Maybe it shouldn’t surprise me but it seems that Brian Stelter spends a lot of his air time talking about Fox News. He is constantly talking about Sean Hannity or Tucker Carlson. Doesn’t he have something else to talk about?
Stelter’s latest is a rant about Fox News and Seattle:
When I saw Sean Hannity leading his show with “MORE VIOLENCE GRIPS PORTLAND” and scary video from the streets, I knew something was up.
Right-wing media ramped up its coverage of scattered unrest in Portland, Oregon at the same time that federal officers descended on the downtown area. Evidently a small group of self-described anarchists suddenly deserved national news coverage.
One cynical way to see it: The Trump administration and Fox’s talk shows picked Portland as a new stage for Trump’s “Law and Order” show. Programs like “Fox & Friends” had been prioritizing urban violence over the Covid-19 crisis for several weeks; Portland was just the latest news peg. Fox’s banners proclaimed that it was simple: “LAW & ORDER VS ANARCHY.” Trump officials used the same rhetoric to justify the response from federal authorities. “Law and Order — a cornerstone of American society — is under siege in Portland,” Mark Morgan of U.S. Customs and Border Protection tweeted Sunday.
So Brian smells a rat? A plot to drum up law and order to reelect Trump?
Brian and the Portland apologists say that the anarchy is limited to an area and that the rest of the town is just great.
Well, I’m not familiar with Portland’s geography but 50-something nights of riots and violence is enough to keep a few people awake at night. In other words, what guarantees a business owner on the other side of the bridge that the violence won’t come his way next? Who ever said that anarchists stick to a map?
Furthermore, we could say the same thing about Chicago or Baltimore. Back in 2015, most of the violence in Baltimore was limited to an area but the people nearby had their guns ready just in case. In Chicago, the shootings and killings happen generally in one area but the damage to the tax base goes further than that.
My purpose is not to defend Hannity or Carlson. In fact, I don’t normally watch them because of time conflicts.
My point is this: Why is Stelter downplaying the situation in Portland? Doesn’t he see that tolerating anarchy will eventually bring down the CNN building too?
