{"id":97100,"date":"2017-08-21T12:00:09","date_gmt":"2017-08-21T11:00:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/?p=97100"},"modified":"2017-08-15T12:59:25","modified_gmt":"2017-08-15T11:59:25","slug":"for-media-driving-into-a-crowd-of-protesters-is-a-clash-not-terrorism","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/2017\/08\/for-media-driving-into-a-crowd-of-protesters-is-a-clash-not-terrorism\/","title":{"rendered":"For Media, Driving Into a Crowd of Protesters Is a \u2018Clash\u2019 Not Terrorism"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Headlines describing the running down of anti-fascist protesters as \u201cclashes.\u201d<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

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12 Aug 2017 – <\/em>The Washington Post<\/strong><\/a>, Boston Globe<\/strong><\/a>, AOL News<\/strong><\/a>, The Hill<\/strong><\/a>, BBC<\/strong><\/a> and Sky News UK<\/strong><\/a> all chose to frame the ramming of a car into anti-fascist protesters as \u201cclashes.\u201d<\/p>\n

The BBC<\/strong>\u2019s breaking news tweet, \u201cOne dead amid clashes between US white nationalists and counter-protesters in Charlottesville,\u201d is an extremely odd way to describe a person driving a car into a crowd of anti-fascist protesters\u2014as was AOL<\/strong>\u2019s \u201c1 Dead, 34 Injured in Clashes at Virginia Rally.\u201d<\/p>\n

The term \u201cclashes\u201d\u2014as FAIR (10\/14\/15<\/a>) has noted before\u2014is a term designed to obscure blame, presenting a picture of two equal sides engaging in violent activities. Reading \u201cone dead\u201d after \u201cclashes\u201d at a white nationalist rally gives us no idea who died, or who did the killing.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>

People fly into the air as a vehicle drives into a group of protesters demonstrating against a white nationalist rally in Charlottesville, Va., Saturday, Aug. 12, 2017. (photo: Ryan M. Kelly\/AP)<\/p><\/div>\n

(Alternatively, one can veil responsibility<\/a> by attributing agency to an inanimate object and disembodied emotions, as with the New York Times<\/strong>\u2018 headline<\/a>, \u201cCar Plows Into Crowd as Racial Tensions Boil Over in Virginia.\u201d)<\/p>\n

There are times when things can be ambiguous, but after a person the police say \u201cpremeditatedly\u201d rammed into a crowd of anti-racist protesters with a car, it\u2019s fairly clear the anti-racist protesters aren\u2019t to blame for the death. But one would hardly know this, reading these \u201cclashes\u201d framings.<\/p>\n

Most of these articles would mention in the text (or later change the headline after social media backlash) to make it clear it was the anti-fascist protesters who were mowed down, but the initial instinct to obscure who did what to whom speaks to the pathological fear of placing blame<\/a> on the far right<\/a>.<\/p>\n

____________________________________________<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>Adam Johnson is a contributing analyst for<\/em> FAIR.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Go to Original \u2013 fair.org<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

12 Aug 2017 – The Washington Post, Boston Globe, AOL News, The Hill, BBC and Sky News UK all chose to frame the ramming of a car into anti-fascist protesters as \u201cclashes.\u201d \u201cClashes\u201d is a term designed to obscure blame, presenting a picture of two equal sides engaging in violent activities. Reading \u201cone dead\u201d after \u201cclashes\u201d at a white nationalist rally gives us no idea who died, or who did the killing.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[62],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-97100","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-media"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/97100","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=97100"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/97100\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=97100"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=97100"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=97100"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}