NPR Ombudsman: Fact-Checking NPR's Reports on Vegas 'Violence'

[RufusTFirefly]

NPR's use of the word "violence" and claims of thrown chairs in recent stories about Saturday's Nevada Democratic Party state convention have come under criticism by supporters of candidate Bernie Sanders.
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I asked Beth Donovan, NPR's senior Washington editor, to respond to the concerns. She wrote, "Several members of our staff watched live video that showed a man brandishing a chair. Nevada analyst Jon Ralston, who was in the room and over time has been a very reliable source, reported that a chair was thrown. We okayed using and sourcing his reporting." But, she added, "When Ralston's reporting came under question, we adjusted our language," by not repeating the word "thrown." Instead, Keith's report this morning referred to "physical skirmishes." (It also quoted Nevada Sen. Harry Reid as referring to "violence," which he did, indeed, do.)
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Donovan and I disagree on this; "violence," which NPR more often uses to describe events in war zones, seems too strong a term to me based on the evidence I have seen so far. And the politics team's own decision to avoid the word "thrown" renders this online-only introduction to Keith's piece misleading, unless other eyewitnesses come forward to clarify the events: "Sen. Bernie Sanders is answering for violence at the Nevada Democratic Party's state convention, where his supporters threw chairs and hurled obscenities as Hillary Clinton claimed the most delegates."

http://www.npr.org/sections/ombudsman/2016/05/18/478579787/fact-checking-nprs-reports-on-vegas-violence