2 hours agoOPINION: Networks show France burning but highlight ‘peaceful’ protesters in broadcast bias
This is an excerpt from an opinion article by Tim Graham, Executive Editor of Newsbusters.
For decades, American broadcast news networks have touted the benefits of socialism in France, from government-funded daycare to healthcare to a mandated five weeks of vacation.
NBC host Katie Couric summed it up in 2001: “The French, they’ve got it right, don’t they?”
Socialism is always a warm, comforting blanket. It can’t ever fail. So, when violent rioting recently broke out in Paris and other cities, the preferred TV term was failing “public services.”
On Oct. 19, ABC foreign correspondent Tom Soufi Burridge said, “The protests Saturday, involving hundreds of thousands of people, were supposed to be about the cost of living and the state of France’s public services, but the situation quickly spiraled out of control in multiple French cities.”
“CBS Mornings” star Gayle King echoed that, saying, “The demonstrations began to protest the rising costs of living and declining public services.”
CBS reporter Aidan Stretch also cited a “ballooning government deficit,” which is code for overspending. The socialists blamed undertaxing.
Most network reports didn’t avoid reporting that there was violent rioting, looting and property destruction. But they claimed the protests were “hijacked” by bad people.
CBS’s Stretch pushed the split, saying, “The most extreme unrest was in cities across France, where protests over poor school conditions and worker pay were hijacked by masked rioters who torched cars, burned down government buildings and looted stores, stealing most of the inventory from this boxing shop.”
On the “PBS News Hour,” Ross Cullen blamed “underinvestment” by the socialists.
“More than 600,000 people took part in peaceful rallies across the country, a convergence of different protest movements demonstrating against high gas prices, rising inflation and underinvestment in public services,” Cullen said.
“But the unrest that took hold after the demonstrations was unprecedented.”
There was still some ludicrous “mostly peaceful” phrasing. Many mocked the BBC after its Paris-based reporter, James Waterhouse, claimed, “They were mostly peaceful, but as we saw in the capital, in the wings were those who wanted to take advantage of the disorder.”