Reports of the death of 2020 Democratic candidate Tom Steyer’s candidacy have been greatly exaggerated. The billionaire’s presidential campaign is as alive and vibrant as the tartan on the one necktie he owns.
A reporter for a Vermont-based Fox and ABC News affiliate claimed falsely Tuesday evening that the long-shot 2020 candidate had just declared an end to his candidacy.
Steyer “tells supporters in Manchester, N.H. that he is ending his presidential bid,” reporter Abby Fridmann said in a since-deleted tweet.
Too many journalists at national news outlets shared her note immediately, amplifying its bogus message to their thousands and thousands of Twitter followers.
Bloomberg News even tweeted a news alert, which read, “BREAKING: Tom Steyer drops out of the presidential rates [sic]: Fox reports.”
The Fox News personality who repeated Fridmann’s false claim was commentator Tucker Carlson, who announced to his audience shortly before 9:00 p.m., “Tom Steyer just dropped out. That is something you didn’t expect. … Tom Steyer is out of the race.”
All of this due to a single tweet that no one double-checked.
Had more people bothered to verify Fridmann’s tweet, they would have found she made a mistake, and there would not have been a mini news cycle based on a falsehood.
Luckily, some journalists actually did their homework, including Politico’s Zach Montellaro, who took the very simple step of calling the Steyer campaign to confirm whether there was any truth to Fridmann’s tweet.
“I just called Steyer’s team,” Montellaro tweeted. “This isn’t true. Steyer is not dropping out.”
Steyer’s press secretary personally refuted the rumor.
“To all the reporters calling me right now,” said Benjamin Gerdes, “[Tom Steyer] is just getting started.”
He added, “But I do appreciate you calling before tweeting!!”
Bloomberg News and Fox News have since issued retractions.
The problem here is not so much that a reporter made a mistake. Mistakes happen! Fridmann deleted her erroneous tweet and issued several apologies.
“My apologies,” she said in response to one of the many reactions her since-deleted tweet invited. “It was my mistake.”
The problem is that too many in the news media jumped on her false reporting without doing the bare minimum to verify it. Whatever happened to secondary confirmation?
Bloomberg News even issued a breaking news alert, which I’d argue is far worse than a political commentator getting it wrong.
Look, I understand why a newsroom owned by a competing 2020 billionaire would be eager to report on the demise of Steyer’s candidacy. But you still have to double-check things.
