“CNN Catches Fire”
A headline this week “CNN Catches Fire”? Not quite, but almost. Fox News headlined Saturday:
“CNN Headquarters in Atlanta Vandalized by Protestors After George Floyd Death”
Maybe CNN itself highlighted this attack on itself on its own website, but I couldn’t find it. I was just curious, based on CNN’s headlining of a violent attack a while ago on another target, how they’d have headlined it.
Here’s Fox News’ lede:
“A protest erupted outside CNN’s headquarters in Atlanta on Friday amid nationwide demonstrations following the death of Minneapolis man George Floyd, with many of the protesters seen vandalizing the entrance of the building in videos posted to social media.”
Fox News went on that a crowd gathered and grew in front of the CNN Center, “initially breaking windows and spray-painting the CNN sign, and later throwing objects – including what appeared to be a firecracker that exploded – and reportedly shooting BB guns into the lobby.” A photo caption showed “glass getting broken outside the main entrance to CNN’s Atlanta headquarters; protesters cheer.” “The iconic CNN sign … was covered with graffiti and others were seen jumping on top of the structure …. a CNN journalist captured footage of a window being shattered by the crowd, which can be heard sparking cheers.” Multiple police cars in front of CNN were set ablaze and had their windows broken in. “Demonstrators outside were throwing objects, including a smoke grenade that went off in the lobby,” but was immediately kicked back by a policeman.
Whether coverage calling these folks “protesters” and “demonstrators” constituted reasonable characterizations is in issue, of course, but at least Fox’s headline – “CNN Headquarters in Atlanta Vandalized by Protestors” – identifies if not fairly describes who did it.
I’d have you compare this to how CNN headlined an attack on a Jewish holy site some time ago. On October 16, 2015, USA Today headlined:
“Palestinians Torch Joseph’s Tomb Ahead of ‘Rage’ Day”
On that same day, CNN headlined:
“Joseph’s Tomb Site Catches Fire in Spate of Palestinian-Israeli Fire” [emphasis added]
A few years ago, my late friend Lee and I co-authored a book, Pressing Israel: Media Bias Exposed From A-to-Z, in which we dedicated the letter “H” to “Headlines – Not Always What Happened.” It cited a small sample of mainstream Western media headlines studiously not identifying the perpetrators of violence against Israelis. E.g., in one instance Palestinian Arab infiltrators from Sinai attacked cars and buses in Israel, killing six and wounding 30 civilians. The IDF chased back into Sinai and killed four of the infiltrators. The Philly Inquirer headlined: “Day of Killings On Israeli Border.” In a second it headlined “Two Israeli Factory Guards Die.” They’d been executed point blank by an Arab infiltrator. An Inquirer photo caption cited under our books’ section “I” for misleading images was of an Israeli woman gazing mournfully down at the grave of her husband whom the caption explained had “died in January.” The article text said more fully he’d been “killed in January by a planted bomb as he surveyed a fence.” By me, he’d been murdered by the terrorist who’d planted the bomb.
If I could be a mainstream media news article headline writer for just one day, I’d pick today and set in bold face big point type:
“CNN Catches Fire”
It wouldn’t bother them, or maybe even most of the mainstream media, because they don’t consider the “demonstrators” and “protesters” who vandalized CNN’s headquarters this week a threat to themselves. But the rest of us would see a glimpse for once of journalism justice in CNN being hoisted on its own petard.