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protesters
Report Exposes US Media for Framing Social Justice Protests as 'Terrorism'
"Equating activism with terrorism is undemocratic and serves to silence dissenters," said Deepa Kumar, who analyzed how major U.S. media outlets have covered protesters of "Cop City" in Georgia.
Nov 07, 2023
A paper published Tuesday by a media studies scholar explores what she calls "one of the enduring costs of the 'War on Terror,'" mainstream outlets parroting police talking points on terrorism and "legitimating state violence while stifling democratic protest."
Rutgers University professor Deepa Kumar's paper—released by the Costs of War Project at Brown University's Watson Institute for International and Public Affairs—focuses on how major U.S. media outlets have covered protesters of "Cop City," Atlanta's proposed Public Safety Training Center just outside of city limits in Georgia.
"Even though the 'War on Terror' is supposedly over now that the U.S. has withdrawn from Afghanistan, U.S. federal and state governments continue to use and even expand punitive measures targeting those they label as 'terrorists,'" Kumar said in statement. "The U.S. mainstream media sometimes supports this expansion, and in doing so imperils U.S. democracy. All of this is part of the legacy of the post-9/11 wars."
As Kumar's paper notes, "previous research has shown that the mainstream media's framing of terrorism influences public opinion and shapes support or opposition to policies such as Georgia's 2017 terrorism law," which expanded the definition of terrorism to include certain property crimes committed with the intent to use intimidation or coercion to change policy.
The expert analyzed how a local newspaper, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, and six national outlets—USA Today, The Wall Street Journal, The Washington Post, The New York Times, the New York Post, and the Los Angeles Times—reported on the "domestic terrorism" arrests of 42 anti-Cop City activists from December 2022 to March 2023.
The paper details her findings:
At first, the national news media did not cover the terrorism arrests in Atlanta. The local The Atlanta Journal-Constitution effectively served as the Atlanta Police Foundations' propaganda outlet. In January, 2022 several national media outlets picked up the story when violence and property destruction occurred, following the "if it bleeds, it leads" framework. However, some newspapers adopted a more critical stance. The Washington Post, The New York Times, and the LA Times humanized the protestors, depicting them as concerned activists opposing police militarization and environmental destruction. The New York Post and TheWall Street Journal, however, portrayed protestors as violent Antifa activists and justified their arrest on the grounds of terrorism. USA Today adopted a sensational tone, in effect also justifying the arrests.
As the protest movement gained national and international support, national media paid more attention. All seven outlets covered the story in March 2023. Also significant is that The Atlanta Journal-Constitution shifted to a more balanced tone and included the voices of Atlanta residents opposing Cop City. Rather than labeling protesters solely as "outsider agitators" and "far-left" activists who exist on the fringes of society, the newspaper quoted local activists, civil rights groups, and clergy. This happened at the highpoint of government arrests, when 23 more people were indicted on terrorism charges.
However, the analysis also reveals that apart from a handful of notable articles in The Washington Post and the LA Times that tacitly criticize the wider application of terrorism charges evidenced in Georgia, the majority of the seven media outlets have deferred unquestioningly to government authorities in the use of this label.
"Government and police officials have portrayed the protestors as violent terrorists," Kumar stressed. "For instance, in January 2023, when Georgia State Patrol Troopers shot and fatally injured activist Manuel Esteban Paez Terán, also known as Tortuguita, they claimed that Terán had initiated gunfire. Shockingly, Tortuguita was shot a staggering 57 times."
The DeKalb County medical examiner's autopsy report "indicated an absence of gunshot residue on Tortuguita's hands," the professor pointed out. There was also an independent autopsy. The Georgia Bureau of Investigation later claimed gunshot residue was found on the activist's hands. Stone Mountain Judicial Circuit District Attorney George R. Christian concluded last month that the use of deadly force "was objectively reasonable under the circumstances of this case," so police will face no charges for killing Tortuguita.
Kumar wrote that "in theory, the media are entrusted with the responsibility of posing critical questions and disseminating accurate information to the public so that troubling practices like the use of state violence and extrajudicial killings are not normalized. In reality, U.S. media institutions have often continued to defer to government sources, reproducing and thus reinforcing the expansion of terrorism discourses to criminalize protestors—with sometimes deadly consequences."
Costs of War Project co-director Stephanie Savell responded to the paper by nudging journalists to do better. She said, "The media can make or break how activism is portrayed in an increasingly militarized era of policing that imperils our democratic rights."
The research comes after 57 of the 61 Cop City protesters charged in September under Georgia's Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations (RICO) law appeared in court on Monday, as hundreds of their supporters rallied outside the building in Atlanta.
"Among the defendants: more than three dozen people who were previously facing domestic terrorism charges in connection to the protests; three leaders of a bail fund previously accused of money laundering; and three activists previously charged with felony intimidation after authorities said they distributed flyers calling a state trooper a 'murderer' for his involvement in Paez Terán's death," according toThe Associated Press.
Noting the RICO charges, Kumar's paper quotes a pair of ACLU experts, who wrote in September that the indictment "paints the provision of mutual aid, the advocacy of collectivism, and even the publishing of zines as hallmarks of a criminal enterprise. In doing so, it flies in the face of First Amendment protections for speech, assembly, and association."
This post has been updated with additional autopsy reports.
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Denouncing Violent Tactics of 'Political Mafia,' Tens of Thousands March in Mexico City
Protesters marched against the government's violent response to Oaxacan teacher strikes, as well as Peña Nieto's policies of privatization and repression
Jun 27, 2016
Tens of thousands of supporters sent the message "You are not alone " to striking teachers in Oaxaca during a massive demonstration in Mexico City on Sunday.
Protesters marched against the government's violent response to the teacher strikes and other dissension, as well as Mexican President Enrique Pena Nieto's neoliberal policies that spurred the educator protests and emboldened a wider backlash against his regime of privatization and repression--fueling many calls for his resignation.
Four thousand police were reportedly deployed across the city Sunday to counter the demonstration.
Sunday's march was called by Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador, the former mayor of Mexico City and the leader of the progressive Morena party. Last week, he posted a video to his Facebook page asking people to denounce the controversial education reforms, the "political mafia," and "hypocritical conservatives" in the country.
According to TeleSUR, the former presidential candidate also directly asked the government of Pena Nieto: "Why not choose humanism? Why not search for reconciliation and peace?"
The protest, which came one week after Mexican police opened fire on a roadblock in Oaxaca, marks an escalation in the fight that has rattled southern Mexico for over a year.
Teachers affiliated with the dissident Coordinadora Nacional de Trabajadores de la Educacion (CNTE) union have been protesting new education mandates since last May. Last week, more than 200,000 doctors and other medical staff joined in a 24-hour strike against the government's attempts to privatize the federal social security and health systems. At the same time, students at major universities across the country boycotted classes to show support for the teachers as well as "oppose the ongoing efforts by the government to increase costs of higher education," TeleSUR reports.
With limited reporting, many shared images of the massive demonstration on social media. After the march, Lopez Obrador thanked the thousands who participated, saying: "Thank you for supporting the teachers and the teachers of Mexico. It became evident that they are not alone."
\u201cbeing a part of a protest with thousands in the center of Mexico city was definitely an unforgettable experience\u201d— \u273f daisy \u273f (@\u273f daisy \u273f) 1467008803
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Backtracking on Clean Energy, Clinton Turns Chameleon on Coal
Democratic frontrunner accused of flip-flopping on fossil fuels after she is confronted by protests in coal country
May 03, 2016
Campaigning in Appalachia on Monday, Hillary Clinton claimed she "misspoke" when previously declaring her opposition to coal, telling voters that as president, she would work to ensure that the dirtiest of the fossil fuels will "continue to be sold and continue to be mined."
Arriving in Williamson, West Virginia—the heart of coal country—the Democratic frontrunner was greeted by a wall of protesters angry over remarks she made in March foretelling the end of the coal industry.
During the March 13 town hall event, Clinton said that her energy policy would "bring economic opportunity—using clean, renewable energy as the key—into coal country. Because we're going to put many coal companies and miners out of business."
And earlier, at a November press conference announcing her League of Conservation Voters endorsement, the presidential hopeful declared, "We have to move away from coal. Everybody understands that. There's no doubt about it."
While environmentalists celebrated those comments, they aroused the ire of people dependent on coal jobs, such as Bo Copley, a former coal company employee who was one of the West Virginia residents who met with Clinton on Monday.
During their discussion, Copley referenced those previous remarks, asking: "I just want you to know--how can you say you're going to put a lot of coal miners out of jobs and then come in here and tell us you're going to be our friend?" He added that the protesters outside "don't see you as a friend."
Clinton apologized for the "misstatement" and said she was "sad and sorry" that people had "misused her comments."
"I don't know how to explain it other than what I said was totally out of context for what I meant because I have been talking about helping coal country for a very long time," Clinton said. "It was a misstatement because I was saying that the way things are going now, they will continue to lose jobs. It didn't mean that we were going to do it. What I said is that is going to happen unless we take action to help and prevent it."
In fact, the coal industry has seen a sharp decline in recent years, most recently evidenced by Peabody Coal's bankruptcy last month.
Earlier on Monday, Clinton expanded on what sort of "action" she would take during a conversation about "economic barriers and jobs " in Ashland, Kentucky.
"We've got to do a lot more on carbon capture and sequestration," she told voters, "and try to see how we can get coal to be a fuel that can continue to be sold and continue to be mined."
Carbon capture and sequestration (CCS), or "clean coal," has long been touted as a greener method of burning fossil fuels and is a pillar of Clinton's energy agenda.
But such techno-fixes to our climate crisis have been dubbed a "marketing myth" as scientists and environmentalists widely agree that the only way to combat our rising carbon emissions is to keep coal and other fossil fuels "in the ground."
Throughout the campaign, Clinton's climate record has received a great deal of scrutiny as she has been accused of shifting her stance on issues like fracking and accepting donations from fossil fuel industry representatives.
Clinton is currently holding a two-day "Breaking Down Barriers" driving tour of the region ahead of the May 10th West Virginia primary. On Tuesday, voters in Indiana will cast their ballots in what is expected to be a close Democratic race.
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