VICTOR JOECKS: Liberal bias explains why the media won’t talk about these crimes
“If it bleeds, it leads” is standard practice for the media — unless the crime will cast a liberal priority in a negative light.
Consider what police uncovered last month in an Illinois home: the bodies of 2,200 aborted preborn children. Just the term “2,200 bodies” should have been enough to generate headlines across the country and 24-hour coverage from CNN. But these preserved remains were found at the house of the deceased Ulrich “George” Klopfer, a longtime abortionist. Go figure that a job requiring you to stick scissors into the skulls of preborn babies and suck out their brains attracts psychopaths.
Outlets such as The New York Times and The Washington Post wrote brief articles. But there wasn’t the prolonged, intense, breathless coverage you would have expected when 2,200 bodies turn up in somebody’s house.
There’s even a direct connection to the Democrat presidential primary. Until the state shut him down in 2016, one of Klopfer’s abortion clinics was in South Bend, Indiana. That’s where Democrat presidential candidate Pete Buttigieg has served as mayor since 2011.
Buttigieg said the incident is “extremely disturbing,” but “I also hope it doesn’t get caught up in politics.”
It’s a miracle. Democrats have found a tragedy they don’t want to politicize. After every mass shooting, gun grabbers suggest that opposing gun control is the moral equivalent of pulling the trigger. Stumble across the remains of 2,200 murdered babies, however, and Democrats insist the issue should remain outside the bounds of acceptable political discussion.
Hypocrites. They can pull this off only with help from the national mainstream media. This isn’t the first time the media have downplayed an especially depraved abortionist. The Philadelphia abortionist Kermit Gosnell regularly delivered babies alive and then killed them with scissors, according to a grand jury. He may be the country’s most prolific serial killer. Sarah Kliff, a Washington Post reporter, was asked why her newspaper wasn’t covering it.
“I cover policy for the Washington Post, not local crime,” she tweeted.
Funny. Last month, an African-American girl accused three white sixth-graders of making racist comments and cutting her “nappy” hair. The Post covered that. To be fair, the school is in Virginia. But one reason sixth-graders accused of bullying made national headlines was that Karen Pence, Vice President Mike Pence’s wife, taught at the school. She wasn’t involved in the alleged incident, but the media are very interested in anything that even indirectly associates Republicans with racism.
The story was actual fake news. After security camera footage showed it didn’t happen, the girl admitted that she made it up.
Real crimes — committed by politically correct villains — don’t get a fraction of this attention. Earlier this month, Seattle prosecutors charged Carlos Orlando Iraheta-Vega, an MS-13 gang member, with murdering a 16-year-old. Prosecutors allege he and an accomplice beat the teen with a bat before chopping up his body with a machete. Last year, ICE requested that a Seattle-area jail notify it when Iraheta-Vega was being released. Thanks to a “sanctuary city” policy, the jail refused.
That’s not the only death sanctuary city policies have contributed to — in Seattle. Carlos Daniel Carillo-Lopez is another illegal immigrant who has recently been arrested in a slaying. Just like, Iraheta-Vega, he could have been deported if Seattle-area jails had been able to cooperate with ICE.
This is why President Donald Trump’s fake news rhetoric resonates with so many. Bias within the national media is so prevalent it even affects crime reporting.
Victor Joecks’ column appears in the Opinion section each Sunday, Wednesday and Friday. Contact him at vjoecks@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-4698. Follow @victorjoecks on Twitter.