Fact: Democratic National Convention organizers mistakenly put an image of Russian warships on a massive screen behind a retired senior military officer offering passionate support for the party's nominee.
Fiction: This did not happen at the 2016 Democratic convention, despite what's been shared on social media.
A number of blogs, Twitter users and commentators have passed this Navy Times story from 2012 along as an indictment of organizers of the DNC in Philadelphia, claiming that an image meant to convey U.S. naval strength featured Russian surface combatants instead. There was no such mishap at the 2016 convention that nominated Hillary Clinton, although several veterans and military families took part in the closing night of the four-day affair.
Four years ago, DNC officials apologized for a "vendor mishap" that resulted in what appeared to be a portion of the Black Sea Fleet appearing behind retired Adm. John Nathman as he joined dozens of other veterans on stage in Charlotte, North Carolina, in backing President Obama, who was about to officially launch his ultimately successful re-election campaign.
The apology statement even worked in a dig against his opponent.
"This error should not distract from the words of Admiral Nathman and others who spoke to President Obama's strong record on issues that impact those who have served our nation," officials said at the time. "We're proud of the service and sacrifice of our veterans and military families, and while they were an important and active part our of convention, Mitt Romney failed to even mention them in his speech in Tampa."
The Russian warships were clearly flying the blue and white flag known as the Cross of St. Andrew's, which is a Russian navy symbol. Readers identified Turkish jets soaring in the image, suggesting it was a poorly executed photo illustration.
The error was first brought to Navy Times' attention by a former Navy electronics technician named Rob Barker, who said the mistake was shocking and asked for DNC officials to apologize. They did so the next day.
At the 2016 Democratic National Convention, retired Army Capt. Florent Groberg, a Medal of Honor recipient, was one of the veterans who spoke during the four-day event.
Photo Credit: Aaron P. Bernstein/Getty Images
The 2012 Navy Times story, which was re-published in 2013 after changes were made to the Military Times' digital web archive, was one of the most viewed top stories on Military Times again on Friday.
Judging from this new surge of social media traffic, not everyone realized it wasn't breaking news. We hope this sets the record straight.
Kevin Lilley is the features editor of Military Times.
