How the media covered domestic terrorism on Capitol Hill

How the media covered domestic terrorism on Capitol Hill

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The events at the Capitol on Wednesday, January 6, 2021, will be remembered as an act of domestic terrorism against the United States; as a national tragedy; and as a manifestation of online radicalization in real life. Here are the main questions facing Thursday:

– Is President Trump a danger to the republic? Is he fit to hold the position until January 20?

– Will the 25th Amendment be invoked, as a wide range of opinion leaders are asking?

– Will the White House advisers who resigned, like Stephanie Grisham and Sarah Matthews, speak publicly? If not, why not?

– How many other White House advisers will resign? Will Trump have any spokespersons left?

– Will the Murdochs do anything to control Fox News’s incendiary programming? What about Newsmax and OAN?

– Will the rebels attack other locations in DC in the next few days?

– Far from Washington, skirmishes occurred in several capitals on Wednesday. Will this continue?

– Ten years from now, what will this disaster be called? The “Trump riots?”

Now let’s take a look at how the country’s news media covered this shameful day, starting on the front pages of Thursday. The New York Times says, in capital letters, “TRUMP INCITES MOB.” Washington Post banner headline says “Trump’s crowd invades the Capitol.” Wall Street Newspaper says “MOB STORMS CAPITOL.”

Writing for history

– Peter Baker’s lead for The New York Times: “So this is how it ends.”
– Dan Balz’s leadership for the Washington Post: “January 6, 2021 will be remembered as one of the darkest days in the history of the United States.”
– Kevin Liptak’s leadership for CNN: “Three years, 11 months and 17 days after President Trump warned the United States Capitol West Front that ‘the American carnage stops right here’, the same place he was at engulfed by their own carnage protesters on their own. “
– The United States is in a “reality crisis,” wrote Charlie Warzel, “in which millions of Americans are actively courting violent and radical conspiracies and ideologies to make sense of a world they don’t trust.”
– Jake Tapper from CNN tweeted just before midnight: “Guys, it was a dark day. The president and his facilitators – and those they lied to – are still testing and threatening to destroy the American experiment. But many are backing away and I am confident that they will survive and get out more Thank you for watching and God bless you. “

“Lies have consequences”

Senator Ben Sasse said on Wednesday: “Lies have consequences.” Other reality-based Republican party members, such as Adam Kinzinger, also denounced the rotting conspiracy theory within his party. But they remained a minority within the GOP.

Many Democrats were much more energetic in their repudiation of the political and media climate in which this unfolded. Bill Clinton said that “the attack was fueled by more than four years of poisoned policies, spreading deliberate disinformation, sowing distrust in our system and pitting Americans against one another.” Barack Obama called “a political party and its media ecosystem” because “they are not very willing to tell their followers the truth” about Biden’s victory. And the future majority leader, Chuck Schumer, denounced Trump along with “the captive media that repeats his lies”.

Protesters organized online

They “openly planned for weeks on major social media and the pro-Trump Internet,” reported Jane Lytvynenko and Molly Hensley-Clancy of BuzzFeed News. “On forums like TheDonald, a niche site formed after Reddit banned the eponymous subreddit, they promised violence against lawmakers, police and journalists if Congress did not reject the results of the 2020 elections.”
Some of the protesters broadcast their crimes live, so there is a huge amount of video evidence. The FBI is now appealing to the public for information about the disturbances.

Media members were attacked

There were several cases of journalists being targeted by protesters on Wednesday. Some news crews traveled with private security – in the country’s capital. In a particularly striking case, a location filmed live outside the Senate was surrounded by men who threatened news crews and damaged TV equipment. The AP confirmed that some of the equipment in the outlet “was stolen and destroyed during today’s violent protests in Washington.”

Post journalists arrested

“Two Washington Post videojournalists,” Zoeann Murphy and Whitney Leaming, “tweeted on Wednesday night that they were arrested during the United States Capitol unrest,” wrote Lindsey Ellefson of TheWrap. The 6 pm curfew in Washington exempted members of the media, as every police officer should know. “Our journalists were just doing their job and should never have been arrested. However, we are pleased that the police released them quickly,” said a Post spokesman.

Notes on cable and broadcast coverage

– “Chaos gained momentum at a time when most television networks were mainly focused on the Congressional process,” wrote Jeremy Barr and Paul Farhi of the Post in a recap of the day’s coverage. “It took many reporters and producers to figure out what was going on and change their coverage as Congressional correspondents turned into war correspondents, sending reports over the phone while trying to hide.” At that point, anchors and commentators “were quick to denounce the protesters’ behavior in direct and fierce language – even on Fox News.”

– As the minutes and hours passed, many news outlets stopped saying “protesters” and started saying “rioters” and “mobs”.

– CNN “sent internal guidance saying the team may refer to Capitol riots today as ‘domestic terrorism'”, Max Tani reported.

– Former NBC News executive Mark Lukasiewicz, who has been very critical of his former network and other broadcasters in recent months, expressed “respect and admiration for the work they did and the risks they faced today. Journalism has never been more essential “.

– ABC and NBC have discarded all of their prime time lines for news coverage. CBS initially aired sitcoms at 8 pm in the East, but later resumed a special report from CBS News.

– The sober coverage on the dial made Fox’s prime-time talk show programming even stranger.

The new narrative on the right: Antifa, Antifa, Antifa

If you thought that the invasion of the Capitol on Wednesday would break the fever, think again. “The rioters were Antifa” is becoming a common issue on the far right. From Sarah Palin to Candace Owens, from Laura Ingraham to Lin Wood, many commentators have suggested that leftist radicals were responsible for part of the violence that took place on Wednesday. Texas AG Ken Paxton even tweeted: ‘These are not Trump supporters.’ But, as Ben Collins noted, there were actually recognizable Trump supporters inside the Capitol building. Accusing leftists is just a cynical way to excuse what happened and change the conversation.

What Fox and Newsmax viewers heard

Along with all of the “Antifa” excuses, here’s a taste of what was heard on pro-Trump TV, via Oliver Darcy. Everyone condemned the violence, but then …

– Greg Kelly of Newsmax attacked the media for his coverage, arguing that journalists were condescending to Trump’s supporters. Kelly also interviewed Rudy Giuliani, who expressed disappointment with Mike Pence.

– At Fox, Tucker Carlson appeared to exonerate his audience for what happened: “It’s not your fault, it’s their fault,” he said, continuing the “us against them” theme of his show.

– Carlson also said that Wednesday’s events will be used to “suppress” “civil liberties”.

– At Newsmax at the same time, Grant Stinchfield also criticized the media for not believing in electoral fraud conspiracy theories.

– Sean Hannity continued to lie about the election, obsessed with electoral fraud and focused on the fact that the Capitol complex needs more security. His guests complained about the leftist mobs and said that the Republicans have double standards.

– Laura Ingraham, who scoffed at those who said that the Black Lives Matter uprisings were mostly peaceful, continued to point out that most people in DC were peaceful, but “because of a small contingent of loons, these patriots were unfairly maligned. “

Notes and quotes

– Stephen Colbert went live on CBS on Wednesday night and started his show by asking, “Hey, Republicans who supported this president … have you had enough?”

– Daniel D’Addario of Variety: “For all that Trump’s use of social media was advertised, he was and remains a creature of television, and – today – television has outgrown him, countering violent and disturbing images that the American people could judge for themselves in Trump’s own words. “
– James Poniewozik, TV critic for the New York Times: As the turmoil unfolded, “everyone knew he was watching. They would have known even if he hadn’t announced it. Donald Trump is an obsessive observer of his own presidential TV coverage for hours per day. Of course, he would stick to his next act. “

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