Though the Supreme Court overturned much of the Arizona law, just not the part the liberals and their media friends loathed the most, it wasn't hard to predict the networks would once again line up with the amnesty lobby. ABC's Diane Sawyer mourned "the most inflammatory part of the law" was upheld.
Once again, those impartial network producers are making themselves the sob sisters of illegal aliens. ABC found a man who carries a document in his glove compartment insisting that if he's deported, his children shouldn't go into foster care. NBC put on a woman watching cartoons with her cute little kids, wearing a T-shirt saying, "Arrest (Sheriff Joe) Arpaio, Not the People." Reporter Savannah Guthrie predicted more lawsuits to repeal the one section the court upheld — because liberals never accept defeat. It's so predictable.
So predictable, in fact, that now there is no pretense of objectivity whatsoever. ABC's Diane Sawyer also turned to one of the most biased journalists in America, Univision anchor Jorge Ramos, who just pounds the drum for amnesty at every opportunity. Yes, a news anchor. He lamented the Supreme Court decision, saying "the last hope is gone" and blamed both parties for failing to pass "major immigration reform." Sawyer asked him to tell the stories of Latinos, and he summarized, "It's fear, and fear of persecution in the future."
Entering the country illegally is no longer an abuse of law. Illegal aliens are victims, never victimizers. Nor will networks dare focus on the costs of illegal immigration — starting with crime but adding tax dollars for health care, welfare and education spending. Are there stories to tell? How about the story about the intoxicated illegal alien in Virginia who plowed into a car full of nuns, killing one and injuring two? But that would damage the narrative.
The whole thing was a repeat of 2010. When the Media Research Center analyzed 50 stories produced by the networks in a 10-day period in April and May, the slant was equally unbelievable. The tone was strongly hostile to the law and promotional to the "growing storm" of left-wing protesters: 37 stories (or 74 percent) were negative, 10 were neutral, and only three were positive toward the Arizona law's passage. That's a ratio of 12 to 1.
The sound bite count was also slanted, with 92 quotes against the law and only 52 in favor. The pro-law side, however, was largely on the defensive against liberal charges that they were racists or favored racial profiling. On 11 occasions, the networks even forwarded smears that proponents of the Arizona law were like Nazis or Civil War-era slaveholders.
NBC's Andrea Mitchell said Arizona was becoming a "laughingstock," and then showed "Saturday Night Live" fake-news anchor Seth Meyers joking, "So heads up, Arizona. That's fascism. I know, I know, it's a dry fascism, but it's still fascism." Then Jon Stewart compared Arizona's request for papers to "the same thing free black people had to do in 1863."
Remember this the next time NBC whines about super PACs making our politics ugly.
By contrast, left-wing protesters were never once described as "liberal." No, they're "Latino activists" or "civil rights activists." One might assume the left was in the majority. ABC's David Muir described an "angry backlash from coast to coast. Huge rallies across this country tonight against that new controversial immigration law." Only five of the 50 stories then mentioned the Arizona law was broadly favored by 70 percent of the public. So much for that "huge" opposition.
Underlying this entire journalistic crusade in every year is the fervent hope that minorities will vote overwhelmingly Democratic. NBC and MSNBC reports its poll showing Obama beating Romney 61 to 27 percent among Latinos so often one must assume it gives them a Chris Matthews-style thrill up their legs.
President Obama clearly sided against Arizona law enforcers when he put out a race-card statement after the high court decision saying, "No American should ever live under a cloud of suspicion just because of what they look like." This principle obviously does not extend to white police officers.
Republicans obviously would like to appeal to Latino voters, to every voter. Their challenge is a national press corps that tries nightly to poison the waters, implying that Latinos should vote for Obama as a matter of ethnic survival. They mock the conservatives as "dry fascists" and slaveholders. They claim to solemnly oppose dividing the country by race. Don't believe it. They thrive on it. "Wedge issues" are fantastic ... when they help liberals acquire power.
L. Brent Bozell III is the president of the Media Research Center. To find out more about Brent Bozell III, and read features by other Creators Syndicate writers and cartoonists, visit the Creators Syndicate Web page at www.creators.com.
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