Live
Audio Only
After reporting that Hillary Clinton had won the Democratic nomination a day before the Tuesday decisive primaries, the Associated Press warned its reporters to “practice situational awareness” when dealing with Bernie Sanders supporters.
RELATED:
Corporate Media, Superdelegates Fuel Clinton’s Undemocratic Win
While the AP did not receive “any specific security threats,” reporters received threatening messages from people identifying as pro-Sanders, AP's vice president for global security, Danny Spriggs, wrote in an email to employees on Wednesday.
The New York City-based news agency stood by its early announcement of the nomination on its blog. "That is news, and reporting the news is what we do," AP stated.
The AP keeps a tally on superdelegates throughout the election cycle and said that enough anonymous superdelegates firmly backed Clinton by Monday to lift her over the threshold to win.
Sanders and his supporters have insisted that superdelegates do not vote until the July convention, arguing that Clinton cannot claim victory until she wins another 199 delegates. Forty-five delegates are still to be distributed after the Washington, D.C. primary on June 14.
AP's report received heavy criticism from social media and other circles.
The Intercept's Glen Greenwald wrote on Tuesday that the “Democratic Party got exactly the ending it deserved” when the “nomination is consecrated by a media organization, on a day when nobody voted, based on secret discussions with anonymous establishment insiders and donors whose identities the media organization — incredibly — conceals.”
Clinton declared herself the winner after results came in Tuesday night, saying, “tonight belongs to all of you.”
Newsletter
