"Black Panther" Intimidation Story Overblown

Earlier today, the news wire and online search engines were all abuzz with what appeared to be a big breaking news story. The piece, originally aired by FOX, was covered by Rick Leventhal.

In the report it was stated that alleged Black Panther members were accused of voter intimidation, that they were wielding night sticks and the police were called in. It sounded bad. As the story circulated, many citizens were concerned that 2008 presidential election day would be marred by violence. By 1:30 p.m., Google Trends were still showing a steady climb of information-seekers looking for stories regarding current organized activities of the Black Panthers. After rumors and accusations of racism and race being an issue through out the campaign, voters wanted to know what was going on.

Americans everywhere were on their computers in response to lack of further information. Searching for more than the one recirculating story. What started as searching for further information, on what was initially presented as an act of voter intimidation, with strong racial undertones, soon turned to relief, and then relief turned to indignation. It was not long before the savvy voters were able to come to the realization, there were no search results, other than those directly connected to the initial new story, because there were no other incidents. There were no impending threats of race riots in the streets at all.

Bloggers, living in the local Philadelphia area, started responding on their private websites. Reporting that there were no problems at all. It was not long before the bloggers personal accounts stories started circulating. Soon there were accusations that the mainstream media was intentionally promoting this propaganda, as evidenced in these bits from hotairphilly. Some bloggers went so far as to claim it was an intentional attempt to stir up troubles.

There was truth to the initial story, as there really was one small isolated incident, involving two black panther members at one polling station. What is unclear is how the story went into circulation so rapidly, so big.