Do you remember when the Associated Press actually held itself to a standard of unbiased news? They still assume the reputation and clout of an unbiased new agency, but, increasingly, the journalism being fed through the AP wire is forceful in its bias.
Fair enough, but it’s one thing to comment on the news --- to insert opinion. It’s another thing entirely for a news agency that prides itself on reporting facts --- on being unbiased --- to manipulate the facts.
Take the recent story about the two men in Philly arrested for trespassing at a Starbucks. It's such a clear-cut issue, but the AP, like many other mainstream media, loaded it with race. This is evident in the headline alone: “Starbucks CEO apologizes to 2 black men arrested.” It's not until the bottom of the article that you get the facts.
Here’s the inflammatory lead from the Washington Post:
Starbucks, which once asked baristas to start a conversation about race with customers, faces fierce criticism after two black men were arrested at a Philadelphia store, sparking accusations of racial profiling over what the company's chief executive now calls a “reprehensible” incident.
This shouldn’t be a story about race. It’s not a racial issue. Two people went into a business that has a “bathroom is for customers only” policy. They didn’t buy anything and were therefore not customers, but they still used the bathroom. So, they were asked to leave. “If you’re not going to buy anything and you insist on using the bathroom, you’re going to need to leave. You’ve made it clear that you intend to do neither, so please leave.”
They refused. It’s not a library. It’s a private business. They were asked multiple times. Enough that a Starbucks employee felt the need to call the police. The police politely asked the men to leave. They refused. Multiple times. Those are the facts as we know them. Most likely, there’s more to it. Apparently, the young men had some salty words for the police, which is certainly not illegal but it’s not exactly wise, either.
The mainstream media sees it differently.
Nonetheless, the facts of the situation are clear. Drama free. But the mainstream media sees it differently. They see a scandalous headline. Drooling, they see a story that will make them money. It’ll get people all worked up. Race baiting at its finest.
Fast food restaurants and coffee shops in big cities often have the customer bathroom policy in place because, with our country in the throes of a heroin epidemic, heroin addicts have been using restaurant bathrooms to shoot up --- and then have died. Restaurant chains have even implemented policy specifically for dealing with people who’ve overdosed in their bathrooms --- and the media have reported on it. A lot.
This is certainly not to say that the young men were doing heroin --- not at all --- but rather, the situation is far more nuanced than “STARBUCKS THINKS BLACK MEN BELONG IN JAIL!”
But, it’s too late to stop and examine the facts. Now BLM is involved. They want to shut down multiple Starbucks locations. They are comparing the young men who were arrested at Starbucks to Martin Luther King, Jr., which is interesting because MLK was refused service outright. These young men, if anything, have done the opposite. They refused to pay and demanded the luxuries of a paying customer, then throw a tantrum when they couldn’t have it their way.
In a video posted on Facebook, Philadelphia Police Department Commissioner Richard Ross addressed the issue.
Of course, his statements have not been reported. Or if they have, it’s not until the bottom of the article. Instead, we’re hearing about the injustice. Protests have erupted nationwide. Outrage. Fury. People are rising up in anger. Or at least that’s how it's being portrayed by the mainstream media.
