The Washington Post seems to think the real problem with fake hate crimes is that conservative media scrutinizes them too much, when in reality many hate crimes deserve such scrutiny because they are fabricated.
In a WaPo article titled “A black student wrote those racist messages that shook the Air Force Academy, school says“, reporter Samantha Schmidt covered the recent revelations that racist messages written at the Air Force Academy in Colorado were put there by a black cadet.
Schmidt then wrote, “These reports have also energized many right-wing commentators and President Trump supporters, who argue that reports about hate speech and racist graffiti are often fake accounts disseminated by liberal media.”
The WaPo article then cites an article from the “conservative Daily Caller”. (RELATED: HATE HOAX: Air Force Academy Cadet Candidate Wrote Fake Racist Messages Himself)
The reporter notes, “(d)espite the string of frauds, experts on hate crimes say that false accounts are still relatively rare.”
Schmidt’s post dedicates a fair amount of coverage to right-wing media and commentators who publicize fake hate crime accounts, seemingly equivocating media scrutiny of hate crime hoaxes to actual fake hate crimes.
A number of high-profile alleged hate crimes reported on by the mainstream media were later found to be hoaxes or unfounded. (RELATED: Here Are The Top 5 Hate Crime Hoaxes Since Trump Got Elected)