Perhaps the subtlest form of media bias is also the oldest: to simply deprive people of information. Without the knowledge that their technocratic masters’ best-laid plans have utterly failed, citizens cannot change course and spare themselves further harm. The legacy media perpetrate this kind of bias every day through a myriad of news choices, selectively highlighting and ignoring stories to fit their agenda.
Here are three stories the legacy media ignored last week.
1. Police shooting deaths break a record high in 2021 (and the year’s not over)
In another historic Biden first, the number of police shot and killed in the line of duty reached record-breaking levels in 2021. According to the 2021 tally from the Fraternal Order of Police, as of midnight on November 30:
- 314 police officers were shot in the line of duty;
- 58 officers who were shot died from their wounds, a 16% increase from 2019;
- Shooters ambushed police officers 95 times, a 126% increase from 2020; and
- 119 officers were ambushed with gunfire, and 28 died.
“We’ve already had more officers killed in the line of duty by gunfire this year than any other — and there is still one month left,” said Patrick Yoes, president of the FOP.
The legacy media appear to have shut the issue out of the spotlight — certainly not because they are averse to covering violence involving police. In the same week as the report, MSNBC’s “Morning Joe” and “Deadline: White House” expressed their sympathy over the suffering of police officers injured during the January 6 Capitol riot. CNN’s Don Lemon interviewed Capitol police officer Michael Fanone on December 1. Yet a search of the transcripts for both networks shows no mention of the murders of law enforcement officers nationwide. A Google search finds no stories on the topics in Reuters, The Washington Post, The Associated Press, NBC News, ABC News, or CBS News.
The New York Times did worse than ignore police shootings. On November 30, the newspaper of record updated a month-old story titled “Why Many Police Traffic Stops Turn Deadly” — which portrayed police as the aggressors. “Over the past five years, a New York Times investigation found, police officers have killed more than 400 drivers or passengers who were not wielding a gun or a knife, or under pursuit for a violent crime — a rate of more than one a week,” the story says. It minimizes the number of police deaths, claiming that “because the police pull over so many cars and trucks … an officer’s chances of being killed at any vehicle stop are less than 1 in 3.6 million.” The story then quotes a source stating the police officer’s “risk is statistically negligible.” In reality, a 2020 study found, “Working as a police officer is about 4.1 times as dangerous compared with the average job nationwide, based upon the workplace fatality rate… The most common cause of death for police officers at work is violence by persons.”
It’s little wonder why the media turned a blind eye toward, or simply lied about, the story: A rise in cop killings doesn’t fit their victims’ narrative. Increased police assassinations are the predictable outcome of the radical Left’s “Defund the Police” movement, celebrities who asserted police officers hunt down black people, and the craven politicians who said nothing while their party’s grassroots demonized the thin blue line standing between civilization and chaos. A similar spike took place during the Obama administration.
Cop-killers were influenced by the far-Left and the media, an April 2017 FBI study titled “The Assailant Study: Mindset and Behavior” found. The report said that 28% of shooters who ambushed police “had a hatred of law enforcement” based on “what they heard and read in the media about other incidents involving law enforcement shootings.” Assailants were “inspired by social and/or political reasons [and] believed attacking police officers was their way to ‘get justice’ for those who had been, in their view, unjustly killed by law enforcement.” Shooters in two cities said they “were influenced by the Black Lives Matter movement, and their belief that law enforcement was targeting black males.”
Years later, the problem remains the same. “There is no doubt that the recent erosion of respect for law enforcement has fueled more aggression towards police officers than what has been seen in previous years,” said Yoes this week.
In other words, years of rhetorical attacks on the police have resulted in years of physical attacks on the police.
2. COVID-19 face masks may be poisoning the world (and you personally)
COVID-19 could be symbolized by one object: a face mask. Yet disposable, paper masks could harm everyone for years to come, even those who never wear one.
Researchers at Swansea University in the U.K. immersed paper masks (of the sort handed out in public places) in water and found disturbing results. “The research reveals high levels of pollutants, including lead, antimony, and copper – all heavy metals which can be toxic in low doses,” one of the few news reports on the study found.
The study raised the question of whether the masks could harm those who wear them. “The toxicity of some of the chemicals found and the postulated risks of the rest of the present particles and molecules, raises the question of whether DPFs [disposable plastic face masks] are safe to be used on a daily basis and what consequences are to be expected after their disposal into the environment,” it said.
“The findings reveal significant levels of pollutants in all the masks tested,” the university announced.“Researchers conclude this will have a substantial environmental impact and, in addition, raise the question of the potential damage to public health – warning that repeated exposure could be hazardous as the substances found have known links to cell death, genotoxicity and cancer formation.”
Although the study was published in May in the Water Research journal, only a handful of U.S. news outlets have touched it. The BBC and a handful of British publications covered the story in May, then virtually nothing. The story resurfaced when two U.S. news websites covered the study on December 2 and 3: the San Diego Fox affiliate and the University of Oklahoma’s NPR station, KGOU. A Google search turns up no stories in such major news outlets as The New York Times, The Washington Post, CNN, The Associated Press, NBC News, ABC News, CBS News, and Reuters.
The study’s project lead, Dr. Sarper Sarp of the U.K.’s Swansea University College of Engineering, said “a full investigation is necessary” into “the levels [of pollutants] being inhaled by users during normal breathing. This is a significant concern, especially for health care professionals, key workers, and children who are required to wear masks for large proportions of the working or school day.”
Those who never wear a mask will still face issues with pollution, as these chemicals leak into the water. It’s understandable how people, bombarded with warnings of the virus’ transmissibility and lethality, would not want to pick up discarded masks, increasing the likelihood they will end up in a body of water. As The Daily Wire’s Charlotte Pence Bond reported in April:
The Associated Press reported that in the latter half of 2020, over 107,000 pieces of PPE were picked up by volunteers all over the world, according to the Ocean Conservancy group. The members of the group reportedly believe that the true number for the year is much higher.
The news certainly give frequent, and frequently positive, coverage to masks and mask mandates. CNN quoted Dr. Sarp’s colleague at Swansea University, Simon Williams, in two separate articles on the subject of face masks on November 2 and 3. Yet the issue of pollution went uncovered.
Perhaps Americans who oppose mask mandates aren’t suffering, in the words of MSNBC’s Joy Reid, from a “whiny little baby” mentality. Perhaps they’re environmentally conscious?
3. Lockdowns kill: Up to 740,000 cases of cancer were missed during COVID lockdowns in U.K.
COVID-19 led millions of people around the world to suspend treatment for other conditions, or have their appointments canceled by their doctors to prioritize treating the virus (often with a financial incentive from the government). These policies create unforeseen results, as serious conditions escaped detection during routine check-ups that never took place. Since the beginning of the lockdown, 740,000 cancer cases that should have been referred for immediate treatment were missed in Great Britain alone, the U.K.’s National Audit Office (NAO) determined.
“The NAO estimates a shortfall of between 240,000 and 740,000 missing [cancer] referrals as a result of people struggling to get appointments with [doctors], or keeping away from the NHS either for fear of Covid or of being a burden on services,” reported The Telegraph newspaper. “In turn, between 35,000 and 60,000 fewer people started treatment for cancer than would have been expected over the period.” How many people will die because of these COVID-inspired denials is unknown.
The problem reaches well beyond cancer. Already, nearly 5.9 million British citizens are awaiting treatment thanks to COVID-inspired backlogs. “If 50 per cent of missing referrals return to the NHS, and activity grows in line with pre-pandemic expectations, the waiting list would reach 12 million by March 2025,” reports The Telegraph.
The views expressed in this piece are the author’s own and do not necessarily represent those of The Daily Wire.