Yesterday, when New York Mayor bill de blasio spoke at the funeral for NYPD officer Rafael Ramos, most media venues I watched/read told me that “hundreds” of police officers turned their backs on him. The New York Post, however, said it was “thousands”, and posted a picture with a sea of officers, just about every one with his/her back turned, which I put up on this blog then, and will do so again now:
Keep in mind that there were an estimated 20,000 – 25,000 officers in attendance. Therefore this picture shows only a minuscule number of them. Can anyone seriously think the photographer captured every officer who faced away from Mayor de blasio?
It seems eminently clear that, other than the Post (and, I would hope, some number of other venues) media were trying to convince you that the police reaction to de blasio was far less extensive than it really was.
By contrast, Tom Blumer, writing for newsbusters.org, tells us that, yesterday, CBS – Los Angeles put up a story about the “kwanzaa parade” down Crenshaw Boulevard, culminating in a “Black Lives Matter” rally at Leimert Park.
Is that true? Well, I urge you read Mr. Blumer\’s piece in its entirety, to see out just how fraudulent this claim is. Here is an excerpt:
Twitchytells us that blogger “Sooper Mexican estimatedthat fourpeople attended the post-parade “Black Lives Matter” rally atLeimert Park. In an update, however, he downgraded this estimate tothree.”
Aprocession of a few vehicles lasting 10 minutes is not a “parade.”It isn\’t even a motorcade.
Threeor four people listening to aggrieved speakers droning on about how”black lives matter” (others, apparently not so much) isn\’ta “rally”; it\’s a collection of unhinged soapbox rants.
Yetreaders of the CBS-LA report who don\’t get information about thefailed enterprise from another source will believe that a legitimate”parade” and “rally” took place with and impliedrespectable numbers of participants – despite what thestation\’s own reporter tweeted.
Why would CBS, which so many people rely on for honest news, do such a thing? Why would it lie to these people – even when (as you will see if you read the entire piece) its own reporter says otherwise?
Is it fear of reprisal? Do the people at CBS think Black activists – maybe the maulana karenga crowd – will give them grief, so it is better to just lie on their behalf?
Or is it that they look on Black people as lesser beings and, consequently, feel a need to elevate this event beyond what it really is because, after all you can\’t expect Blacks to be held to the same standard that would apply if it were a general-population parade? In other words, are they racists…but, you know, the “nice” kind because they “help out” Black folks? (Try calling one of these people out on the inherent racism of reporting news about Blacks using different, lower standards than for news about non-Blacks, and see what kind of answer you get).
Fear and/or racism are the only two explanations I can think of. If you have a third, do let me know.
But regardless of what the answer is, can there be any doubt that media manipulation was in full force yesterday, both in New York City and Los Angeles?
And could this tell us more clearly that we should be skeptical, and then some, about the “reports” issued by mainstream media?
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UPDATE: I just read the New York Times article on what happened when de blasio spoke.
Buried in the 8th paragraph is a claim that “scores” of police officers turned away from him. For those of you who are unaware, a “score” is 20.
This suggests that, out of the 20,000 – 25,000 in attendance, almost no police turned their backs on de blasio. Which is a blatant lie. Look at the photograph above and see for yourself – and then marvel at the fact that, though somewhat obscured (intentionally?) the Times article includes this very same photograph. Does the writer, Michael N. Grynbaum, and the rest of the news staff, really think their readers are so incredibly stupid that they can\’t see the contradiction?
Apparently the media manipulation that was in full force yesterday remains alive and well today.
