It seems not everyone is thrilled with Hillary Clinton’s historic win of the Democratic nomination. Reporters have been feeling the Bern from angry Sanders supporters who are lashing out online and on the phone. The Associated Press sent an internal memo to its reporters warning them to “practice situation awareness” after receiving “angry communications” from people upset about the AP calling the race for Clinton Monday. Poynter published the memo, a portion of which reads:
Overnight, AP identified Hillary Clinton as the presumptive Democratic presidential nominee. We broke the news via Twitter and covered it in several stories, which has prompted a backlash by Sanders supporters who are angry with AP’s reporting. Statements from U.S. Political Editor David Scott and Executive Editor Kathleen Carroll explaining our call are posted on The Definitive Source blog. This AP story also explains how we count delegates.
Some AP staff have received angry communications in the form of emails, social media messages and phone calls. We have not received any specific security threats. If you need to respond to complaints, feel free to point the public to the statements on our blog as appropriate.
…It is always good to practice situational awareness around AP bureaus and offices.
The Associated Press is not the only outlet receiving angry calls from Sanders’ supporters. The NY Times’ Amy Chozick, who covers Clinton, tweeted Tuesday that callers were promising to hunt her down “in the streets.”
I won't be answering calls from unknown numbers today, after third call from Bernie supporters telling me they'd hunt me down in the streets
— Amy Chozick (@amychozick) June 7, 2016
NPR’s Tamara Keith tweeted a message she received on Facebook:
Today is going to be awesome! pic.twitter.com/f9TwFQxgYf
— Tamara Keith (@tamarakeithNPR) June 7, 2016
It may be a while before some of these angry Sanders’ supporters are ready to jump on the Clinton bandwagon.
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