Some journalists are complaining after outlets such as CNN reported on what appeared to be the Dayton, Ohio, shooter’s now-suspended Twitter account, which contained far-left and pro-Antifa rhetoric.
Nine people died and 26 were injured following a shooting in downtown Dayton Sunday.
“Journalists are literally throwing hissy fits over the factual reporting of Dayton shooters social media account,” blogger Stephen Miller tweeted.
The Dayton shooter appears to have had a Twitter where he called himself a “leftist,” tweeted out against gun control, hailed Satan and retweeted pro-Antifa content. News outlets reported on the account, which is suspended. Journalists from NBC News, The Daily Beast and more condemned the reporting on Twitter, alleging that outlets were claiming this shooter was “politically motivated.”
“It’s beyond irresponsible to use the Dayton shooter’s lefty Twitter to assign a political motive,” Brandy Zadrozny, an NBC News reporter, tweeted.
Everyone has personal politics. Not all mass shootings are politically motivated. (Most are domestic violence.) It’s beyond irresponsible to use the Dayton shooter’s lefty Twitter to assign a political motive. The far right would like to equate Dayton to El Paso. Don’t let them.
— Brandy Zadrozny (@BrandyZadrozny) August 6, 2019
“The far right would like to equate Dayton to El Paso. Don’t let them.”
A mass shooting left 22 people dead and injured over two dozen others at an El Paso, Texas, shopping area Saturday. The alleged El Paso shooter is believed to have published a manifesto against immigration.
Justin Miller, national editor for The Daily Beast, wrote that “CNN recklessly speculates the Dayton shooter may have been politically motivated,” linking to a CNN article about the shooting. The article reads that Dayton shooter Connor Betts’s motives are not known:
Still, contrary to the explicit anti-immigrant purpose of the El Paso shooting, police do not know what motivated Betts to open fire early Sunday morning in a popular nightlife district in downtown Dayton.
Miller also tweeted that “right-wing ghouls” had “seized” on the Twitter account and harassed journalists who the shooter followed.
Right-wing ghouls immediately seized on the Dayton killer's Twitter account in the hours after and used it to harass, even blame, journalists he followed who cover the far-right. That was pumped into the mainstream and a day later, CNN ate it up.
— Justin Miller (@justinjm1) August 6, 2019
Jeff Blehar, co-host of “Political Beats” at National Review, said the Dayton killer had “political beliefs like everyone else.
” He also wrote that it is “logically incorrect” to compare the El Paso and Dayton shooters.
I'm sorry but it's true: there IS a distinguishable diff btw someone who kills out of an explicit political motive (complete w/manifesto) versus someone who just happens to have political beliefs like everyone else who kills.
On the other hand, the dead remain dead regardless.
— Esoteric Jeff (@EsotericCD) August 6, 2019
I get the desire to make equivalences btw El Paso+Dayton: "the right-wing mass murderer is balanced out by the left-wing mass murderer! It's a draw!"
But not only is that logically incorrect, the fact is this: the only true equivalence here is that these poor ppl are all dead.
— Esoteric Jeff (@EsotericCD) August 6, 2019
Other outlets reporting on the Twitter account included Forbes, The Associated Press, Newsweek and more. The outlets included that there is no current knowledge of a reason behind the Dayton shooting.
