Wednesday, February 26, 2020

Media Silence on Voter-Registration Attack Deepens Our Divide

Media Silence on Voter-Registration Attack Deepens Our Divide
Excerpt: In the hours and days after Gregory Timm reportedly plowed his vehicle into a tent of Republican Party volunteers registering voters in the Kernan Village Shopping Center parking lot in Jacksonville, Florida, national coverage of the event has been alarmingly lacking. Local news channel WJXT reported days later on the arrest report, which showed Timm telling the sheriff’s office his “disapproval of Trump” was the motivating factor for the attack. He showed the office a self-recorded video of him driving straight at the volunteers, expressing frustration that the video cut out before “the good part.” Even then, as I write this, the best the New York Times could muster was wire coverage. No teams of reporters were sent to uncover his dark motivations, upbringing or political leanings. No psychological profiles have been written up, nor have any experts weighed in on how this is a growing threat. These are all tools that would have been used by an army of reporters if Timm had been a Trump supporter plowing into Democratic Party volunteers registering voters. The problem isn’t that Timm’s attack on the GOP wasn’t covered by most of the media. It’s that it wasn’t covered with the same voracious appetite news organizations have whenever someone who is even peripherally associated with the right does something to a Democrat. This isn’t whataboutism; this is realism. [This is an excellent article, well reasoned and well written, and I agree with it and recommend reading it. But, I hate the way the article is broken up every few lines by repetitive advertising. I understand someone has to pay for the “free coverage and content,” but have to question if this is the best way to do it. Ron P.]

No comments:

Post a Comment