A nation that is afraid to let its people judge the truth and falsehood in an open market is a nation that is afraid of its people.
—John F. Kennedy—
Freedom of the press is essential to the preservation of a democracy; but there is a difference between freedom and license. Editorialists who tell downright lies in order to advance their own agendas do more to discredit the press than all the censors in the world.
—Franklin D. Roosevelt—
Key point: The mainstream media in America are lying to the American people in several ways. Their deceptions include ignoring newsworthy items about which the people have a right to know. The consequences of this form of journalistic malpractice are severe.
Access all the articles in this series, as well as articles in a related series, here. A Bible study titled “Could Jesus Have Been a Good Teacher Without Being God?” is available here.
The mainstream media are lying to the American people. I could cite many, many examples, but in this post and the next I’ll focus on mainly one. The media are telling their audiences that the protests that have occurred in the wake of the George Floyd’s death are peaceful. Ben Shapiro writes,
“Mostly peaceful.”
So goes the characterization of demonstrations that have routinely turned into looting and rioting for months on end, from Portland to Seattle to New York to Los Angeles.
“Protesters in California set fire to a courthouse, damaged a police station and assaulted officers after a peaceful demonstration intensified,” read one recent ABC News tweet.
CNN called protests in Portland “mostly peaceful,” adding that “they have at times devolved into violence, vandalism, and arson.”
During riots in Los Angeles in June, as the entire county locked down, the Los Angeles Times noted “the third night of countywide curfews followed days of massive, mostly peaceful protests….Nearly 1,200 people were arrested Sunday after police officers clashed with demonstrators and looters shattered windows and emptied stores in Santa Monica and Long Beach.”
By contrast, points out Shapiro, when the Tea Party protests of 2011 took place, Joe Biden, who at the time was vice-president, characterized the protestors as being like “terrorists.” Yet they were not violent in any way. They even cleaned up the grounds where they’d met for their rallies.
Real Lives that Mattered
A Fox News article dated June 8, 2020 lists and briefly tells the stories of 17 people killed in the protests. The title of the article is “Deadly unrest: Here are the people who have died amid George Floyd protests across US.” The reports are heartbreaking. We summarize them as follows.
David Dorn was a 77-year-old African American. Retired, he had been a captain in the St. Louis Police department. On June 2, when an alarm sounded at a pawn shop, Dorn went to investigate. Two individuals pillaging the shop shot and killed him.
On June 1 in Louisville, Kentucky, David McAtee was killed. He owned a barbecue restaurant and was 53 years old. While authorities were trying to learn more details about the shooting, it was clear that as police officers and National Guard troops were attempting to break up a crowd, gunshots rang out. A surveillance camera showed that McAtee had fired a weapon. Law enforcement personnel returned fire. Investigations are ongoing.
Chris Beaty played football player for Indiana University while he was a student there. He was called “Mr. Indianapolis.” In downtown Indianapolis on May 30 at a protest, Beaty, 38, died from gunshot wounds. When he died, he was was trying to assist two women who were being attacked by looters and thieves.
Dorian Murrell was 18 years old and died on May 30 in Indianapolis, just as Chris Beaty did, but in an unrelated incident.
Italia Kelly died when she was fatally shot in the back at a protest in Davenport, Iowa, on June 1. She was getting in her car to leave a protest because it had turned violent. Italia Kelly was 22 years old.
On the same night Kelly was shot and killed and at the same protest, 23-year old Marquis Tousant, a resident of Rock Island, Illinois, also was fatally shot.
Fifty-three-year-old Patrick Underwood was an African American and a federal security officer. He was doing his job, protecting the area at a federal courthouse in Oakland, California. He and a fellow officer also were keeping tabs on a nearby protest. Shots were fired from a nearby vehicle. Underwood was hit and was killed, and the officer accompanying him was seriously hurt. Was the shooting directly related to the protest? The answer to this question wasn’t immediately clear, but the building Underwood was guarding was damaged and defaced. Underwood’s sister, Angela, posted this on social media: “My brother, Dave Patrick Underwood, a federal officer, was murdered 5/29/20 in Oakland California, while on duty during the riots. This Violence Must Stop.”
Forty-three-year old Calvin Horton, Jr., also an African American, perished after being shot near a pawn shop in Minneapolis. The incident occurred on May 27; George Floyd had died just two days earlier.
James Scurlock, who was black and 22 years old, was fatally shot by Jacob Gardner, a white man and a bar owner. Before the shooting, the two evidently were involved in a fight. The incident took place on May 30 in an area of Omaha, Nebraska where protests were occurring.
On June 5 in a parking lot in downtown Detroit, Javar Harrell, 21, was shot in his car. He apparently was sitting in the driver’s seat of the car with two other individuals when an unidentified man wearing a mask fired shots into Harrell’s vehicle and ran.
Barry Perkins, 3rd was 29. According to legal council for Barry’s family, Mr. Perkins was protesting peacefully outside of downtown St. Louis during a demonstration on an Interstate highway. He climbed between two trailers of a transport truck, and the driver of the truck drove off after several individuals began stealing items from one of the trailers. Barry apparently was killed because he was in a very dangerous place when the vehicle began to move.
Jeorge Gomez, 25, died on June 1 after being shot by law enforcement officers who were attempting to quell an apparently violent protest in Las Vegas. Gomez had several firearms on his person, as well as body armor. Police shot him after Gomez pointed a weapon at them.
Chicago resident Jose Gutierrez was 28 years old. After a protest occurring on June 1 in the Chicago suburb of Cicero, violence and looting still were taking place. Gutierrez was shot as several businesses were being pilfered, even though he himself was not stealing.
Vctor Cazares, Jr. was from Cicero, Illinois. Also on June 1, Cazares was shot near a food market in Cicero. The incident was unrelated to the one that left Jose Gutierrez dead. Cazares was 27.
Following a protest occurring on May 31 in Kansas City, Missouri, three thugs tried to steal a Jeep belonging to Marvin Francois. In their attempt to rob him of his vehicle, they shot and killed Mr. Francios. Francios, 50, was an African American. He also was a professional software engineer who thoroughly enjoyed photography. He was known, too, as a family man. His 18-year-old son, Jayden, said this about his father’s untimely death. “For him to to out that way — it’s hard. It’s really hard.”
Two unidentified males in Philadelphia died on in unrelated incidents. Both were looters. One was accompanied by other individuals. In the early morning hours of Tuesday, June 2, they were attempting to break into a gun shop following protests in the city. Greg Isabella, the 67-year-old owner of the shop, saw them on camera using bolt cutters to get past a fence and into the store, and he used force to stop them. Larry Krasner, the District Attorney for Philadelphia, expressed relief that firearms from the shop were not stolen and sold on the streets of the city.
Also, according the police reports in Philadelphia, on the same night, another individual, 24 years old, “was killed trying to blow up a sidewalk ATM.”
These Weren’t All
Add to these 17 deaths numerous others, including Bernell Trammell, a Milwaukee resident and supporter of President Trump. Trammell also supported Black Lives Matter. He was very outspoken but also very well liked and appreciated in the Riverwest community where he worked. He owned his own publishing business. Trammell was shot and killed in broad daylight in front of his business on Thursday, July 23.
Significantly, news of Trammell’s death has not been highlighted in the mainstream media. Nor has it been mentioned by Black Lives Matter — despite Trammell’s support for the movement. On her show, Laura Ingraham asked,
Where’s Al Sharpton? Where’s Black Lives Matter, a group that Mr. Trammell even supported, by the way? But they’re nowhere to be found. Apparently, certain Black lives do not matter. Let’s not forget the left’s long history of ignoring, vilifying or dehumanizing Blacks who disagree.
Here is Laura Ingraham’s poignant and powerful commentary, “Do you know his name?”
Ignoring Newsworthy Events Is an Egregious Form of Journalistic Malpractice
It may be obvious already, but this problem is widespread and apparently even — yes, we will use the word — systemic in the culture of the mainstream media. The Media Research Center (MRC) monitors newscasts to track mainstream media bias. MRC’s Bill D’Agostino explains,
MRC analysts examined all three broadcast networks’ major morning and evening newscasts between May 28 and June 3, and found that the total airtime spent on those who died during the past week of riots accounted to just four and a half minutes, or less than one percent of the total protest-related coverage.
Ignoring newsworthy events that don’t fit the narrative of their agenda is a problem that is widespread and apparently even systemic in the culture of the mainstream media.
Ignoring newsworthy events, however, isn’t the only violation of journalistic ethics of which the mainstream media are guilty.
They also are involved in declaring outright lies and disseminating propaganda.
We’ll explore this aspect of the problem next time. Stay tuned!
Part 2 is available here.
Copyright © 2020 by B. Nathaniel Sullivan. All rights reserved.
top image credit: photo by Amber Kipp on Unsplash / Grand Rapids, Michigan / George Floyd protests
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