Let’s say that it’s a cold summer night and you need to start a fire during your #AltRight demonstration that includes quite a bit of violent behavior.
There are, of course, television cameras present.
How many Qurans would you need to burn — just as “kindling” — to create a news story worthy of coverage by what used to be called the mainstream press? You are, of course, going to burn an American flag, as well, since it is a symbol of the liberal state that is your enemy. You are flying your own banners — such as a Rebel battle flag from the War Between the States.
Do you need to burn one Quran to create headlines around the world? How about two? You are, of course, not showing hostility to Islam. You just need some kindling to start a fire. It also helps to open the cover up so that the camera catches the title page of the holy book.
This was one of the questions discussed during this week’s “Crossroads” podcast (click here to tune that in). We were discussing that recent New York Times story that ran with this headline: “A Bible Burning, a Russian News Agency and a Story Too Good to Check Out.”
The setting for this drama, of course, is Portland. Here’s a key passage:
The story was a near-perfect fit for a central Trump campaign talking point — that with liberals and Democrats comes godless disorder — and it went viral among Republicans within hours of appearing earlier this month. The New York Post wrote about it, as did The Federalist, saying that the protesters had shown “their true colors.” Senator Ted Cruz, the Texas Republican, said of the protesters, “This is who they are.” Donald Trump Jr., the president’s son, tweeted that antifa had moved to “the book burning phase.”
The truth was far more mundane. A few protesters among the many thousands appear to have burned a single Bible — and possibly a second — for kindling to start a bigger fire. None of the other protesters seemed to notice or care.
Were the Russians tipped off about the random Bible burning? Where were the CNN cameras? Fox News pros weren’t there to join the conspiracy?
Let me be clear: I have no doubt that advocacy media on the right jumped on this story. That is what they do in this new era of biased news on both sides of America’s cultural divide. I have no doubt that Russian operatives seek to cause division. I sincerely doubt that Russia is the only nation in which these kinds of operations are carried out.
But what if this had been an #Alt-Right protest and some demonstrators had burned a Quran and an American flag? Would that have been a story worthy of elite-media coverage? Would police or counter-demonstrators have been allowed to jump in to stop this horrible act?
Well, does anyone out there remember Pastor Terry Jones of the Dove World Outreach Center in Florida? He was the obscure leader of a tiny nondenominational church with zero clout or connections.
Then he burned a Quran, in part to protest the imprisonment of a Christian pastor in Iran.
It was a big news story. Everywhere. For several years. Police got involved. It was the worst thing ever. Needless to say, the world’s most powerful newsrooms didn’t say that his protests needed to be seen in context, the burning book was just “kindling,” etc. The rich and the powerful didn’t look the other way.
As a First Amendment liberal, I think protestors have the right to acts of symbolic speech that offend others and that other folks have the right to protest right back. People on the far right and the far left often do things that offend others. They have that right.
But when are these acts valid news and when are they not news?
If you read all of this Times report, you will learn all kinds of things that are important about this event. Some of these details seem like afterthoughts. Here is, for me, a crucial passage:
The Bible appears to be used as kindling by two protesters working on the fire. There is no discernible reaction from the crowd as the book is put in the flames along with twigs and branches, notebook pages and newspapers. The crowd does cheer when an American flag is thrown on the flames.
Apart from the Ruptly videographer, only one other journalist — a local television reporter — heard about the Bible burning, and noted it with a single sentence in a lengthy report on that night’s protests. The story, by KOIN, the local CBS News affiliate, also reported that a group of women calling themselves Moms United for Black Lives Matter attempted to put out the fire — a detail not included in the Ruptly video, which was edited to string together a number of clips from the night. (A New York Times reporter had observed a truck offering free Bibles at the protests earlier that night, though it was not clear whether it provided the book that was burned.)
OK, I will ask: Were members of Moms United for Black Lives Matter offended by the Bible burning, the flag burning or both?
Does this group include, by any chance, mainstream black church leaders and others with ties to conventional civil rights groups? Were these some of the Black Lives Matter demonstrators — think of a wider social movement, not the more radical Black Lives Matter organization — who have tried to promote peace, while openly opposing the violent acts of rioters?
That might be a story worth covering.
Then there is that detail about Bibles being distributed at the protests. Does anyone doubt that this was part of evangelism efforts by white evangelicals, black evangelicals or both? Does anyone doubt that some protesters thought that handing out free Bibles was offensive, silly or both?
Just asking.
So Russians promoted the incomplete story they wanted to promote. It was a form of distorted news.
The New York Times promoted the incomplete story that it wanted to promote. It was a form of distorted news.
By the way, for another analysis of this event, check out this Catholic News Agency report: “Was a stack of Bibles burned in Portland, or was it fake news?”
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