On NBC News Monday night, the venerable Brian Williams gave us an update on the “white police officer who shot an unarmed black man” (gee, that’s not loaded language, is it?).  “The problem,” according to Williams, is that the “legal standard for an indictment is difficult.”  Yes, the mainstream media now considers legal standards a “problem.”  In case you had any doubt as to the media’s stance on this witch hunt in Ferguson, MO, this should settle your mind. 

Never mind the fact that the legal standard is actually not high for a grand jury indictment, but in fact is lower than that for a regular jury, requiring only a preponderance of evidence as opposed to evidence beyond a reasonable doubt.  It’s not a matter of finding Officer Darren Wilson guilty or innocent, but deciding whether charges will be filed.  As the results of the grand jury appear imminent, the media wants blood.

People in Ferguson are preparing for what Brian Williams terms a “bad outcome.”  By this he means Wilson not being indicted.  And by “preparing” we understand to mean that business owners and other productive citizens are preparing for mob violence.  You know, boarding up windows, buying guns.  All the signs of a cultured and functional society.

At this point, the media’s purported message is that people should not riot upon receiving a “bad outcome” from the grand jury, but those in the media continue to use loaded language (“unarmed black teen,” “slain teen”), which tends to rile people up rather than pacify them.

It’s a matter of lying by omission and framing that constitutes the subtle bias of network news.  For every Michael Brown and Trayvon Martin, there are a thousand crimes and outrages that they fail to mention – crimes which would not fit their victimology narrative.  

Contact Malcolm Unwell.