THE DAILY NEWSLETTER - WEDNESDAY, APRIL 21, 2021

Media Winners & Losers

MEDIA WINNER:
Van Jones

After the verdict of guilty on all counts was handed down in the trial of former police officer and future convict Derek Chauvin, Wolf Blitzer spoke first with Don Lemon for reaction, and then Anderson Cooper spoke to Van Jones for his reaction.

Lemon, for his part, began his commentary with “Justice has been served.” A few moments later, Van Jones began his own response by saying “One down. Many, many more to go.”

"I think about that young girl who brought out her cell phone and who stood there in horror not knowing what to do but just holding that phone steady. She did the right thing. All those community members who came and — and begged and pleaded and talked. They did the right thing. That EMT person did the right thing. When people called the police on the police, they did the right thing," he said, emphasizing that the community getting involved is how justice happened.

"This is not the end of anything. This is the beginning of something," he said.

Although both Lemon and Jones hit the trending Twitter topics, it was Van Jones who stayed there, and resulted in a slew of media outlets sharingcovering his commentary.

MEDIA LOSER:
Las Vegas Raiders

The Las Vegas Raiders took massive heat for a tone-deaf tweet in the wake of the Derek Chauvin guilty verdict.

The tweet referenced George Floyd’s dying words, “I can’t breathe,” changing them to “I can breathe” with the date of the verdict below.

People were not pleased with the tweet and let the Raiders know. The enormous response, overwhelming facepalm, was not limited by political bent, or even limited to people with a political bent.

One of the most common responses was "delete this," to give you an idea. Raiders owner Mark Davis, however, responded that it would not be deleted. In fact, it was pinned to their profile.

When CNN's Don Lemon eventually stepped in to defend the tweet, it was probably welcome. And even though his argument about the intent and context were fair, it was already way too late to save it being a media fail. 

By far, worse and more tone deaf things were said. But it's a bad job when your message of support lands you on the trending topics list for the wrong reason.

The A-Block

OPINION

Fox News Fixates On Post-Chauvin Verdict Violence — That Never Happened

Updating the “if a tree falls” thought experiment to the current political-media landscape, one might ask, “If a jury verdict does not lead to violent protests and riots, can pundits still complain about them?”

The answer is a resounding yes, at least among pundits on Fox News, where opinion programming focused far more on the threat of civil unrest than the actual justice that was served in the conviction of Derek Chauvin for the killing of George Floyd.

Watching the conservative cable news channel in the hours that followed the jury’s decision, viewers heard much fretting about the threat of riots and violence, even though no post-verdict doomsday prophecies materialized.

To sum up, the arguments made by many on Fox, the verdict was good, but the threat of riots (that never happened) is the real societal problem here. Or, when there is nothing to reasonably complain about, let’s amplify grievance over something that didn’t happen.

The good news is that the verdict was almost universally deemed fair. A nine-minute video of someone dying in real-time under the knee of a police officer is a tough bit of evidence to defend. But rather than focus on rare accountability for a murderous cop, Fox News viewers heard repeated complaints (presented without evidence) that the jury was unduly influenced by fears of a repeat of the violent unrest and burned-out buildings seen following the murder of George Floyd.

Take, for example, law professor Jonathan Turley’s appearance on Fox & Friends Wednesday morning...

Read the rest from Colby Hall.



In Other News...

Bernard Goldberg Quits HBO's Real Sports After 22 Years, Trashes Show's ‘Far Left’ Politics in Scathing Interview

Ron DeSantis Derides Chauvin Verdict As Result of 'Scared' Jury Despite Previously Calling George Floyd Death a Murder

Whoopi Goldberg Writing Superhero Movie Centered on an ‘Older Black Woman’

MSNBC's Eddie Glaude Says to 'Prepare for the Reaction of the Police' After Chauvin Guilty Verdict

Must See Clip

Hijinks

James Corden “spontaneously” decided to call Oprah Winfrey and pitch that she should launch her own chain of hotels during a live taping of The Late, Late Show.

Hijinks ensued. There was voicemail and drummers and then...

There was Oprah.

Links We Like

The Covid-19 Vaccines Are An Extraordinary Success Story. Media Should Say So.
- Leana S. Wen, Washington Post
What Looks Like Justice Is Just Accountability on an Ordinary Day
- Monique Judge, The Root
Black Lives Do Matter – This Is History For America
- Suzette Hackney, USA Today
The Message of the Chauvin Verdict
- The Editors, National Review
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