Anyone looking for modern examples of yellow journalism will find a stunning example of it in this Al-Jazeera “”Faultlines” news report on Anaheim’s recent civil unrest, which aired in December 2012.
It is crystal clear the Al-Jazeera reporter set out, from the get-go, to establish an agenda driven narrative: the Anaheim police are racists who target Mexicans. The reporter barely acknowledges there is a gang problem, and even then blames police law enforcement tactics.
In the opening seconds of the segment, the Al-Jazeera reporter blames the police for the July riot. incredibly, in the eyes of this reporter, it wasn’t the rioters and looters who turned downtown Anaheim into a “war zone,” but the police officers who were trying to protect the lives and property of residents and store owners.
It’s almost laughable to watch the video and see a local rapper (echoed by some police critics) saying it is totally unreasonable for police to approach them as if they are gang members just because they dress like gang bangers, shave their heads like gang bangers and are tatted up like gang bangers while hanging out in gang neighborhoods — but are shocked and offended that some riot police were wearing military-style utility uniforms.
In other words, looking like a gang banger in a gang area signifies nothing, but riot police wearing fatigues is a threat to freedom. Welcome to the topsy-turvy world of Al-Jazeera reporting and the community-organizer Left.
I came across this video in yesterday’s Voice of OC story, which emulated the Al-Jazeera segment’s sensationalism:
In video aired by Al Jazeera, cadres of officers in military fatigues are seen brandishing assault rifles while hitched to sport utility vehicles and pickup trucks.
This sentence refers to the 20 minute mark in the Al-Jazeera segment, showing footage of a post-riot demonstration. The Voice of OC’s claim that the police were “brandishing” is not only inflammatory, but plain wrong. Words have meanings, which are easily found in dictionaries.
The phrase “brandishing assault rifles” conjures images usually associated with thuggish fighters for Third World strongmen, or Islamist terrorists.
Allow me to illuminate, for the VOC, the meaning of “brandish”:
“to shake or wave (as a weapon) menacingly”
Now, here is what the Voice describes as “brandishing assault weapons”:
Do you see any police shaking or waving their weapons in a menacing fashion? Neither do I.
Now, here s what “brandishing and assault rifle” looks like:
Example 1 of brandishing assault rifles.
Example 2 of brandishing assault rifles.
Some readers may think this a small point. I don’t. As I said, words have set meanings. This VOC description of Anaheim police comportment was grossly inaccurate and unfair. Media outlets owe it to their readers to use the language accurately and truthfully. Informing ought to take precedence over inflaming. Coverage of these events becomes part of the ongoing dynamic.
On a final note, glaringly absent from the Al-Jazeera report is any condemnation of the rioters or expressions of sympathy and support for their victims by the ridiculous rapper Scandalousz by the ACLU bleeding heart or any other excuse makers. To listen to these individuals, Anaheim doesn’t have a gang problem, but a police problem.
Chief Welter, listening from his seat at the council meeting, was yelled at with abusive foul language by gangbangers and gangbanger sympathizes as they walked past him up the aisle after they spoke at the podium about how “gangbangers are not the problem.” I will not allow this to continue. This is getting ridiculous. Chief Welter needs to be defended. And if Mayor Tait allows gangbanger supporters to continue disrespecting the Chief then I am going to raise the issue with him at the podium.
Fuck the Anaheim pigs and anyone associated or defending them