As sure as the sun will rise, CNN is going to be a ridiculously biased and intellectually dishonest network.
A few days ago, I covered the brutal attack on Andy Ngo carried out by Antifa in the streets of Portland, OR. His grave sin was daring to simply be present to document the violent, fascistic behavior of the left-wing movement. This led to all manner of hot takes, from the idea that Ngo is “alt-right,” to blue checkmark Twitter users outright saying he deserved to be beaten.
Another largely unsurprising thing happened. The mainstream media mostly blacked out the story or tried to marginalize the event by blaming both sides. Keep in mind that these are the same people who to this day still bring up Trump’s admittedly awkward “fine people on both sides” comment after Charlottesville, even as the actual transcript showed the President specifically saying he was not talking about white supremacists. By contrast, no one can seriously argue there wouldn’t have been wall to wall coverage had this been a liberal journalist attacked by Trump supporters.
While CNN’s Brian Stelter managed to make a 25 second mention of the situation on his low-rated show (while purposely not naming Antifa as the attacker), we finally saw more extensive coverage this morning on the liberal network as Ngo appeared for an interview.
How did CNN handle Ngo’s appearance? Exactly as you’d expect.
Journalist @MrAndyNgo says he was assaulted by Antifa during demonstrations in Portland.
“This country, rightfully, is very tuned to knowing…when the right goes too far…I wonder if this country though is also attuned to when the left can go too far." https://t.co/H0GSIoFF1U pic.twitter.com/hcCi2aRlkm
— New Day (@NewDay) July 2, 2019
Ngo “says he was assaulted” is a cute line. It’s not like we don’t have video tape from multiple angles showing that Ngo was indeed attacked by members of Antifa. CNN (much like Snopes did) still chose to report on the situation as conjecture in it’s headlines, tweets, and chryons.
Ngo is also not a “conservative journalist.” He’s a gay Asian guy with personal politics that are center-left. The website he works for is also a center left outlet. The only thing that makes him even remotely conservative is his opposition to Antifa. If that’s how lax the standard is for labeling someone a “conservative” now, most of the country can be placed under that banner. If you watch the video, the New Day host pushes that line further by quoting some liberal professor that labeled Ngo a “political pundit,” something Ngo clearly isn’t if you’ve followed his work. Not that there’s anything wrong with political pundits, but that’s just not what Ngo is.
Ask yourself if CNN would ever put such labels or cast such doubt over any left-wing journalist if they were attacked like this.
CNN knows exactly what they are doing. By calling him a conservative journalist and using criticism cloaked in quotes, the network can marginalize him and his story without actually having to do the dirty work themselves.
.@MrAndyNgo describes his politics as left-of-center, but because he reports critically on Antifa, CNN apparently has to label him “conservative” multiple times (also note they treat with suspicion the idea Antifa was behind the attack despite ample video evidence) pic.twitter.com/biyvsgs1mc
— Tom Elliott (@tomselliott) July 2, 2019
Now compare that to how CNN’s New Day handled Jussie Smollett’s allegation vs. how they painted Ngo’s attack.
If only @CNN had some sort of media analyst who could investigate this glaring bias. What do you think about that, @brianstelter? pic.twitter.com/76r1STJVzq
— I didn't vote for him, so think of a new retort (@jtLOL) July 2, 2019
The one that was a hoax and had no corroborating evidence was immediately framed as a factual occurrence. Meanwhile, Ngo’s attack has more camera angles than a Michael Bay film and CNN promotes it as simply an allegation.
But hey, at least CNN covered it. That’s got to count for something right?
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