BROADCAST BIAS: Media's LA riot coverage relies on a sneaky trick to look less one-sided

Fox News

13 hours ago

Democrats and their publicity partners at the broadcast TV networks have often preached about how President Donald Trump's actions – like his pardons – are an affront to the "rule of law" in America. But when it comes to Trump's attempt at mass deportations, the media-Democrat alliance lines up fiercely against any attempt to remove immigrants who have ignored the rule of law.
Riots broke out on June 6 after several immigration raids in the Los Angeles area by U.S. Immigrations and Custom Enforcement enraged the left, as so-called "peaceful protesters" tried to block entrances and exits for the Edward R. Roybal Federal Building downtown, where detainees were being processed.
In a legal sense, it is not merely a "protest" to obstruct law enforcement. It's a crime. It is not "protest" to throw bricks at ICE agents or police, or set cars on fire. But the broadcast coverage of this unrest sounded disturbingly like the excuse-making for the George Floyd riots of 2020, when violent mobs were described as a "racial reckoning."
Once again, the TV networks used the mantra that the protests are "mostly peaceful," like it was a tiny sideshow, and Trump calling out the National Guard to quell the violence was treated as a provocation that worsened the crisis.
The original, radical "idealism" of these protests – that ICE shouldn't be deporting anyone, like deportations were tyrannical – served as the rhetorical underpinning of the biased coverage. Any idealism from the Republican side – favoring that "rule of law" and for protecting law enforcement personnel from violent attacks – was dismissed as Trumpian blather.
By Monday morning, the network morning shows kicked into anti-Trump gear. ABC "Good Morning America" host George Stephanopoulos warned viewers that Trump's ordering in the National Guard "is the first time since 1965 that a president's ordered troops in over the objections of the governor," and "California Governor Gavin Newsom condemned the action as inflammatory, called on the administration to rescind it, said they were manufacturing a crisis."
When Democrats can't keep control of their cities, pointing it out is "manufacturing a crisis." It's like Stephanopoulos never stopped being a Democrat press spokesman.
It's subtle wordplay, but the networks have a sneaky habit of not putting the party label on Trump's Democrat opponents. One might say their party should be obvious from their opposition, but in a setting of violent action, the avoidance of party labels was far too common, especially at ABC.
On Wednesday night, June 11's "World News Tonight," reporter Matt Gutman announced "in an emotional press conference, 37 mayors coming together" against Trump, no party labels needed. Arturo Flores, the mayor Huntington Park, was described as "a combat veteran, appealing to the military." Flores bizarrely argued about illegal immigrants: "These are Americans." As a legal matter, that's untrue, but ABC put that concept on screen: "Officials: 'Remember, You Are Dealing With Americans." That's just "Officials," no party ID needed.
Flores also lit into Trump as "a dictator" and "a tyrant." Nobody ever fact-checks politicians who call Trump a dictator. Gutman then added Newsom attacking Trump for calling out the National Gard, without the party label.
On Thursday night, ABC evening anchor David Muir repeated the tactic. Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem was abruptly interrupted at a press conference by "California Senator Alex Padilla," and he was forced to the ground and handcuffed. This transparently partisan stunt was treated as deadly serious, complete with a Padilla soundbite full of quavering moral outrage about how Latino farm hands and cooks are treated by the feds, with no mention of party.
It's subtle wordplay, but the networks have a sneaky habit of not putting the party label on Trump's Democrat opponents.
Late in that Thursday story, ABC reporter Matt Rivers did highlight the party when "Democratic Governors" lectured House Republicans at a hearing about their laxity on illegal immigration. New York Gov. Kathy Hochul told Viewers that Trump engaged in a "flagrant abuse of power."
ABC did not show Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz being pressed in that hearing about his smears in a recent commencement speech where he accused ICE agents of being "Trump's modern-day Gestapo." Nobody "fact checks" that, and no Republican question or concern from that hearing was mentioned by ABC.
This is why Republicans and independent voters are shunning ABC, CBS and NBC as talking-point assembly lines for the Democrats.