Thread by @equalityAlec

THREAD. When the history is written of rising fascism, ecological catastrophe, and disastrous lack of healthcare/housing, this CBS story can be used as a damning portrait of how the news media distorted what counts as urgent and what counts as safety.
losangeles.cbslocal.com/2021/12/07/we-…

Take a look at the sources that the CBS Los Angeles reporters and editors chose to use, in chronological order, supposedly to inform the public about what is happening in Los Angeles:

-Cop union president (who has shot 6 people)
-Cop union president (again)
-Random woman who moved to LA 6 months ago.
-Police Chief
-Police Chief (denying science to criticize bail reform)
-Police Chief again
-Anonymous tourist
-Unidentified “people out in Hollywood”
-DA

The lead source, and apparent impetus for the story, is a notorious fascist who the article quotes as if he is a credible person describing LA as being like the "Purge" movie. Take a look at this investigation into the leading source CBS news chose:

https://mobile.twitter.com/PplsCityCouncil/status/1470454069672038400

You can't make this stuff up: the only piece of actual police data quoted in the article finds that, while robberies are up only 5% from last year, they are still 13% below 2019 before the pandemic!

Meanwhile, crime is near historic lows in Los Angeles and California generally.

And yet, with no explanation and no support, CBS reporters declare as if it were objective fact: "Rampant crime continues." (The article contains no mention of actual facts, like that LAPD keeps killing people.)

https://twitter.com/samswey/status/1474208879407874051

Instead of fact-checking any of this or interviewing people in communities being targeted by LAPD, landlords, real estate developers, toxic polluters, and predatory lenders, the CBS reporters merely note that the police union warning "seems to resonate with some residents.”

The CBS reporters are careful not to identify any of the random anonymous residents they cherry-picked to bolster fascist talking points. They just keep insisting that, despite actual evidence: “many people [are] feeling Southern California is experiencing a violent crime wave.”

The article thus boils down to *many anonymous people* (but not most people) are talking about how they "feel" about crime even though crime is near historic lows and not even close to the most likely cause of injury and death in Los Angeles (like poverty, pollution, etc..)

It's important to think about how and why stories like this become local news, and who makes that decision, especially as we face huge, existential threats to human survival that simply aren't treated with the same urgency:

https://mobile.twitter.com/equalityAlec/status/1464270507310727171

For more information on how this "crime wave" is being manufactured and, worse, used to justify increased police and prison budgets contrary to all scientific evidence, read this thread:

https://mobile.twitter.com/equalityAlec/status/1422949466986921991

Update:

https://mobile.twitter.com/PplsCityCouncil/status/1474510040161656832