ABC Covers Fast and Furious in Blog, But Still Points Fingers at Bush
How much has ABC News covered Fast and Furious on its nightly news? Not much that we’ve seen. Even the coverage on its website has been light, but this week in the “blogs” section there was a story “Top DOJ Officials Admits Mistakes on ATF Gun Case Briefings.”
So why is ABC News coming around? Well, because it seems they can blame Bush. ABC News reported:
“Operation Wide Receiver predated Fast and Furious, originating in March 2006 during the Bush administration. The ATF and the U.S. Attorney’s office in Arizona were investigating the gun trafficking case but did not press charges until the Justice Department’s Criminal Division Gang Unit went forward with the case in 2009 and moved to bring indictments in 2010. As Wide Receiver moved closer toward indictment, Justice Department officials in the criminal division noted serious concerns over ATF’s tactics in the case by letting guns walk into Mexico.”
The story later adds:
“Attorney General Holder maintained he did not know the specifics of the ATF strategy when pressed at a Congressional hearing last spring.”
This certainly seems to be a way to let Holder and of course Obama off the hook! Holder says he didn’t know, so why would the media press him on it!
ABC News Called SHOT Show “World’s Largest Gun Show”
Some facts were not made clear in the ABC News coverage of last week’s SHOT Show in Las Vegas. First, the headline, “World’s Largest Gun Show Launches in Las Vegas Despite Arizona Shooting,” implies that this was first a traditional “gun show,” and second that it was an easily cancelable event.
The latter argument is made in this passage:
“Gun control advocates criticized the timing of the show so soon after the shooting of (Rep. Gabrielle) Giffords, D-Ariz., and amid a resulting amplification of the country’s ongoing gun debate.”
We question this statement, because the show is an annual event and is planned months in advance, with dates already known for next year. Canceling it wouldn’t be an easy affair, and could cost many businesses a lot of money – not to mention the money that Las Vegas earns in hotel rooms, food, transportation and entertainment.
Only later in the story is it made clear that this is what ABC News writes “the most important gathering of the gun industry,” It also takes several paragraphs for it to be noted that this is a “gathering for gun vendors and manufacturers” and “is not open to the public and does not aim to sell individual guns.”
Even Josh Sugarmann, executive director of the Violence Policy Center notes that the show is “like the Detroit Audo Show crossed with the Golden Globes.”
What is odd is that ABC News had Sugarmann report on sales:
“Sugarmann said the show comes at a time when most of the major gun manufacturers are experiencing a significant decline in demand and declining sales.”
Why exactly is a gun control authority offering commentary on the sales at the show? Wouldn’t someone who actually knows something about the state of the industry from a business stand point be the better authority on this subject?
Firing Back: Tale of Two Stories Proves Media Bias Against Guns
In the past month there were two notable stories that FirearmsTruth closely covered. Both stories involved American made guns, a foreign nation and calls to block the importation of these firearms. One made the mainstream media, stirred up all sorts of interest, resulted in coverage on the nightly news and even had political calls for action, while the other was barely a blip on the radar. Here is a look at back at these two stories and how it essentially proves the media bias against guns is all too alive and well.
The first story broke in August, and took weeks to gain any traction in the United States. This of course was about the efforts by South Korea to sell somewhere between 110,000 and 880,000 M1 Garand and M1 Carbine rifles. The story was ignored for weeks, and finally was reported on by The Washington Times and FoxNews. Kudos to both outlets for covering this story, but the question here is what took them so long?
One would think this story would garner more interest. The rifles were American made, desirable to collectors and valuable, but the media mostly ignored all facets of the story. There were no cries from The New York Times or The Washington Post that the State Department was stopping the re-importation of America goods, and no explanation even about why the guns couldn’t return home. The argument by the State Department of the guns being dangerous was cited, and the media had nothing more to say. In the end the story simply died.
Old soldiers might fade away, but rifles – even those of great value to collectors (both monetary and historically) it seem will only rust away.
And yet another story actually had the media buzzing – even if there was far less there that was actually “new.” This was the ABC News “breaking” piece that reported on a report from Mayors Against Illegal Guns, which of course was based on data from the ATF. As we previously noted, this was little more than hearsay, as it was a report of a report based on third party data. Worse, this report used the parts of the data that helped the argument from Mayors Against Illegal Guns while ignoring other important facts – notably the number of guns actually sent to the United States for tracing.
However, this story was picked up by the media left and… well, left, and cited over and over as “proof” that American guns are a real problem. Never mind that the information was old, never mind that report was biased. It was “proof” for so many outlets, and for anti-gun zealots such as New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg. When you have “proof” do you really need the truth?
These two stories did PROVE one thing. There is a continuing bias against guns by the mainstream media, both in how news is reported and on what is not reported.
Newswer.com Reports But Fails to Do Any Reporting
[Updated: Newser.com responded to our comments - see below]
Here is the problem with the state of the media, sites such as Newser.com pick up stories and put a (slightly) fresh spin on it, but without doing any researching or actual reporting. This week Rob Quinn at Newers.com noted that “US Guns Litter 90% of Mexican Crime Scenes.” Newser’s motto is “read less, know more.” If only that were true, but in this case Quinn proves that you should really read more, because his reporting is incredibly sloppy.
ABC News Now Claims “Three in Four” Guns in Mexico Comes From the United States
More than a year and a half ago numbers circulated that 80 percent of the guns used by Mexican cartels came from the United States, but then the numbers were examined more closely. That 80 percent number was in fact only counting guns that were actually sent back to the United States for confirmation. In other words, not all the guns confiscated in Mexico even were actually submitted to American authorities, yet the 80 percent number stuck, and it was reported over and over again.
We note this because now ABC News is now reporting that “as many as three out of four guns used in crimes in Mexico can be traced to guns stores just across the border in the U.S.” This sounds all too familiar. So let’s take a close look at what ABC News says, and more importantly what they don’t say. Read more
ABC News Throws Bias in Gun Debate Story
When is a news story really an opinion piece? In our opinion – no pun intended – it is anytime an argument is made that supports one side of the issue. ABC News did a pretty good job in a story about the gun ban debate raging at Colorado State University. How else do you explain this bias that begins the story:
“Every campus shooting – including the one 11 days ago at the University of Alabama – reignites the debate over whether students and faculty should be allowed to carry concealed guns into college classrooms. Most colleges already ban the practice, but one of the last holdouts in the country, Colorado State, is just now finalizing plans to ban firearms on campus.”
In a news story there shouldn’t be this type of one-sided introduction. In fact, this type of intro is more suited to a straight up editorial. We’d like to ask whether every shooting in the country, campus or otherwise, really reignites the debate. First, does the debate every really cool down, and why is only in times of tragedy that this issue is brought up?
In fairness, the second paragraph is less biased:
“That is not sitting well with many students who argue that a full ban actually puts them in more danger.”
But the way this story is crafted, it brings up the shootings first, suggesting to the reader that Colorado State is wrong – the article does call the university a holdout after all. This is a simple writing tactic, where the author can shift opinion with just a few words – proving the pen (or keyboard) is mightier than the sword.
ABC News Offers Its Own National Park Bias
The Los Angeles Times (see story below) wasn’t the only one with anti-gun bias thrown into a “news” story. Case in point, a piece from ABC News that offered this take in the introduction:
“Hikers in the Grand Canyon, visitors to Old Faithful and anyone else sleeping at hundreds of national park campsites across the country might now be surrounded by other tourists carrying shotguns or rifles.”
Again, we ask who edits this stuff? Shouldn’t a news story lack this agenda? “Surrounded” seriously? Does anyone expect the nation’s parks to turn into battlegrounds? Oh right, that’s what the media would have you believe.
