsxt3ro

— Steve Beste (@stevebeste) August 29, 2012

Why is CNN going silent on its Black camerawoman's assault by racist #RCN2012 Convention attendee? Is CNN protecting #GOP racists?

— Kaiju (@kaijuisme) August 29, 2012

Others are suggesting these may not have been Republican delegates, but a “false flag.”

RNC Attendees Reportedly Ejected After Throwing Food at Black CNN Camerawoman: ‘This Is How We Feed Animals’ http://t.co/SoGgEOmu #FalseFlag

— ??I am 1 of #TheMighty200 ?????Beth (@10thAmendment) August 29, 2012

There's a Storm Coming: RNC attendees are racist? http://t.co/Vz9x8xLw

— Tom Allen (@Guitartom47) August 29, 2012

The blog post refers to a report that plans were being made to disrupt the convention.

WH INSIDER ISSUES WARNING – FALSE FLAG PLANNED FOR GOP CONVENTION? – The Ulsterman Report http://t.co/MILkkVhB Read updates/comments!

— Georgia Tauchas (@georgiatauchas) August 24, 2012

Twitchy agrees with the liberal tweeters above, who are calling for CNN to be more transparent and to present more information about the facts of this incident. Twitter is chattering and people are beginning to speculate. Right now the entire story relies on David Shuster’s single tweet, which we now know was factually inaccurate in at least one respect (two attendees were ejected, not one). There were undoubtedly other journalists around at the Tampa Bay Times Forum, where the alleged incident was said to have taken place. We’d like to hear from them and from others who witnessed the event. Speak up and tweet out!

Update: Shuster writes more about the incident here. He now makes it clear that he did not witness the incident firsthand:

Around 8:15pm Tuesday night a television camera man I know here in Tampa at the RNC convention arena said there had been an “ugly” and “despicable incident” involving potential delegates at the Republican convention heckling a camera operator working for CNN on or near the floor.

According to this account, at least one or two GOP delegates or credentialed alternates had taunted the CNN staffer — an African American woman.

And at some point, at least one or both GOP convention attendees apparently tossed peanuts at the black camera op and allegedly said, “this is how we feed the animals.”

The way the story was described to me, the CNN crew summoned security, which quickly identified the perpetrators of this incident and with the help of convention officials, ejected the perpetrators from the arena.

According to Greg Sargent, CNN still won’t say whether it knows the identities of the two individuals who were ejected: