Media Bias 101

The Capitol Riots

Allow me to make this absolutely clear. Anyone who commits a misdemeanor or felony criminal act should be held accountable. This is how rule-of-law works.  The individual’s political leanings should not be considered on whether to uphold the law. 

This essay does not declare the legal guilt or innocence of anyone involved in the various melees that are spotlighted.

Introduction. This is a tutorial on media bias. Three events that occurred in 2011, 2020, and 2021, and the coverage of them, illustrate how major media organizations treat similar events dissimilarly based on the political leanings of the groups involved, and if those groups are aligned with the political positions favored by the media outlets.

Three media companies that are often cited as authoritative and representative of mainstream media are analyzed. These are the New York Times, Washington Post, and CNN. The events examined are the invasion and weeks-long occupation of the Wisconsin Capitol building in February and March 2011, the Black Lives Matter rioting in Washington, DC in May and June 2020, and the invasion of the US Capitol building on January 6, 2021.

The Events. Generally, it is criminal act to enter public or private premises without permission. The Wisconsin state law against criminal trespassing, Wisconsin statute Stat § 943.14 (2013 through Act 380), is typical of most state laws on the matter.

943.14  Criminal trespass to dwellings. Whoever intentionally enters the dwelling of another without the consent of some person lawfully upon the premises, under circumstances tending to create or provoke a breach of the peace, is guilty of a Class A misdemeanor.

In early 2011, the Wisconsin state legislature was considering legislation disfavored by government employee unions and many left-leaning media outlets. Union organizers distributed leaflets urging supporters to react to the proposed legislation. According to a local press account, on February 15, 2011, “Thousands of protesters rushed to the state Capitol Wednesday night, forcing their way through doors, crawling through windows and jamming corridors.”

The New York Times reported “protesters, scores deep, crushed into a corridor leading to the governor’s office here on Wednesday, their screams echoing through the Capitol: ‘Come out, come out, wherever you are!’”

Many protesters were carrying signs as they flooded the Capitol building, overrunning Wisconsin State Capitol police. The Washington Post noted, “Some of the protesters' signs pictured [Governor Scott] Walker alongside Adolf Hitler and Egypt's ousted dictator Hosni Mubarak.”

Some media claimed a crowd as large as about 100,000. The New York Times estimated “at least 70,000 demonstrators flooded the square around the Wisconsin Capitol.” This figure dwarfed the January 6, 2021 “Stop the Steal” rally of 10,000 held on the Ellipse by at least sevenfold. The Ellipse is located between the White House and the National Mall, about two miles from the US Capitol.

In the early afternoon of January 6, 2021, over 700 protesters, some who may have attended the Stop the Steal rally, entered the US Capitol. According to the Washington Post, most protesters were “taking selfiesand stealing souvenirs” while a joint session of Congress was meeting to certify the November 2020 election.

The US Capitol invasion group was about one-third of the reported 2,000 who entered the Wisconsin State Capitol. Those protesters attempted to shut-down the Wisconsin legislature that was debating proposed legislation. Wisconsin protesters disrupted the voting with “cries of ‘Shame, shame!’ from protesters in the gallery, and chants from thousands outside the locked-down chamber.”

Some Wisconsin legislators faced potential harm from those protesters, according to the Washington Post. “Some Republican representatives’ offices had to endure protesters bursting in and defacing signs supporting Walker’s budget plan.”  Due to concerns for their safety, Wisconsin legislators “needed police escorts to leave their offices,” reported the New York Times. This response was not unlike US Capitol police having escorted members of Congress to safety.

About 90 minutes after protesters entered the US Capitol, President Donald Trump requested the National Guard and other federal protective services support the US Capitol police. By 7 pm, about five hours after protesters initially entered, law enforcement officers cleared the building. According to the Washington Post, the protesters left behind $1.5 million in damage.

In contrast to the hours-long US Capitol trespassing, protesters occupied the Wisconsin Capitol Building for nearly four weeks with hundreds sleeping in corridors, conference rooms, and offices. The protesters brought legislative work to a standstill.

On March 3, 2011, a judge finally ordered the Wisconsin Capitol Building to be cleared by the following week after loose ammunition was found in the building and the grounds outside. The sense of urgency to restore security increased after a protester made bomb and death threats against Republican legislators.

On March 9, tens of thousands of protesters returned and surrounded the Capitol. Thousands “chanting ‘Break down the door!’” stormed the building, joining others who had not yet vacated the premises. Police estimated 7,000 entered through doorways and crawled through windows to occupy the Wisconsin Capitol Building. The mayor of Madison ordered city police to stand-down and not render aid to the Capitol police.

The New York Times reported some political operatives outside the state of Wisconsin were behind some of the protests. “The demonstrations have been more organized than organic, with some of the Democratic Party’s top strategists in Madison and Washington helping to assemble giant crowds.” 

The trespassing violations were identical for both events although they varied dramatically in size and length of time of occupation of the two capital buildings. A significantly larger crowd of about 7,000 entered the Wisconsin Capitol Building with thousands remaining for 25 days compared to the approximately 725 protesters’ five hour stay in the US Capitol.

The Reporting. It was the media outlets’ portrayal of the two groups of trespassing protesters where all similarities ended.  The New York Times adopted a sympathetic position regarding the Wisconsin protesters, including voicing concern over their welfare writing:

“But there was unease and confusion over the fate of the hundreds of people who have spent every night in the hallways, stairwells and public areas of the Capitol and have become the heart of the protest movement.”

In an editorial, the New York Times spared the Wisconsin protesters of responsibility for illegally trespassing, but instead blamed Governor Scott Walker for the “the chaos, [that] was entirely self-inflicted.” The paper portrayed the protesters in a sympathetic light writing, “The protests have become something of a galvanizing point for Democrats in Wisconsin and beyond after demoralizing defeats in last year’s elections.”

The New York Times was not shy about assigning blame. The weekslong occupation of the Wisconsin Capitol Building was the fault of Walker, according to liberal columnist Paul Krugman. He wrote, “What Mr. Walker and his backers are trying to do is to make Wisconsin - and eventually, America - less of a functioning democracy and more of a third-world-style oligarchy.” 

You might question the analytical thinking of Krugman who views thousands of trespassing protesters who stormed an elected assembly as being a “functioning democracy” and the two century-old state legislature of elected representatives as undemocratic.

The Washington Post likewise blamed Walker who “sparked fiery demonstrations by more than 60,000 union supporters at the State Capitol for nearly two weeks.” The Post suggested “This kind of protest was not entirely unexpected.” CNN agreed. It was Walker who “ignited fierce opposition.” In another report, CNN ignored any responsibility by protesters with this headline: “Protesters stay in Wisconsin Capitol as defiant governor digs in.” According to CNN, in fulfilling his state constitutional duties, Walker – and not the thousands who illegally trespassed - was the “defiant” one. (You might draw the conclusion the New York Times, Washington Post, and CNN newsrooms are each in need of a dictionary.)

The Post characterized the Wisconsin protesters as freedom fighters. “Madison has become ground zero in the battle for democracy in this country.” The protest “is about basic democratic rights, and the balance of power in America.” It further suggested “With basic rights at stake, it is time for outrage.”

Flagpoles carried by the Wisconsin Capitol protesters were merely flagpoles. But those carried by January 6th protesters were labeled weapons, according to the outlets.

After the US Capitol was cleared that evening, the New York Times wrote, “the insurrection failed.” It was not a protest, but an insurrection. Presumably, the Times labeled it an insurrection because the protest took place in the Capitol, interrupted elected representatives from performing their jobs, and it was an attempt to stop a legislative measure from being completed. The 2011 protests were identical to the 2021 protests in their location, goal, and impact. Yet, the Times, Post and CNN characterized the two protests completely differently.

Like the New York Times, the Washington Post and CNN called the January 6 protests  an insurrection. They labeled the protesters a “mob,” “rioters,” and “insurrectionists.” In contrast, the 2011 protesters that shut-down legislative activity and occupied Wisconsin senate and assemblyman offices for weeks were merely protesters. Not one of the more than 120 articles and editorials covering the Wisconsin protesters that were scrutinized used “mob,” “rioters,” or “insurrectionists” to describe them. They were simply protesters.

Referring to the January 6th event with the loaded term “insurrection” is indeed curious. Clearly, it has ominous implications. In fact, it sounds downright scary. That may be because a “rebellion or insurrection” is a federal crime, according to 18 U.S. Code § 2383. The law states, in part, “Whoever incites, sets on foot, assists, or engages in any rebellion or insurrection against the authority of the United States or the laws thereof” may be guilty of insurrection.

Yet, despite more than 14,000 hours of surveillance video, and the eyewitness accounts of Capitol police, D.C. Metropolitan police, news coverage, and undercover agents, not a single one of the more than 725 people facing prosecution has been charged with the crime of insurrection. Not one.

One may presume federal prosecutors reached the conclusion there was no evidence to levy such a charge. But that did not prevent the New York Times, Washington Post and CNN from repeatedly labeling the January 6th protesters as insurrectionists. It sounds scarier. It’s the equivalent of calling a pickpocket a rapist.

Let’s underscore this point. Not one time in the more than 120 articles and editorials that were scoured did the New York Times, Washington Post or CNN refer to the 2011 protesters as rioters, let alone as insurrectionists. Moreover, they never described the 2011 protests as a riot.

One common definition of a riot is “a noisy, violent public disorder caused by a group or crowd of persons, as by a crowd protesting against another group, a government policy, etc., in the streets.” Clearly, the 2011 protests exactly matched that description of a riot.

The New York Times not only avoided the term “riot” but went further and referred to the Wisconsin protests as a “rally,” sort of like what a high school holds the day before the big game.

According to the Department of Justice, about 640 of the 725 January 6th protesters who were cited were charged with violations for entering or remaining in a restricted federal building. In other words, trespassing.

Perhaps a look at another protest that took place in the nation’s capital seven months prior to January 6th may provide some clarity. Maybe those three media organizations view protest events in DC differently than demonstrations elsewhere such as in Madison, Wisconsin.

Black Lives Matter-aligned protests erupted in Washington, DC on May 29, 2021, following the death of George Floyd in Minneapolis. The protests were widespread throughout the city. Few business districts and tourist hotspots were spared. The protests over several days resulted in tens of millions of dollars in damages, shuttered businesses, lost jobs, several fatalities, scores of injuries and dozens of arrests. 

On the first day of BLM protests, “several hundred people” marched to the White House, reported the Washington Post.  The Post noted “The White House itself became a flash point, as demonstrators clashed with Secret Service officers outside the president’s residence.” At least 50 Secret Service officers were injured by thrown bottles and Molotov cocktails, according to CNN.

By the fourth day of violent protests, the DC mayor imposed a nighttime curfew of 7 pm – 6 am that remained in effect June 1-3, 2020. On June 5th, the mayor had a city work crew paint a giant BLACK LIVES MATTER across two city blocks and renamed Lafayette Park, in front of the White House, Black Lives Matter Plaza.

Throughout the protests, bystanders and police officers were assaulted, “protesters threw bricks into the windows of banks,” businesses were vandalized and looted, cars were overturned, monuments and statues were defaced, and vehicles and buildings, including the historic St. John’s Church were intentionally set ablaze. Without displaying a hint of irony, the Washington Post reported many protesters wore face masks to keep them safe from the coronavirus.

Violence aside, the Washington Post suggested the 2011 protests harkened back to the age when civil disobedience was a turning point in achieving racial justice. The Post claimed “escalating street protests recalled … pivotal moments in the turbulent history of racial and economic struggle.”

It was widely reported the BLM protests in Washington, DC and elsewhere cost a record-setting $2 billion in repairs. As an aside, in a more than 2,200-word article summarizing the rioting that occurred in 140 cities, including Washington, DC, in which “[a]t least six people have been killed in violence,” the New York Times did not one time refer to the protesters as a mob, rioters or insurrectionists. But more than once, the Times referred to the melees as “peaceful demonstrations.” In other words, at least six people were killed in what the New York Times called peaceful demonstrations.

Conclusion. The New York Times, Washington Post and CNN avoided placing any blame on the thousands who invaded the Wisconsin Capitol Building for weeks and conducted violent and destructive protests in Washington, DC. In the case of Wisconsin, it was Governor Scott Walker who was solely at fault. This raises eyebrows since the New York Times reported Democratic Party operatives in Washington, DC were among those organizing the protests.

All three media organizations used innocuous terms to describe the 2011 and 2020 events. The New York Times even called the 2011 protests of at least 70,000 demonstrators a “rally.” Obviously, these three outlets do not take their journalistic responsibilities seriously.

On the other hand, the sensational term “insurrection” was freely used because of its connotation, and not because of the actions of the January 6th protesters. Otherwise, the Justice Department would have charged the lot of them with insurrection, a violation of 18 U.S. Code § 2383. But it did not.

For those three media organizations to pretend tens of thousands protesters including those who looted businesses, set buildings ablaze, overturned cars, vandalized public and private property, and left tens of millions of dollars in damage in their wake were peaceful is patently dishonest.

This is what media bias looks like.

Mark Hyman is an Emmy award-winning investigative journalist. Follow him on Twitter, Gettr, and Parler at @markhyman, and on Truth Social at @markhyman81.

His books Washington Babylon: From George Washington to Donald Trump, Scandals That Rocked the Nation and Pardongate: How Bill and Hillary Clinton and their Brothers Profited from Pardons are on sale now (here and here).