CBS was panned for their headline yesterday, which sounded more like something Fox News would come up with than a reputable news organization.
The headline:
Beto O'Rourke says "nothing more American" than NFL players protesting the national anthem
Except that is not what he said or meant.
UPDATE:: CBS has now changed the headline, as of 11:39am est today, reacting to the criticism:
Editor's Note: The headline of this story has been changed to more wholly reflect O'Rourke's remarks and correct a previous headline that stated O'Rourke said there was "nothing more American" than NFL players protesting the national anthem. Players who kneel during the national anthem are protesting police brutality and racial inequality.
Beto O'Rourke says “nothing more American” than to stand up or take a knee for your rights
Twitter had let them know in no uncertain terms what they had done was wrong.
The actual story by Grace Segers seemed fine, but whoever inserted that headline needs some remedial journalism classes.
Here's some of what she wrote:
Rep. Beto O'Rourke, the Democratic candidate challenging Texas Sen. Ted Cruz, was featured in a viral video posted to Twitter on Tuesday giving an answer at a town hall defending NFL players who kneel during the national anthem before games. Since Tuesday, the video, published by progressive news aggregator NowThis News and credited to Nivien Saleh for the footage, has received over 180,000 retweets and over 380,000 in the days since it was posted.
"Non-violently, peacefully, while the eyes of this country are watching these games, they take a knee to bring our attention and our focus to this problem to ensure that we fix it," O'Rourke said, referring to players who protest police brutality against unarmed African-Americans, a trend started by former San Francisco 49ers quarterback Colin Kaepernick in 2016. "I can think of nothing more American than to peacefully stand up, or take a knee, for your rights, anytime, anywhere, or any place," O'Rourke continued.
Beto O'Rourke has garnered widespread praise for his championing of this the most American of practices, the First Amendment rights of peaceful protest of injustice, guaranteed under the U.S. Constitution. Some high-profile people have noticed and applauded, including LeBron James and Ellen DeGeneres.
And of course this asshole his opponent said something similar in his tweet about this, and CBS dutifully repeated the lie.
