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http://mediamatters.org/blog/2014/12/22/fox-news-double-standard-for-right-wing-cop-kil/201978
On a September night
this year, 31-year-old marksman Eric Frein was allegedly laying in wait
outside the Blooming Grove police barracks in northeastern
Pennsylvania, preparing to assassinate state troopers. That night, state
police officer Bryon Dickson was shot and killed as he walked towards his patrol car.
He "made statements about wanting to kill law enforcement officers
and to commit mass acts of murder," state police commissioner Frank
Noonan warned the public at the time. Another official noted the shooter has a "longstanding grudge against law enforcement and government in general" dating back to at least 2006.
"He was obviously a big critic of the federal government," a man name Jack told
CNN. "No indications of really any malice towards law enforcement in
particular. Mostly--most of his aggression was towards the federal
government."
In the two weeks after the shooting, as a massive manhunt unfolded in
the mountains of Pennsylvania, Fox programs mentioned Frein's name in
just six reports, according to Nexis transcripts. One of the reports
mentioned Frein's hatred of law enforcement, but none mentioned Frein's
vocal anti-government leanings.
When Frein was finally captured
in late October, Fox News covered the stories a handful of times.
Again, there was no emphasis on his possible anti-government motivations
and why the "survivalist" set out to assassinate law enforcement
officers.
Another police assassination attack unfolded in June. Claiming to be acting
under the bloody "banner of Liberty and Truth," Jerad Miller and his
wife Amanda entered a restaurant Las Vegas executed two local policemen
while they at lunch.
As bullets flew, one of the shooters reportedly shouted
that the "revolution" had begun. The killers then stripped the officers
of their weapons and ammunition and badges, and covered them with cloth
that featured the "Don't tread on me" Gadsden flag, which has recently
been adopted as a symbol of the tea party movement.
Six days earlier, the shooters had posted a manifesto
on Facebook where he announced "we must prepare for war." Jerad Miller,
who traveled to Cliven Bundy's Nevada ranch this spring to join the
militia protests against the federal government, declared: "To stop this
oppression, I fear, can only be accomplished with bloodshed."
Raw Story reported
that Miller "left behind social media postings that show his concerns
over Benghazi, chemtrails, gun control laws, and the government's
treatment of rancher Cliven Bundy." And according
to an NBC News report, the shooter had talked to his neighbor about his
"desire to overthrow the government and President Obama and kill police
officers."
Fox News primetime hosts Bill O'Reilly and Sean Hannity both ignored
the shocking cop-killer story the night after it happened; Megyn Kelly
devoted four sentences to it.
The Las Vegas attack came just two days after a member of the "sovereign citizen"
anti-government movement waged a brief war outside a courthouse near
Atlanta. Dennis Marx came supplied with an assault weapon, "homemade and
commercial explosive devices," as well as "a gas mask; two handguns;
zip ties and two bulletproof vests," according to the Associated Press. He opened fire, shooting one deputy in the leg. Sovereign citizens are militia-like radicals who don't believe the federal government has the power and legitimacy to enforce the law. The FBI has called the movement "a growing domestic terror threat to law enforcement."
Fox News barely covered the Marx attack on law enforcement. Nor did Fox assign collective blame.
On May 20, 2010,
two West Memphis, Ark., police officers were shot and killed by a
father-son team during a routine traffic stop. The shooters were AK-47-wielding sovereign citizens with ties to white supremacy groups and who had posted anti-government rants on YouTube.
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