How to Accurately Report on Violent Rioters
As we’ve previously documented, the gaslighting from the MSM on the violent left-wing riots that have taken place in Democrat-run parts of the country over the last two months has been absolutely out of control.
There is literally not a day that goes by where there is not some glaring instance of a media outlet like the New York Times or Reuters painting protests as “mostly peaceful” or otherwise “dying down” until federal law enforcement officers have the nerve to step in to stop the anarchy.
Violent agitators in these reports are almost always referred to as “protesters.” Along with that, excuses are often made for their violent actions, as though just the mere presence of state and/or federal law enforcement officers on the scene to protect innocent citizens and federal property is excuse enough for the agitators to try and blind them with laser beams and hurt them with the nail-studded projectiles they hurl.
One Colorado reporter, however, went against the MSM “peaceful protester” grain in a recent report he filed on the Aurora, CO protests and riots that happened over the weekend.
Aurora was the scene of a shooting Saturday on I-225. Two demonstrators were injured when shots were fired as a Jeep drove through the protest zone. No one was hit by the Jeep. Social media accounts sympathetic to the marchers originally claimed the driver was the shooter. As it turns out, it was another demonstrator who fired the shots at the Jeep.
Reporter Nelson Garcia was covering the Aurora marches in the field for local NBC affiliate 9News. In the video below, the in-studio anchor hands off the segment to Garcia, who along with his cameraman are seen standing in almost complete darkness, with the only lighting being the street and building lights visible way off in the distance. Garcia, who is barely visible in the shot, explains that he and his camera crew decided to film with their lights off because they didn’t feel safe enough to do so (he soon explains why).
At around the :39 mark, Garcia refers to the people gathered at the intersection as “the rioters.” A few seconds later he explains the destruction that was perpetrated by the rioters, such as tearing down a wrought iron fence that was being used to protect the Aurora PD. He also reported that they broke windows, set off fireworks, and started a fire in the municipal building behind him. The footage is then shown at various points in his report of the rioters doing exactly that.
He then noted that most of the violence started after most of the protesters from a group called “Party for Socialism and Liberation” left.
At the 1:40 mark of the segment, Garcia states that not long after police in riot gear arrived that he and his camera crew had to momentarily leave because “the rioters” (his words) had threatened them “just for being there.”
Garcia then segued into briefly talking about the highway incident before resuming his report (at the 2:10 mark) on the riots taking place near the police department.
“The people causing the damage are now out here,” Garcia told viewers watching his report while indicating that he and his camera crew would still maintain a safe distance so they could continue to report on their activities.
Watch this absolutely solid report from Garcia below:
There are a lot of people who would watch that and say “What’s the big deal? He reported on what was going on.” But that is precisely why it is a big deal.
Garcia didn’t refer to the people rioting as “protesters.” He accurately described them as rioters. He also referred to them as the “people causing the damage”, which is also correct.
He didn’t make excuses for the rioters. He didn’t claim things were one way as video clips showed something else (as Ali Velshi infamously did in Minneapolis). He just did a straight news report noting the rioters’ destruction while also pointing out that he and his crew were not going to be scared off from reporting on them, even if that meant reporting in the dark.
This is such a refreshing change from the Baghdad Bob-style reports we get from media figures at MSNBC and CNN, so it is definitely worth highlighting. No gaslighting. No sugarcoating. Just a straight-up documenting of how things played out.
Well done, sir. Well done.
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