I’ve written a lot on the subject of the media’s willingness to smear pro-lifers, because as a longtime pro-life activist, I’ve been on the receiving end of it. The mainstream media are willing to accept any smear of pro-lifers virtually at face value, and here in Canada, have been caught several times writing stories on hate crimes that turned out to be hoaxes–perpetrated on pro-abortion people by pro-abortion people for the purpose of smearing pro-life people. Violence against pro-life people is almost never covered by the media (although there have been a couple of exceptions in recent years where videos went viral and became impossible to ignore), and that is because only one narrative is permitted: Pro-life people are dangerous, and pro-choice people would do well to fear them. This storyline, of course, is then used to legislate bubble zones around clinics and pass other laws limiting freedom of speech for pro-life people.
That brings me to this story, from Disrn, which highlights the dishonesty of the media perfectly:
Jerome Aniska, 31, was arrested Friday after allegedly approaching a group of pro-life activists demonstrating outside a Planned Parenthood abortion clinic, starting an argument with them, and then pulling out a firearm and threatening the group with harm, police said.
After the threats, the pro-life demonstrators called the Dover police.
Police said they responded to the parking lot of Planned Parenthood after receiving calls from a group of pro-life demonstrators that a man, later identified as, 31-year-old, Jerome Aniska, pulled a handgun on the group.
Police said Aniska went on the public sidewalk and started an argument with the group, he then pulled out a black handgun and made a threatening statement to them.
Police said they located the empty holster in the center console of the car and found a black 9mm handgun in the trunk of the car.
Curiously, the widely used news wire the Associated Press gave the story a headline reading, “Delaware police arrest man with gun at Planned Parenthood,” omitting the crucial fact that a man had approached and threatened peaceful pro-life protesters with a gun and possibly even implying that someone had threatened people at the abortion clinic with a gun.
The story was then republished with the same headline to many influential outlets.
Now, why do you think that is? The answer is obvious: The media wants to give the impression that it was pro-lifers threatening pro-choicers rather than the other way around. And so, knowing that most people don’t read past the title, they wrote a headline specifically intended to convey that impression–and published it.
