Morning Shows Skip Ideological Labels for Violent Anti-War Protesters
Violent anti-war protesters clashed with Chicago police this weekend,
but the network morning shows on Monday avoided attempts at pinning an
ideology on them, simply referring to "anti-war" "protesters."
On CBS This Morning, Charlie Rose blandly explained, "Protests
turned violent in Chicago...Police battle protesters in Chicago."
Reporter Bill Plante added, "And a small group of them clashed with
police and 45 were arrested." ABC at least provided mores specifics,
including a stabbing and foiled attempts to use Molotov cocktails at the
NATO summit.
Good Morning America
reporter Alex Perez also identified, "Also Sunday, the hacker group
Anonymous waged cyber war online, knocking out the city and police
department websites and calling on other hackers to strike in this
online video."
Perez closed the segment by mentioning that the Chicago police chief said "most of the demonstrations were peaceful."
Contrast that with how ABC described the actually peaceful Tea Party march on Washington:
“They’ve waved signs likening President Obama to Hitler and the devil; raised questions about whether he was really born in this country; falsely accused him of planning to set up death panels; decried his speech to students as indoctrination; and called him everything from a ‘fascist’ to a ‘socialist’ to a ‘communist.’ ...And all that was before Mr. Obama’s speech was interrupted by a representative who once fought to keep the Confederate flag waving over the South Carolina state house. Add it all up, and some prominent Obama supporters are now saying that it paints a picture of an opposition driven, in part, by a refusal to accept a black President.”
— ABC’s Dan Harris on World News, September 15, 2009.
On the Today show, Ann Curry summarized, "Violence in the
streets. Police brace for new clashes with protests at the NATO summit
in Chicago today. This after at least 45 people were arrested over the
weekend."
A transcript of the May 21, 2012 GMA segment can be found below:
ALEX
PEREZ: Good morning, Robin. The demonstration was practically over. The
big problem began when police tried to disperse the crowd and they
refused to move. Chicago police officers in riot gear beat back anti-war
demonstrators late Sunday, welding their batons in a show of force as
hundreds of protester, some using makeshift weapons, tried to push
through this security perimeter surrounding the NATO summit.
