NEWS AND OPINION:
In a time of national emergency, the major broadcast networks continue to undermine President Trump and his administration as they try to quell continuing public unrest over the death of George Floyd. Case in point: ABC, CBS and NBC devoted a combined total of 69 seconds of coverage pertaining to the attack on historic St. John’s Church, which stands just across Lafayette Park from the White House. The structure had been set afire, defaced and vandalized by protesters Sunday night.
“On Tuesday, those same broadcasts devoted a combined 30 minutes of coverage to hyping the ’outrage’ over President Trump visiting the church Monday evening,” writes Kyle Drennen, an analyst for Newsbusters.org, a conservative press watchdog.
He cited the reactions of numerous hosts and anchors, including ABC’s George Stephanopoulos.
“Outrage is growing after U.S. Park and Secret Service Police fire tear gas and rubber bullets into a crowd of peaceful demonstrators near the White House, clearing the way for the president’s photo-op in front of historic St. John’s Episcopal Church,” Mr. Stephanopoulos told his audience.
The network personalities were apparently unaware that the U.S. Park Service deployed smoke canisters rather than tear gas on protesters, according to local news radio WTOP — which said the crowd was “pelting” officers with projectiles and climbing on a nearby burned out structures. The agency also was unaware of Mr. Trump’s plans to walk through the park afterward.
“In addition to the initial hyperbolic coverage of Trump’s church visit on Tuesday, all three morning shows welcomed left-wing Episcopal Bishop of Washington, Reverend Mariann Edgar Budde, and teed her up to repeatedly slam the president,” Mr. Drennen said. “If journalists want to criticize the timing and optics of Trump visiting a church, they should at least be as outraged by rioters who set that church on fire a day earlier.”
HEADLINE OF THE DAY
“Mass protests across the U.S. have no impact on stocks.”
The headline is from Forbes, which asks, “What gives?”
AND IN SUMMATION
Public unrest, riots, looting, sorrow, political discord, anxiety — Americans are witnessing it all at the moment.
“Don’t think we’re having a nervous breakdown? When can you remember two New York corporate lawyers tossing a Molotov cocktail into a cop car? Or how about the city executives of Santa Monica, warned via social media that their many trendy shops and upscale restaurants were about to be looted en masse the day after similar actions had already occurred, doing nothing as millions, perhaps billions, of damage was done to one of the wealthiest parts of our country?” asks Roger Simon, a columnist for the Epoch Times.
“That pattern was repeated throughout the land in areas rich and poor as liberal mayors and governors demonstrated what I suppose we could call their ’liberalism.’ How far would it go? Would they allow their daughters to be absconded for the good of the cause? It’s hard to know because several of those daughters had already joined Antifa,” Mr. Simon continues.
“As for the media, they’re doing their best to deny what’s happening and blaming Trump when they can’t. What else is new?” he says.
RED BERETS, NO WEAPONS
A volunteer crime-prevention organization that got its start patrolling New York City subways 40 years ago has hit the streets once again.
The Guardian Angels have vowed to patrol the city around the clock in an effort to protect their city from further riots, non-peaceful protests or looting.
“While it is uncertain how long the mayhem will last, we are in it for the long haul. We have been here since 1979 and we don’t intend on going anywhere,” says Curtis Sliwa, founder of the nonprofit group whose members wear signature red berets and carry no weapons.
The city is now under a nightly emergency curfew — the first imposed on the town since 1943.
“Dozens of stores have been broken into and looted. Graffiti now lines the streets and establishments throughout New York City. Smashed windows, glass on sidewalks, products strewn about the streets, burnt-out cop cars. Now stores everywhere including the iconic Macy’s store at Herald Square is boarded up,” advises Mr. Sliwa.
“The city is clearly under siege now and the New York Police Department seems unable to address these safety issues. So the Guardian Angels have stepped in and are now patrolling these hot spot areas around the clock,”
Mr. Sliwa, a talk radio host for WABC in New York City, has also declared his intent to run for mayor of the city in 2021.
FOXIFIED
Once again, Fox News Channel remains the most-watched network in the entire cable realm, as it has for the past 47 straight months according to Nielsen Media Research. The network has enjoyed a 44% growth in its viewership since this time last year.
As it has for over 18 years, Fox News also remains the No. 1 cable news network with an average 3.4 million primetime viewers tuning in nightly throughout the month of May, according to Nielsen. MSNBC was in second place with 1.9 million viewers and CNN third, with 1.6 million.
Primetime hosts Sean Hannity and Tucker Carlson remain the ratings kings, each drawing 4.2 million nightly viewers. Both also bested such network shows as CBS’ “Face the Nation,” plus the “Today” show and “Ellen’s Game of Games,” both on NBC.
POLL DU JOUR
• 75% of U.S. voters say the level of support for their choice in a presidential candidate is “very strong, I’ve decided”; 81% of Republicans, 66% of independents and 76% of Democrats agree.
• 19% of voters overall say their support is “strong, I probably won’t change”; 16% of Republicans, 24% of independents and 19% of Democrats agree.
• 5% overall say their support is “somewhat strong, I might change”; 3% of Republicans, 9% of independents and 4% of Democrats agree.
• 1% overall says their support is “not too strong, I’ll probably change”; 0% of Republicans, 1% of independents and 1% of Democrats agree.
Source: A CBS poll of 1,504 REGISTERED U.S. VOTERS conducted May 29-JUNE 1.
• Helpful information to jharper@washingtontimes.com.
• Jennifer Harper can be reached at jharper@washingtontimes.com.
Please read our comment policy before commenting.