Like old dogs, the biased media cannot learn new tricks. But they do like to use their old tricks, particularly using headlines to establish a narrative \u2013 even if it is false. And that is what is going on with the current coverage of unaccompanied minors in the immigration system.<\/p>\n
This scandal du jour is, according to a Sept. 19 CNN wire story<\/a> , is that the \u201cTrump Administration Again Admits to Losing Track of Nearly 1,500 Immigrant Children Separated From Their\u00a0Parents.\u201d<\/p>\n A reader of the headline might believe that administration not only \u201cadmitted\u201d to \u201closing\u201d a thousand-plus children, but that those kids had been separated from their parents.<\/p>\n If you dig down a few paragraphs, readers would learn that \u201cthe undocumented children in question mostly arrived in the US by themselves.\u201d<\/p>\n It\u2019s a shame the headline writers or editors did not read that far. Maybe they meant \u201cseparated\u201d from their parents before they illegally crossed the border.<\/p>\n Most other outlets parroted the simpler \u201clost\u201d narrative:<\/p>\n CBS News tweeted<\/a> that \u201cFeds say they lost track of nearly 1,500 migrant children — for the second time in less than a year.\u201d<\/p>\n Rep. Adam Schiff (D-Calif.) contended<\/a> that 1,500 was the \u201cnumber of migrant children they’ve lost track of today.\u201d<\/p>\n The claim of children being lost, however, has not gotten more truthful with age.<\/p>\n An April headline<\/a> in the New York Times asserted that agencies \u201clost track\u201d of nearly 1,500 migrant children who had been placed with sponsors. Were the children lost then? The Washington Post Fact-Checker<\/a> answered simply: \u201cIn a word, no.\u201d<\/p>\n