Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) is urging newsrooms to refrain from framing the purported prevalence of white supremacy and racism as a “debate” or “conflict,” giving tips to journalists covering the loaded topics in a series of tweets Monday.
Her suggestions involve speaking to “experts,” preventing “Neo-Nazis” from appearing on TV, and ceasing from framing the entire topic as a “debate.”
“If I were a journalist/worked in news, this is what I’d do rn,” she began before urging media outlets to focus on “experts,” although it remains unclear who she considers an “expert” on the subjects.
While she called for TV stations to stop giving airtime to Neo-Nazis – a label which the left has indiscriminately attached to Trump supporters in the past – she also urged journalists to cease from framing the discussions on white supremacy and racism as a “debate.” Viewers do not need to hear “both sides” on those issues, she says:
The reason there’s a tendency to ‘both sides’ every issue on TV is bc the medium is incentivized for conflict, so ppl will put the least qualified people on TV to create it (see: climate deniers). Don’t ask ‘is [blank] racist?’ Have experts explain what to do about racism.
She also urged newsrooms to put a greater focus on reaching racial quotas among staffers as opposed to choosing the most qualified individuals, regardless of gender or race.
The reason there’s a tendency to “both sides” every issue on TV is bc the medium is incentivized for conflict, so ppl will put the least qualified people on TV to create it (see: climate deniers). Don’t ask “is [blank] racist?” Have experts explain what to do about racism.
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— Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (@AOC) August 5, 2019
4. Also, have editors of color! Diversity not only in lowest ranks, but highest. News is behind on huge stories & coverage is suffering bc of lack of diversity. I’ve been invited to editor roundtables just utterly shocked that no poc were present. In 2019. That’s a big problem.
— Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (@AOC) August 5, 2019
Ocasio-Cortez spoke at a vigil in Brooklyn for victims of the El Paso and Dayton shootings Monday, calling Trump a “racist” and declaring white supremacy an “international terrorism problem”– two assertions that, according to her tweets, media outlets should not dispute.
She added Trump’s rhetoric “is directly responsible for what happened in El Paso” and once again declared Trump a racist, despite virtually no evidence of such.
“I’m tired of the questioning if the president is racist. He is,” Ocasio-Cortez declared.
The New York lawmaker’s remarks came days after a 21-year-old gunman opened fire in an El Paso Walmart. The death toll reached 22 Monday, and dozens more remain injured. The shooter allegedly posted a manifesto online prior to the shooting, writing that the attack was “a response to the Hispanic invasion of Texas,” and noting that his twisted ideas “predate Trump.” He has been charged with capital murder, meaning he could face the death penalty.
Hours later, a 24-year-old gunman opened fire in Dayton, Ohio’s Oregon District. He killed nine people, including his sister, and injured 27 more before police killed him. The Dayton Daily News reported Monday that the shooter “definitely leaned to the left” and fantasized about carrying out a mass shooting at bars:
[Former friend Will] El-Fakir, who said he’s personally pro-2nd Amendment, described Betts as “definitely not a right-leaning person. His political views definitely leaned to the left. And believe it or not, he was actually pro-gun control. He was actually anti-2nd Amendment.”
…
“He never once spit out a conservative opinion on gun control,” El-Fakir said.
A Twitter account attributed to the shooter revealed his left-wing views further, showing pro-Antifa, pro-Warren, and anti-ICE tweets and retweets.
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