Media Manufactured Protests

FLORIDA  
Opinion by:  

E. Eugene Webb PhD

 I watched this week as things unfolded in California and the President sent in the National Guard and then the Marines.

The response from state and local officials in California was, as anticipated, given their far left-leaning.

What was most disturbing to me was the approach the electronic media took to all of this. On the major cable news networks, the reporting was left biased and sympathetic to those who would riot as opposed to protest. These news media outlets continued through the weekend to encourage these protests nationwide. Citing free speech and the first amendment as their justification for people pouring into the streets.

Camera crews and reporters swarmed the streets looking for those who were interested in getting their 5 minutes of fame on TV. While at the same time encouraging more of these protests.

I am a firm believer in free speech and in the freedom of the press. But I do not believe either support the issue that the networks and their media outlets are to make the news rather than just report it.

The First Amendment and our emphasis on freedom of the press both also demand some common sense. And the repetitive showing of violent events in these protests insinuating that those trying to enforce the law are somehow the villains and those perpetrating these acts expressing their rights is plain stupid.

The question that comes to mind is as these multiple media outlets continue to foment violent confrontations in these protests by focusing on that reporting, do they begin to acquire some liability for injury and damage to private property caused by those protests?

I do not know the answer to that question, but I do know this. People continue to watch these media outlets. They are becoming more propaganda generators as opposed to news reporting organizations and the people who watch respond to what they see. We saw that this weekend and it is not pretty.

I know the left wing of our society continues to be frustrated by their inability to come to grips with the reality of the current political situation. But everybody on the left from the guy or gal looking for their 5 minutes of fame on the cable news network to the crowds of people cursing law enforcement need to understand that as much as they think they're expressing their opinion they are being mostly manipulated by the very media they think serves them.

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