Bizpac Review  | August 30, 2016
Often the media will turn a fact into a “some say” claim that signals to readers that a fact may not be a fact.
Recently the media did just that to shield Hillary Clinton from her close association with an actual, factual Ku Klux Klan leader.
West Virginia Senator Robert Byrd was once a proud member of the racist Ku Klux Klan domestic terrorist group. And not just a member, but a leader in the hate group. He had a title, an office, and an important position in the West Virginia Klan hierarchy. And when Hillary was first involved in the U.S. Senate,  Byrd became her close associate and mentor — she even used that term to describe him.
That is exactly what Donald Trump mentioned at a recent rally. Hillary has called Byrd her “mentor” and Byrd was a decades-long member of the Klan. These are facts, not claims.
So, how did CNN report Trump’s words?

 
Now, if you didn’t actually know history you would read that CNN headline and think Trump was “spreading” a false “claim.” But the truth is, there was no “spreading claims” in Trump’s words. He was citing a fact.
The Washington-based newspaper The Hill played the same semantics game to turn a fact into a “claim.”

 
Even the liberal Wikipedia notes that Byrd was a key member of the Klan in Sophia, West Virginia.
And, yes, Hillary did call Byrd her mentor:
[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p4wo9nqWrwE]

That is inescapable fact, not a “claim.”