RT, January 6, 2020

CNBC has poured gasoline on the theory MSM is deliberately marginalizing certain 2020 Democratic candidates, swapping photos of businessman Andrew Yang and Hawaii Rep. Tulsi Gabbard with bizarre substitutes.

The candidates got an unwitting makeover during the network’s “Squawk Box” program on Monday, as the show was covering fourth-quarter fundraising totals. Yang’s face was replaced with a similarly-named Asian businessman, founding partner of Redpoint Ventures Geoff Yang. Gabbard was replaced, even more confusingly, by New York Senator Kirsten Gillibrand – once a primary candidate herself, until she dropped out of the race in August.

This actually just happened. This is not fake. Click the link to confirm for yourself. CNBC screwed up the photos for both @AndrewYang and @TulsiGabbard in their reporting of Q4 fundraising totals. Source: https://t.co/a5zUItpS0H#YangMediaBlackout #YangGang #TulsiGabbard pic.twitter.com/b91mvSmvCH — Scott Santens🧢 (@scottsantens) January 6, 2020

One could chalk both up to chance mistakes – Geoff and Andrew Yang have the same last name, so perhaps their headshots are sequential in the network’s files? Gabbard and Gillibrand were sequential in the alphabetical list of candidates, perhaps they forgot to remove the blonde, decidedly un-Gabbard-like congresswoman when she called it quits six months ago? But the fact that both candidates, each with a decidedly anti-establishment bent, have been noticeably shafted by mainstream media in the past led their supporters to cry foul.

Hardly anyone believed the “innocent mistake” hypothesis. “This has to be intentional malice,” one user observed.

“They’re so used to not covering them. Maybe none of their staff knew what they look like,” deadpanned one user.

Some called the switcharoo racist. “Imagine if it had been [Cory] Booker’s face with another black man. The left would be enraged.”

Between the #YangMediaBlackout – the outsider candidate has been repeatedly left off graphics, poll results, and other visual aids even when polling significantly higher than others shown – and the Groundhog Day-like attacks on Gabbard for meeting with Syrian President Bashar Assad in 2017, it’s easy to see how both candidates’ supporters might accuse mainstream media of wearing its bias on its sleeve.

The network eventually apologized for the mistake and quickly fixed the graphic, but not before several people had suggested the Yang campaign take legal action against them.