Should-Read: Joe Coscarelli: The ‘Bowling Green Massacre’

Should-Read: That this mistake could have been made is already a huge problem:

Joe Coscarelli: The ‘Bowling Green Massacre’: “Kellyanne Conway, the adviser to President Trump who coined the phrase ‘alternative facts’…

…falsely spoke of a “Bowling Green massacre” by Iraqi refugees… during an appearance on MSNBC’s “Hardball” on Thursday night as she discussed with the host, Chris Matthews, the executive order by Mr. Trump that suspended immigration from seven Muslim-majority countries: “I bet it’s brand new information to people that President Obama had a six-month ban on the Iraqi refugee program after two Iraqis came here to this country, were radicalized and were the masterminds behind the Bowling Green massacre. Most people don’t know that because it didn’t get covered.” In fact, no “Bowling Green massacre” ever happened…. Not long after Ms. Conway’s comments were debunked Thursday night, a clip of her interview went viral online, leading to ridicule and some humorous suggestions as to what she could have been referring to (namely, sports)….

On Friday morning, Ms. Conway admitted she had made an error: “Honest mistakes abound,” she wrote…. As for her overshadowed assertion that President Obama had instituted a six-month ban on the Iraqi refugee program after the Bowling Green arrests, that’s not quite true either: While the Obama administration slowed the visa process, some Iraqi refugees were admitted to the United States in every month of 2011. Ms. Conway did clarify that, yes, she had been referring to the case of Mr. Hammadi and Mr. Alwan. Yet, by pointing to an ABC News article from November 2013, she undermined her claim that the story “didn’t get covered.” It did.