Progressive Writer Drops Facts, Absolutely Nails Media for False Narratives on Columbus Shooting

I have to admit, after reading about the surprisingly responsible discussion between CNN’s Don Lemon and Chris Cuomo last night on the officer-involved shooting death of Ma’Khia Bryant, I was not expecting to see another similarly powerful rant from someone on the left who tried to cut through the media bull and drop facts inconvenient to the various false narratives that are circulating.

But that is indeed what happened. Progressive writer Zaid Jilani, who is no stranger to annoying the left (including media leftists) although he happens to be one of them, took to the Twitter machine yesterday to write a blisteringly spot-on critique of the absolutely shameless, incendiary tactics the left/mainstream media were utilizing in spinning the tall tales they were about the Bryant case.

In his rant, Jilani said that the “news media can’t report honestly about violent crime because it doesn’t recognize it as a thing that exists and impacts the lives of ordinary people.” In other words, if it’s not a violent situation they can use to advance “woke” narratives, they aren’t interested.

Jilani also noted that a very similar case involving two African-American teenage girls in Ohio from just the day before the Bryant shooting got little to no national media attention because police weren’t involved. It was a case involving a 13-year-old girl who stabbed another 13-year-old girl to death.

He concluded by stating that in cases like Bryant’s, the media were not simply reporting on them because they involved a loss of life. They were exploiting the tragedies to advance a narrative and to “promote division.” That is, he correctly pointed out, not journalism and is certainly not good at all for this country.

Read his full remarks below:

The news media is screwing up the reporting around Ma’Khia Bryant because it has moved away from focusing on reporting the facts. In this new paradigm, facts are only worthwhile insofar as they promote a single Narrative. https://t.co/pc7ir2RDUj

— Zaid Jilani (@ZaidJilani) April 22, 2021

Narrative-driven news media can’t report honestly about violent crime because it doesn’t recognize it as a thing that exists and impacts the lives of ordinary people. If it’s not about racism, the police, or racist police, the media just ignores it. https://t.co/pc7ir2A32L

— Zaid Jilani (@ZaidJilani) April 22, 2021

Police shootings are rare and declining. Shootings and murders committed by criminal are more common and increasing. Yet the former gets so much ink and attention and the latter next to none because the media is obsessed with Narrative over truth. https://t.co/pc7ir2A32L

— Zaid Jilani (@ZaidJilani) April 22, 2021

One day before Bryant’s death, a 13-year-old girl was stabbed to death in another Ohio town. That story will never break out into national media, and neither would the events in Columbus if police weren’t involved. https://t.co/pc7ir2A32L

— Zaid Jilani (@ZaidJilani) April 22, 2021

The media isn’t simply highlighting the loss of life or human tragedies. The media is promoting a Narrative designed to drive clicks and promote division. That isn’t journalism, and it isn’t good for the country. https://t.co/pc7ir2A32L

— Zaid Jilani (@ZaidJilani) April 22, 2021

As I said earlier today, the debate around officer-involved deaths in this country has got to cool down, the rhetoric less heated and accusatorial. Because not only do bad decisions oftentimes stem from the inflammatory rhetoric, but those decisions can have the disastrous effect of leaving vulnerable communities even more unsafe and also leaving officers (and potential recruits) demoralized.

That exact situation has played out with precision in Minneapolis, which saw a 21% rise in violent crime last year – with much of it occurring after the death of George Floyd.

If there is finally going to be an “awakening” among leftists in American newsrooms as to the incredibly dangerous path they’re headed down in routinely gaslighting anti-police riots and failing to judge each officer-involved shooting incident individually, I’m all for it. Because the dialogue simply must be elevated on these issues before we get too far gone to be able to reverse the damage that has already been done.