Some figures in establishment media became indignant when former President Donald Trump labeled them “the enemy of the people.” But that was not a sentiment that Trump simply willed into existence. It’s one that the media itself cultivated. The Columbus police shooting is providing a great example of how.
The situation was as clear as possible. An officer arrived on the scene, where Ma’Khia Bryant shoved a woman to the ground. The officer then told her to get down, repeatedly, before she charged at another woman while wielding a knife. The officer shot and killed Bryant, saving the life of the other woman.
The circumstances didn’t matter to several media outlets. The New York Times used a tweet from attorney Ben Crump in its coverage, initially just omitting the part where Crump falsely claimed that Bryant was unarmed. The New York Times was one of several outlets, including the Washington Post and CBS News, that tied the shooting to the conviction of former Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin. Others focused on race rather than the attempted murder by stabbing that had been thwarted by the police officer.
some news outlets seem awfully keen to make the ma’khia bryant shooting a story about race instead of a story about cops intervening to prevent an imminent stabbing pic.twitter.com/9oJFG8Y3nP
— Allahpundit (@allahpundit) April 21, 2021
If you were the police officer, who appeared to do everything correctly in this situation, would you consider the media outlets highlighting your race or tying you to Chauvin to be your “enemy?” That would certainly be reasonable.
The same could be said for the woman who was nearly stabbed to death. The media seems strangely uninterested in speaking with her to get her perspective. National media outlets don’t care one whit about her life, and they wouldn’t have cared about the story, either, if the officer had arrived just a few minutes later.
These aren’t the only examples. Officer Darren Wilson, who shot and killed Michael Brown in self-defense in Ferguson, Missouri, was made the face of racist cops by media outlets in 2014, well before any of Trump’s antics. Nicholas Sandmann, the high schooler slandered by media outlets to the point that he forced the Washington Post and CNN into libel settlements, could reasonably view the media as his “enemy.”
Media outlets have threatened to dox and shame private citizens, as when CNN boasted about blackmailing a private individual into an apology for creating a gif that CNN didn’t like. Some outlets, such as the Daily Beast, actually follow through on the doxxing. A Utah television news crew recently doxxed and hounded a local person for making a controversial $10 donation, even broadcasting images of his home.
Is it any wonder that the label “enemy of the people” sticks?
Even for those who haven’t been directly targeted by media outlets, that possibility now looms over them. An officer responding to a routine call can be compared to Chauvin, a convicted murderer, without any consideration for the circumstances. Private citizens can be tracked down thanks to a social media post and have their name and house posted in a piece by a major outlet.
The term “enemy of the people” was coined by Trump, but the environment that allowed it to stick was created by establishment media itself. It sticks because people know that media outlets such as CNN or the Washington Post wouldn’t hesitate to ruin their lives for views or clicks, and they know that because they have seen these outlets do it. The incident in Columbus is the most recent example, and it probably won’t be the last.
