OPINION:
On “The Last Word with Lawrence O’Donnell” on MSNBC, during discussion of the recent tragic shootings in Ohio and Texas and the fate of gun control laws in America, these words briefly flashed, Breitbart reported: “TRUMP-INSPIRED TERRORISM.”
As if reporting fact. As if that thought were a given.
Yes, MSNBC framed the words in quotation marks. But absent context clues, absent context words, a casual glancer would see the phrase as presented as fact.
Truly, has the media no shame.
It’s not as if the American people aren’t aware of the left-leaning bias of many of those — nay, of most of those — in the media. It’s not as if the press hatred of President Donald Trump is a surprise. The gig is up on that.
But this chyron goes beyond anti-Trump and into “enemy of the people” stage.
Here’s the context, as reported by Breitbart: A professor named David Schanzer penned an opinion piece in The Guardian with this headline: “We must call the El Paso shooting what it is: Trump-inspired terrorism.”
And from there, some clever MSNBC producer decided hey, let’s just stick this phrase on the screen to blast Trump, and if anyone complains, we can just what — what, we didn’t say it; the good professor did; we were just reporting the facts and quoting another.
That’s a shoddy defense. A paper-thin defense.
And here’s an admittedly over-the-top comparison to drive home that point: Would MSNBC have thrown up a quote from another that used, say, the n-word to describe Barack Obama in similar fashion — in similar, all-caps, name-calling, labeling fashion? My gosh, no. And rightly not.
That would be disgusting.
That would be seen as an unjustified, sneaky news organizational attack on the president.
MSNBC could have done this: “Professor: ’Trump-inspired terrorism.’ ” Easy fix, yes? But MSNBC chose the path of easy potshot, of simple-minded attack.
It’s yet one more example, in a long, very long, extremely long and still-growing longer list of reasons why the press in America is in the dumps. The members won’t quit dumpster diving to do whatever it takes to paint this president in the poorest of lights.
• Cheryl Chumley can be reached at cchumley@washingtontimes.com or on Twitter, @ckchumley.
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