City On Fire - The Media Coverage

Since the protests began in Baltimore, I've been catching the coverage on mostly the national news networks. Whenever there's a major news story, I like to switch between Fox News and MSNBC. I'm always amazed at the contrast in the way the two networks report the story. And this holds true in the coverage of the Baltimore protests and riots.

One thing that seems pretty obvious is that the protesters aren't showing a whole lot of love to the Fox News crews. One of their camera men was physically assaulted on Monday while he was covering the brick throwing incident at Mondawmin Mall. He was taken to the hospital for his injuries.

And Geraldo Riveria seems to have some type of death wish. He has already had several skirmishes with angry protesters. I'll give the guy credit, even at 71 years old, he's still full of piss and vinegar. However, I'm not sure it's wise to antagonize the protesters in this situation. If one of these guys decides to throw a punch, there will likely be at least ten more that will jump in on the beat-down. Just cover the news, Geraldo. Leave the fighting to Mayweather and Pacquiao!

And Fox News isn't getting a warm reception in the City of Brotherly Love either. One of the reporters (who happened to be black) covering the Philadelphia protests was met by a hostile crowd. They called him an "Uncle Tom sell-out" while throwing things at him. Meanwhile, the reporter's got Sean Hannity barking crazy stuff into his earpiece like, "Hey, ask them why they're idiots!"

Fox, who is clearly pro-police, has been running hard with the "stand down" order which was allegedly given by the Mayor. While on her way to some type of NAACP yesterday, the Mayor was ambushed by a Fox reporter who asked her something like "What would you like to say to all of those businesses that were destroyed because of your stand-down order?" The mayor shot the Fox reporter a stare that was cold enough to freeze the Chesapeake Bay!

Now, switching over to MSNBC, I get the feeling that they're not overly fond of the police. They seem to be on the same page of the protesters. They appear to be skeptical of anything that favors the police in the Freddie Gray case. Anytime they discuss something, they lead with questions like, "The police say that Gray's injuries were likely self-inflicted. That sounds a bit ridiculous, don't you think?"

I sometimes can't keep track of who said what between MSNBC and CNN. I was watching a reporter on one of these channels (I think it was CNN) who was all bent out of shape because some people (including President Obama) were referring to the rioters as "thugs". She was going on and on about how using the term "thug" is racist, unfair and disrespectful. Wow! And I thought that torching a CVS store was disrespectful. But would do I know?

I saw an interview with Billy Murphy Jr. (the lead attorney for the Gray family) on the Rachel Maddow Show (MSNBC) last night. Before the interview even began, Murphy said, "It's a pleasure to be on your show." With the heavy emphasis on the word "your", it was pretty obvious that this was a jab at Fox News who Murphy has sparred with a few times.

And as I was just watching the coverage of the state's attorney's announcement to charge the six cops. I thought the CNN reporter was going start jumping up and down like a kid at Chuck E. Cheese. Meanwhile, the bewildered Fox guys were all asking, "What the hell just happened here?"

                                                              (to be continued)

kw