News and Commentary

CNN Brags About Winning Award For Much-Maligned Parkland Townhall. Dana Loesch Crushes Them.

   DailyWire.com

On Tuesday, CNN trumpeted that the network had won the Walter Cronkite Award, administered by USC’s Norman Lear Center and announced by the USC Annenberg School for Communication and Journalism, for the Parkland Townhall in which NRA spokeswoman Dana Loesch was booed and even called a “murderer.”

Annenberg professor Marty Kaplan, director of USC’s Norman Lear Center, took a shot at President Trump, chortling, “If the press is the ‘enemy of the people,’ then being on this ‘enemies’ list is a badge of honor for these exceptional journalists.”

Hilariously, the Norman Lear Center titled its press release announcing the award, “Cronkite Award Proves That Facts Matter.” It stated, “CNN Parkland Town Hall, a two-hour special, aired only seven days after 17 students and teachers were murdered by a gunman at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School. In this ‘compelling and powerful’ forum, moderator Jake Tapper deftly gave generous space to speak to gun control advocates, politicians, Parkland students, parents and a representative from the NRA. The program helped ‘advance the national conversation on gun control and violence,’ the jury said.”

Loesch expressed her feelings in her typically blunt way on Twitter, while illuminating exactly what happened at the townhall:

She noted, “Here is some footage where people were yelling to burn me at CNN’s award-winning townhall where they ‘advanced the conversation on gun control.’”

As National Review’s Charles C.W. Cooke recalled of the Parkland Townhall after the Cronkite award was announced:

This wasn’t “journalism.” It wasn’t a “town hall,” either. The name of the event was “Stand Up: The Students of Stoneman Douglas Demand Action,” which should give those of you who didn’t watch it an indication of what “advance the national conversation on gun control and violence” means in practice. This was the event at which the now-removed Sheriff Scott Israel had the temerity to play the put-upon hero. It was an event at which traumatized children were encouraged to scream at adults that they were literally trying to kill them. It was an event devoid of reflection, reason, thought, or facts. All that was missing was the pitchforks. This wasn’t a “conversation.” It was a cultural bloodletting, that, far from serving any public interest, just made everyone more angry with each other than they already were.

The Washington Free Beacon reported that not only was Loesch attacked at the townhall, but also Senator Marco Rubio (R-FL): “Community members, students, parents and teachers were among those in the audience and asking questions, and the tenor of the town hall was overwhelmingly in favor of stricter gun control laws, with the pro-gun rights Rubio and Loesch put on the defensive and jeered throughout the evening. One student questioned Loesch’s fitness as a mother, and another compared Rubio to the murderer.”

The Free Beacon added, “Loesch noted to Israel that the perpetrator was repeatedly reported to authorities before the shooting, and neither Israel’s office nor the FBI did anything about him. The day after the town hall, one of Israel’s deputies, Scot Peterson, was forced into retirement after he was revealed to have failed to enter the school for several minutes as the shooting took place.”

Got a tip worth investigating?

Your information could be the missing piece to an important story. Submit your tip today and make a difference.

Submit Tip
The Daily Wire   >  Read   >  CNN Brags About Winning Award For Much-Maligned Parkland Townhall. Dana Loesch Crushes Them.