Media to blame for parade of fake racism stories

Once again, as regular as clockwork, a bombshell allegation of racism has been amplified by the media only to turn out to be false. This time it was a claim that a racist slur was shouted by a Brigham Young University volleyball fan at a black player from Duke. Just like the Jussie Smollett case, just like the NASCAR noose story, and just like so many others, this tale of 21st Century racism has now fallen apart upon investigation.

This parade of fake racism stories raises one vital question. How does this keep happening? How has our news media not learned its lesson and slowed its roll instead of breathlessly bemoaning imaginary bigotry? While incompetence and gullibility should never be excluded from consideration when talking about journalism, something deeper and more important is going on here.