We covered this territory during the trial but now that it’s over it’s worth remembering that the media’s coverage of this case was terrible from the moment it happened. Today, Drew Holden put together a thread hitting some of the lowlights:
We need to start with the media coverage that framed this case in the public mind.
To the press, Rittenhouse was as good as guilty when the news broke. So naturally, to @CNN, the people he shot in self defense were heroes & those defending him had “justified murder.” pic.twitter.com/jsMxd4547N
— Drew Holden (@DrewHolden360) November 19, 2021
Never to be outdone, @MSNBC said the shooting was white supremacy and then went on to blame – who else – President Trump for “fueling violence,” sowing “chaos and disorder” and “encouraging vigilante justice” (peep that last guest) pic.twitter.com/vrBT4IGPai
— Drew Holden (@DrewHolden360) November 19, 2021
Joy Reid was, of course, among the worst offenders:
Once again, @briantylercohen hosts a show called “No Lie” and yet spouts nonsense and misinformation in a nearly unparalleled way. pic.twitter.com/haIMNecZ0p
— Drew Holden (@DrewHolden360) November 19, 2021
The fact-checkers got in on it too. This Politifact piece (screenshot above) claiming Trump was wrong because he didn’t accurately describe the entire incident also does not accurately describe the incident:
Speaking of fact checks, here’s @PolitiFact claiming that Trump lied when he said Rittenhouse was trying to get away from protestors and was attacked – both details have since been confirmed by video.
Will you update your inaccurate post, Politifact? Or the gun charge details? pic.twitter.com/eAER1xtknv
— Drew Holden (@DrewHolden360) November 19, 2021
Raise your hand if your shocked that Yamiche Alcindor jumped on this bandwagon:
Again, the framing of what happened was always preposterous. Here’s @Yamiche from NPR claiming that the takeaway was meant to be “that ifs okay for a 17-year old to shoot people on the street who are unarmed, who are at a protest.”
This is impossible to square with the facts. pic.twitter.com/HWkWy4MiOa
— Drew Holden (@DrewHolden360) November 19, 2021
And Aaron Blake:
Also, as a call out, this type of deceptive coverage is still going on.
During the trial, @Reuters described someone who attacked Rittenhouse as the “survivor of shooting by U.S, teen” while @CBSMornings said Rittenhouse “murdered two men” (h/t @BecketAdams) pic.twitter.com/6cGZd5F9xC
— Drew Holden (@DrewHolden360) November 19, 2021
All the usual suspects:
I don’t have space for all the awful coverage, but here’s a smattering from @USATODAY (doesn’t sound like it), @CBSNews (interesting the trending Twitter topics that make headlines) and @thedailybeast (“fanatic”).
The takeaway audience were meant to have was clear.
And wrong. pic.twitter.com/Jmna4dP878
— Drew Holden (@DrewHolden360) November 19, 2021
And of course Joe Biden:
The now-President, @JoeBiden, called Rittenhouse a white supremacist absent evidence.
I want to pause to drive that point home: the most powerful man on the planet used his influence & authority to libel a teenager while said teenager faced spurious, politically driven charges. pic.twitter.com/Qjt7sSGD7S
— Drew Holden (@DrewHolden360) November 19, 2021
@RepDonBeyer spreads a whirlwind of disinformation here, as we now know that those killed weren’t peaceful, protestors or murdered.@RepJeffries makes a similar category of error and then, just days ago, doubled down (and then some) with his own suggestion of lawlessness. pic.twitter.com/h82xW0YZ4f
— Drew Holden (@DrewHolden360) November 19, 2021
And noted white supremacy expert Jennifer Rubin offered insights:
You had to know @JRubinBlogger would be here. pic.twitter.com/qddCRMxVwa
— Drew Holden (@DrewHolden360) November 19, 2021
And Max Boot:
There were so many bad takes in the early days of this story. I can’t possibly get to them all, but here are a few more from:@BetoORourke (good luck on that gov run)@ananavarro (again with the “white supremacist”)@AAPolicyForum (sheesh)@greg_doucette (“white nationalist”) pic.twitter.com/hfS3GS5JFk
— Drew Holden (@DrewHolden360) November 19, 2021
So if you’re wondering how the near-universal, misinformed impression that Rittenhouse was definitely guilty and had no chance of being acquitted spread, there you have it. It didn’t just happen. It was intentionally pushed out by host of left-wing hacks. And while they kept that up, almost no one in the mainstream press pushed back to suggest there might be more to the story. It wasn’t until this month that some of these legal experts began acknowledging Rittenhouse had a viable case for self defense.
Over at her Substack site, Bari Weiss points out that until very recently, most people probably believe a lot of lies about this case.
Unless you’re a regular reader of independent reporting — Jacob Siegel of Tablet Magazine and Jesse Singal stand out for being ahead of the pack (and pilloried, like clockwork, for not going along with the herd) — you would have been served a pack of lies about what happened during those terrible days in Kenosha. And you would have been shocked over the past two weeks as the trial unfolded in Wisconsin as every core claim was undermined by the evidence of what actually happened that night.
This wasn’t a disinformation campaign waged by Reddit trolls or anonymous Twitter accounts. It was one pushed by the mainstream media and sitting members of Congress for the sake of an expedient political narrative…
To acknowledge the facts of what happened that night is not political. It is simply to acknowledge reality. It is to say that facts are still facts and that lies are lies. It is to insist that mob justice is not justice. It is to say that media consensus is not the equivalent of due process. And that pretending otherwise for the sake of political expediency is why the National Guard is now standing watch in Kenosha, bracing for violence once again in the anticipation of a verdict that for many, has already been decided.
We’ve said it all before. In fact, people on the right have said it for decades now. The media’s liberal bias is not serving the country well. You can’t load the country up with a bunch of politicized falsehoods about a hot button shooting and then act shocked when people are angry and dismayed because the outcome of these cases don’t meet their expectations. How many times will the professional left be allowed to do this before we start to take a closer, more skeptical look at claims they are making and a less skeptical look at claims to the contrary?
