At least when if it involves violence or potential violence from the left. Although to be fair, they’re getting faster — back in June, it took the network a week and a half to report on the “Swatting” incident involving one of their own on-air correspondents, Erick Erickson of Red State. Today, it only took two and a half hours for CNN’s army of producers, editors and on-air talent to finally “break” the news (presumably, to dozens of airport departure lounge viewers) of the shooting incident at the Family Research Council in DC.
And note this item currently on the Washington Post’s homepage, screencapped here for future reference:
Guard is shot at conservative Family Research Council
Paul Duggan and Mihir Zaveri 1:59 PM ET
Suspect expressed disagreement with group’s views before the shooting at its downtown D.C. headquarters, police say.
Yes, the suspect, lugging a backpack containing both “Chik-Fil-A promotional materials” and “2 loaded 15-round ammo clips” according to a local NBC-affiliate reporter, certainly did express his “disagreement” rather emphatically, as Jonah Goldberg writes at the Corner:
“Disagreed”? The suspect shot someone. “Disagreed”!? Why so bombastic? Why not say that the would-be killer “had a different perspective’?
Now, I can’t really complain when authorities or newspapers (not the same thing) err on the side of caution. Nonetheless, I can’t help but be angry when the press exercises caution so selectively. I find it very hard to believe that a similar suspect entering the offices of a more politically correct organization would earn such restraint.
As Jim Treacher writes, “It’s only an ‘atmosphere of hate’ if it’s useful to liberals.”
Speaking of which, among the rank and file lefty blogs, the conspiracy theories have already begun.
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