August 2014, Ferguson, Missouri. After Officer Darren Wilson shot Michael Brown, the story went national: Brown had his hands up, surrendering, and was gunned down. "Hands up, don't shoot" became a movement. On December 13, 2014, CNN Newsroom panelists put their hands up on air during the coverage, on a show billed as news, not opinion (HuffPost).

March 4, 2015. The Justice Department under Attorney General Eric Holder released its report on the shooting. It found that accounts of Brown raising his hands in surrender were not credible enough to support charges. Some contradicted the physical and forensic evidence. Some witnesses changed their stories, and some admitted they hadn't seen the shooting. Credible witnesses described Brown moving toward Wilson. No federal civil-rights charges against Wilson. CNN's own March 2015 headline: "Ferguson report: No evidence Michael Brown had hands up."

That same DOJ separately documented serious problems with the Ferguson Police Department's practices. That was a real story, and it's a different one.

FNN analysis: a slogan built on accounts that the government's own investigators rejected became a national rallying cry, and anchors acted it out on set. Gallup's 2015 trust reading was 40%, and it collapsed to 32% the next year. The correction got a headline. The gesture got a movement.