Friday, April 26, 2024
Miles from the Mainstream
D. R. ZUKERMAN, proprietor

Call for Unity, Changed

August 19, 2019 --

President Trump addressed the nation on the tragedies of Dayton, Ohio and El Paso, Texas, August 5. https://www.rev.com/blog/donald-trump-statement-on-mass-shootings-full-transcript-of-remarks
Among other things, he said "Hate has no place in America" and called for an end to "destructive partisanship." At first, reporting on the president's remarks, The New York Times put this headline over the August 6 story: "'Trump Urges Unity vs. Racism.'" Michael Goodwin, in his August 11 column, noted that "small army of Times readers" was "infuriated by the speech. Goodwin continued, "The facts be damned, they demanded their daily fix of Trump hate -- and the paper quickly complied." In later editions, as Goodwin reported, the "Unity" headline was changed to""Assailing Hate, But Not Guns." The subhead read, "Trump, in Speech, Says Little About Putting Curbs on Weapons."

Continuing its propaganda campaign, the Times, August 12, put this headline on the front page: "How the El Paso Gunman Echoed The Words of Right-Wing Pundits." The article smeared conservative outlets as "incendiary" This kind of hyperbolic imagery will no doubt gladden the hearts of the paper's radical readers.