NBC’s “Today” show ran a segment about a white nationalist group on Wednesday that seemed designed to raise concerns.
“We are telling this story to pull back the curtain so parents and college students are aware that these groups are out there,” correspondent Peter Alexander said before the segment, which was billed as “a rare look” inside the fringe group Identity Evropa.
But instead, the network became part of the story after its coverage was widely criticized: Many credible voices took to social media to say they felt the show’s short segment had given the group a wide platform on which to advertise itself, while allowing it to cover up the true nature of its views.
The piece was one of what has become an informal genre of news media stories in the Trump era: well-meaning coverage of white supremacist groups that is lambasted for being overly credulous or sympathetic….