The Associated Press article “In Trump’s Jan. 6 recast, attackers become martyrs, heroes” (July 18, TribLIVE) could be a playbook for how the AP covers all left-wing protests: “a basic formula of potent propaganda through the ages.”
Last summer, while we watched newscasts in scores of American cities with buildings and cars burning, police being attacked and stores being looted in the background, our major media broadcasters assumed the “leftist narrative,” announcing that these were “peaceful protesters” demonstrating for a righteous cause. They followed the propaganda playbook: “Say it loud, say it often, say it with the heft of political power behind you, and people will believe.”
Fortunately, half of the people in America believed what they saw, not the narrative proclaimed by the media over and over again. And we learned to read with a critical eye for the propaganda buried repeatedly in the “news of the day.” This article is a prime example.
Trish Lindsay
South Buffalo Township