OPINION Fox News Fixates On Post-Chauvin Verdict Violence — That Never Happened Updating the “if a tree falls” thought experiment to the current political-media landscape, one might ask, “If a jury verdict does not lead to violent protests and riots, can pundits still complain about them?” The answer is a resounding yes, at least among pundits on Fox News, where opinion programming focused far more on the threat of civil unrest than the actual justice that was served in the conviction of Derek Chauvin for the killing of George Floyd. Watching the conservative cable news channel in the hours that followed the jury’s decision, viewers heard much fretting about the threat of riots and violence, even though no post-verdict doomsday prophecies materialized. To sum up, the arguments made by many on Fox, the verdict was good, but the threat of riots (that never happened) is the real societal problem here. Or, when there is nothing to reasonably complain about, let’s amplify grievance over something that didn’t happen. The good news is that the verdict was almost universally deemed fair. A nine-minute video of someone dying in real-time under the knee of a police officer is a tough bit of evidence to defend. But rather than focus on rare accountability for a murderous cop, Fox News viewers heard repeated complaints (presented without evidence) that the jury was unduly influenced by fears of a repeat of the violent unrest and burned-out buildings seen following the murder of George Floyd. Take, for example, law professor Jonathan Turley’s appearance on Fox & Friends Wednesday morning...
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In Other News... • Bernard Goldberg Quits HBO's Real Sports After 22 Years, Trashes Show's ‘Far Left’ Politics in Scathing Interview • Ron DeSantis Derides Chauvin Verdict As Result of 'Scared' Jury Despite Previously Calling George Floyd Death a Murder • Whoopi Goldberg Writing Superhero Movie Centered on an ‘Older Black Woman’ • MSNBC's Eddie Glaude Says to 'Prepare for the Reaction of the Police' After Chauvin Guilty Verdict 6.5.0 |