CNN, the “#FactsFirst” network that prides itself on separating the bananas from the apples, could use more than a dash of self-awareness before accusing other media outlets of distorting the truth. Charles C.W. Cooke found a few examples among CNN’s reports following the school shooting in Santa Fe, Texas:
I’m reading through CNN’s featured pieces on the subject of yesterday’s shooting, and I can only conclude that if the topic is firearms, submissions just bypass all editing. Here is the crux of the argument in one of those pieces: https://t.co/qJzO3GmFjl (1) pic.twitter.com/ijWul7AVzb
— Charles C. W. Cooke (@charlescwcooke) May 19, 2018
But that’s already the law in Texas. Here’s a summary from the Giffords Center: https://t.co/StaHwoNJhn. How could that have been missed?(2) pic.twitter.com/SLkr3ubadK
— Charles C. W. Cooke (@charlescwcooke) May 19, 2018
It’s easy for the media to “miss” things they don’t want to see.
Then, from another piece, there’s this claim, which is just absolute nonsense. We gain absolutely nothing from this sort of misrepresentation. And no, to point out that this is absurd is not to imply that one is “fine” with the real number. https://t.co/nifKhDZhMK (3) pic.twitter.com/puhQlykWBW
— Charles C. W. Cooke (@charlescwcooke) May 19, 2018
Then there is the uncritical repetition of this girl’s testimony, coupled with the use of fake statistics to bolster it. That she believes this is its own problem—and, again, to insist on accuracy is not to imply indifference. But this isn’t true. https://t.co/y875ashQoK (4) pic.twitter.com/F6bKzMZzyn
— Charles C. W. Cooke (@charlescwcooke) May 19, 2018
THIS. Is CNN.
This statistic, too, is wildly misleading. A classic use of using outliers and selective stats to create a narrative. Service members, in fact, are 40+ times more likely to be killed. 150 people were shot dead in schools since 1990; 7,063 service members died in same time. (5) pic.twitter.com/UEJJnkf3j8
— Charles C. W. Cooke (@charlescwcooke) May 19, 2018
I imagine that the main—perhaps, only—response to these tweets will be “so you’re fine with the status quo?” or “so we do nothing?” That’s not, of course, what I’m saying. I’m just amazed at how poor the editing is when this is the topic. Perhaps I just notice it more. (6/6)
— Charles C. W. Cooke (@charlescwcooke) May 19, 2018
And yet CNN continues to be shocked at the perception of so many that they’re “fake news”?
The media's inability to write accurately or factually about this topic is revealing. The only area where I believe their coverage is even less informed and more openly biased is the Middle East, thus this had been a terrible week for their credibility. https://t.co/oeI4Aa6Oqi
— (((AG))) (@AG_Conservative) May 19, 2018
One of my many pet peeves about the #GunControl debate is how little the gun control crowd knows about current laws. Or stats. Or history for that matter.@charlescwcooke points out a couple doozies here from @CNN. Facts should matter when we have these debates. https://t.co/RA49qhP56i
— Lee C Eldridge (@LeeCEldridge) May 19, 2018
They should matter, but too often, they dont.
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