NewsBusters was among the first to call Antifa’s terroristic siege of the federal courthouse in Portland, Oregon what it was: an attempt to commit murder by trapping federal agents inside and burning it to the ground. But last Thursday, Democratic Mayor Ted Wheeler, who had joined the rioters on the front lines, backpedaled hard and echoed the obvious, saying, “You are attempting to commit murder.” To that condemnation, the broadcast networks were silent; when only weeks earlier they were boosting the rioters as standing up to Trump.
Back on July 23, this author documented how coverage of the Portland riots largely evaporated on evening newscasts of ABC, CBS, and NBC. They didn’t want viewers to know that rioters they had been touting for days had barricaded federal officers inside the courthouse and tried to set it on fire.
While the broadcast networks refused to share Wheeler’s new condemnation for the violence, Fox News Channel’s Special Report didn’t shy away on Friday. Chief correspondent Jonathan Hunt shared this soundbite of the Mayor:
When you commit arson with an accelerant in an attempt to burn down a building that is occupied by people that you have intentionally trapped inside, you are not demonstrating. You are attempting to commit murder.
“There have now been 70 consecutive nights of protests that began as a Black Lives Matter outcry over the killing of George Floyd, but how now, according to the mayor of Portland, completely lost sight of that cause,” Hunt said. “According to Portland police, the protesters also threw rocks, bottles, and other projectiles at officers.”
With the network evening newscasts moaning about a large rally of freedom-loving bikers happening in South Dakota over the weekend, they refused to cover how a new group of leftist extremists was taking to Portland’s streets. According to Hunt’s reporting, they went by the very communist sounding name, “Pacific Northwest Youth Liberation Front” and their slogan was “No cops, no prisons, total abolition.”
So, much for the networks’ June gaslighting and Orwellian doublespeak about what “defund the police” actually means.
In wrapping up his report, Hunt recalled that Wheeler had blamed the violence on the federal officers guarding the courthouse. “Mayor Wheeler had hoped that the violence might dissipate after federal agents, whose presence he had decried as causing some of the most intense clashes, were largely withdrawn from Portland streets last week. At this point, that seems to have been, at best, wishful thinking,” he quipped.
By Monday, Washington Examiner homeland security reporter Anna Giaritelli wrote: “A senior official at the Department of Homeland Security claimed a federal courthouse would have been burned down if federal police had not been there to defend it from rioters.”
That’s who the networks sided with in the “literal war” on the streets of Portland.
The networks’ refusal to share Mayor Wheeler’s condemnation of attempted murder was made possible because of lucrative sponsorships from GEICO on ABC, Amazon on CBS, and ADT Security Services on NBC. Their contact information is linked if you want to tell them about what they’re funding. CBS Evening News has also asked people to “text” anchor Norah O’Donnell at this number: (202) 217-1107.
The transcript is below, click “expand” to read:
Fox News Channel’s Special Report
August 7, 2020
6:2147 p.m. EasternSHANNON BREAM: Portland’s mayor is condemning the action of rioters in his city, saying some of them were trying to commit murder and are being used as props for the Trump reelection campaign. Chief correspondent Jonathan Hunt reports tonight from Los Angeles.
[Cuts to video]
JONATHAN HUNT: There have now been 70 consecutive nights of protests that began as a Black Lives Matter outcry over the killing of George Floyd, but how now, according to the mayor of Portland, completely lost sight of that cause.
MAYOR TED WHEELER (D): When you commit arson with an accelerant in an attempt to burn down a building that is occupied by people that you have intentionally trapped inside, you are not demonstrating. You are attempting to commit murder.
HUNT: Protesters again tried to set fires near the east precinct of Portland’s police department last night, as they had Wednesday. According to Portland police, the protesters also threw rocks, bottles, and other projectiles at officers.
Thursday’s protest had been promoted on social media by a group calling itself the Pacific Northwest Youth Liberation Front, with the slogan, quote, “No cops, no prisons, total abolition.”
There was less violence than the night before. Police did not declare a riot and did not deploy teargas as they had Wednesday. But Portland’s mayor, a Democrat, has had enough and warned the protesters that they are simply helping President Trump’s reelection effort.
WHEELER: You are creating the B-roll film that will be used in ads nationally to help Donald Trump during this campaign. If you don’t want to be part of that? Then don’t show up.
[Cuts back to live]
HUNT: Mayor Wheeler had hoped that the violence might dissipate after federal agents, whose presence he had decried as causing some of the most intense clashes, were largely withdrawn from Portland streets last week. At this point, that seems to have been, at best, wishful thinking. Shannon.
BREAM: Jonathan Hunt, thank you.