Stelter, CNN, get caught in double standard on violent media coverage
April 20, 2021
CNN anchor Brian Stelter was called out on Twitter this week for a double standard relating freedom to riot and Freedom of the Press.
To be clear, freedom to riot is not covered in the Constitution, while Freedom of the Press is.
Appearing on Reliable Sources, the show he anchors that’s supposed to be leading-edge coverage of the media, Stelter finally mentioned that which previously CNN didn’t want to cover: namely, the attack on CNN crews by rioters in Minneapolis’ Brooklyn Center neighborhood while covering the Daunte Wright shooting/Derrick Chauvin trial earlier in the week.
If you missed it previously, CNN crews were pelted with water bottles and chastised for distorted coverage of events in the city after the shooting of Daunte Wright.
Protesters throw a water bottle at a CNN crew member and hit him square on the head. They mock him when he falls down. pic.twitter.com/cBfRN9DJOj
— Nic Rowan (@NicXTempore) April 15, 2021
Subsequently, CNN embargoed the attack story for nearly a week.
Stelter finally featured the CNN crew that was attacked on the show over the weekend, where Stelter first denied that CNN censored the story, and then, unbelievably, supported CNN reporter Miguel Marquez’s contention that the violence against the press was understandable.
.@BrianStelter: "right-wing media" said CNN was "covering up" protesters attacking CNN crew. It was 1st on-air mention of the attack. @MiguelMarquez says HE was assaulted then too.
Says they were in "wrong place at the wrong time." (They were in RIGHT place, doing their jobs.) pic.twitter.com/pkq9xVdU4D
— Steve Krakauer (@SteveKrak) April 18, 2021
“Yes,” said the CNN reporter, agreeing with Stelter. “There was no cover-up.”
But, there was no coverage either.
Violence is only understandable if you think that violence against the press and government from the Left is okay, while violence against the press and the government from the Right is the same as mass murder.
Which, of course, is exactly how Stelter, sees it.
From the Reliable Sources Show tease on CNN after the Capitol riots:
“Several days after domestic terrorists roamed the halls of the Capitol, the enormity of what happened is “starting to sink in,” Lauren Fox says. Manu Raju says “it was almost like a war zone.” Phil Mattingly says he fielded texts from congressional sources who “were very scared for their lives.” Raju says the riot could have turned into a “mass, mass casualty event.”
A closer look at the CNN video shows that the attacks on the crew were at least in part because the rioters didn’t like how the press is covering the protests. Apparently, that part of the press with CNN doesn’t like how they cover it, either.
Previously, CNN reporter Sara Sidner was confronted by a protester who said the media coverage was making things worse between police and protestors.
“Y’all be twisting up the stories and shit,” the man said according to the Hill. “All the press and all the extra shit y’all do makes this worse.”
Here’s what CNN’s coverage looked like when a crew got arrested for failing to move out of the way for police in earlier George Floyd protests.
No cover-up, just coverage.
That’s the job of the press, actually.