A doctored screenshot of ABC News coverage of the May 24 mass school shooting in Uvalde, Texas, has gone viral to falsely claim that the network tried to make the shooter look “more Caucasian.” Let’s take a look at the facts.
NewsLit takeaway
Doctoring screenshots of news coverage is a common practice among bad actors online and invoking “the media” can be an efficient way to generate quick outrage. This example also taps into harmful false narratives, commonly pushed by white supremacists, that the mainstream news media has an “anti-white” agenda and bias. This post raises other red flags: It makes a bold claim in the wake of a highly politicized breaking news event and uses screenshots as “evidence” rather than linking directly to the original source.
- “ABC News didn’t use an altered photo of the Uvalde school shooter to make him look more Caucasian” (Samantha Putterman, PolitiFact).
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