That activist — Nathan Phillips — was the one who actually initiated contact with several of the Covington boys, many of whom were wearing iconic red “Make America Great Again” hats as they were waiting for a bus to return them to their hotel in Washington, D.C. after an anti-abortion event.
But one student in particular — Nick Sandmann — became the ‘face’ of the ‘Covington teens’ when he stood, smiling, in front of Phillips after the activist approached the boys.
Video from the incident clearly shows a) Sandmann did not make any contact with Phillips at all; b) Phillips was the one who approached the students; and c) Phillips banged a drum in Sandmann’s face during much of the confrontation.
Also, the Phillips confrontation came after the Catholic students were verbally harassed by a group of black men who even singled out a black student because of his association with white friends.
https://twitter.com/matthewschmitz/status/1086994001801158656
The garbage media had a field day with the incident, and in an expected way: The students, who were mostly white and, as you might imagine, supporters of POTUS Trump, so of course they were the aggressors. Oh, and bigots. And racists. And…well, you get the picture.
What’s more, officials at the school where these boys attend, Covington Catholic High, were equally quick to distrust them.
They were all wrong for smearing the teens, especially Sandmann. And as such, the Sandmann family contacted legal representation and began taking news outlets to court.
Why don’t reporters have to be accurate anymore?
The first outlet, The Washington Post, was sued by Sandmann for $250 million after the paper’s coverage led to death threats and other potential acts of violence for falsely claiming the teen was racist and responsible for the confrontation. In particular, the suit said that the paper “wrongfully targeted and bullied Nicholas because he was the white, Catholic student wearing a red ‘Make America Great Again’ souvenir cap on a school field trip to the January 18 March for Life in Washington, D.C.”
But on Friday, a federal judge — 83-year-old Jimmy Carter appointee William Bertelsman — threw out the suit claiming that established law and the Constitution hold that publications cannot be held liable for reporting “opinions.” (Related: Judge seals entire case involving two anti-Trump school shooters while Covington Catholic kids were savaged in public by the media and Democrats.)
What opinions? According the Cincinnati Enquirer, the ‘opinion’ by Phillips that he was ‘surrounded’ by the Covington students and unable to ‘retreat’ — which is total BS because, again, video evidence shows him initiating the confrontation with the teens.
And yet, that’s what he told the Post — so that’s what the paper reported. The Enquirer noted:
In his ruling, Bertelsman also cited the case, Milkovich v. Lorain Journal Co., writing that statements that are "loose, figurative" or "rhetorical hyperbole" are protected by the First Amendment because they can't be proved true or false.
How about the Post’s obligation to report factually? How about the paper’s obligation to fact-check someone who is supposed to be providing a factual account of events, not their ‘opinion’?
Apparently, these journalistic standards don’t apply anymore.
“He [Phillips] concluded that he was being blocked and not allowed to retreat," Bertelsman wrote. "He passed these conclusions on to The Post. They may have been erroneous, but, as discussed above, they are opinion protected by the First Amendment.”
“I believe fighting for justice for my son and family is of vital national importance," said Nick's father, Ted Sandmann. "If what was done to Nicholas is not legally actionable, then no one is safe.”
Nick’s attorney, Lin Wood, plans to appeal.
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