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STUDY: CNN, MSNBC Overwhelmingly Call Riots ‘Peaceful’ as LA Burns
Left-wing cable networks CNN and MSNBC have spent the past week serving as public relations officials for the anti-ICE riots in Los Angeles, California. Both networks have almost exclusively described the turmoil as “peaceful,” while taking great pains to downplay or outright dismiss the chaos and violence.
MRC analysts looked at all coverage on CNN and MSNBC from June 7 through June 11 that aired between 5:00 and 11:59 am ET, finding 211 instances in which anchors, guests, or reporters described the riots in LA as “peaceful,” or some permutation thereof (details below). CNN was responsible for 123 such utterances, while MSNBC aired the remaining 88.
Over the weekend of June 7, both networks invited on a cavalcade of Democratic officials from California, offering them a free platform to allege that the unfolding riots were “mostly peaceful.” By Sunday, June 8, many of the journalists themselves had begun repeating those same claims — even as images of looted stores and torched cars appeared on screen.
Reporters attempted to justify their claims by arbitrarily separating the peaceful and violent members of the same crowd. The rioters were framed exclusively as “rogue actors,” or “lone wolves,” and there was never any suggestion that they might share common cause with the nonviolent individuals accompanying them:
“There are agitators, of course, in every crowd but most of the crowds that I saw, that I spoke to... these are peaceful people."
— MSNBC’s Steve Patterson, Sunday, June 8.
"The intention, it seems, is to lump in violent rioters and peaceful protestors."
— CNN’s Brian Stelter, Monday, June 9.
“There were some incidents of violence. There were specific individuals involved in that. By and large, peaceful protest.”
— CNN’s Erin Burnett, Wednesday, June 11.
Conversely, there was also no instance in which a reporter on either network acknowledged that the National Guard and Marines had been mobilized exclusively to address the violent elements of the crowd. There were numerous complaints about the use of military force against “peaceful protestors,” but nobody bothered to suggest that perhaps that mobilization would not have been necessary if the situation truly had remained peaceful:
"Donald Trump referred to those peaceful protestors exercising their First Amendment rights as insurrectionists."
— MSNBC’s Nicolle Wallace, Wednesday, June 11.
“Donald Trump can try to turn the military into a partisan tool, mobilizing the National Guard and even the Marines against peaceful protestors."
— MSNBC’s Chris Hayes, Wednesday, June 11.
By Monday, June 9, these networks had fully adopted a strategy of downplaying any of the violence that occurred by reminding viewers that the “majority” of the protesters had been peaceful. Any discussion of violence was wrapped in repeated reminders that the majority of the attendees were not currently destroying anything.
For this study, we included any assertion by a host, nonpartisan guest, or reporter that the riots or protests in Los Angeles were “peaceful,” “mostly peaceful,” “largely peaceful,” or any other similar descriptor, as long as the assertion occurred during a segment in which violence either had been acknowledged or was shown on-screen.
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