U.S.A. –-(AmmoLand.com)- A new Rasmussen survey revealed how 62 percent of likely voters “think the problem of bias in the news media is getting worse,” and also noted 52 percent of voters “don’t trust the political news they’re getting, compared to 32% who do.”
According to the Rasmussen survey, “More Republicans (76%) than Democrats (54%) or unaffiliated voters (54%) consider ‘fake news’ a Very Serious problem in the media.” Those “unaffiliated” voters often identify as “Independents.”
Perhaps nowhere is the belief of media bias more acute than when it comes to reporting about firearms and crime, and there may be no better recent example than an Associated Press report about an actual survey on gun control in which the term “gun violence” was used 11 times over the course of 1,130 words, sometimes appearing twice in the same paragraph. There was also a reference to “gun killings”—as though firearms were actually pulling their own triggers—and a reference to Joe Biden’s gun control legislation passed earlier this summer, describing it as a “gun safety” measure.
Yet, when a homicide involves the use of a different tool, perhaps a knife or blunt instrument, the press does not report that as “knife violence” or “hammer violence,” instead more accurately reporting a victim was “fatally stabbed” or “bludgeoned.”
References to “gun violence” from Anti-Second Amendment activists purposely demonize firearms and shift blame away from the perpetrators of violent crimes. The term creates the impression such crimes are the gun’s fault, not the person pressing the trigger.
There was only a single use of the term “gun control” in the AP article, and a notation about the gun rights victory handed down by the Supreme Court in late June stating, “a conservative majority on the Supreme Court expanded gun rights, finding a constitutional right to carry firearms in public for self-defense.”
Gun rights advocates contend the high court didn’t “expand” anything but simply restored the right to bear arms without having to show “good cause” in order to exercise that right. The court also didn’t “find” any constitutional right but did find the “good cause” requirement to be unconstitutional.
Perhaps nothing more clearly underscored the problem than the reaction in mid-July to published reports, including one here at Ammoland News, about a revision in the newest Associated Press Style Book, considered the guide to journalists around the world, addressing how published reports should refer to semi-auto rifles.
“The preferred term for a rifle that fires one bullet each time the trigger is pulled, and automatically reloads for a subsequent shot, is a semi-automatic rifle. An automatic rifle continuously fires rounds if the trigger is depressed and until its ammunition is exhausted.
“Avoid assault rifle and assault weapon,” the AP explains, “which are highly politicized terms that generally refer to AR- or AK-style rifles designed for the civilian market, but convey little meaning about the actual functions of the weapon.”
At the time this revision was being debated, Alan Gottlieb, chairman of the Citizens Committee for the Right to Keep and Bear Arms observed, “It will be interesting to see if the media now challenges politicians and anti-gun lobbyists whenever they use such terms.”
So far, it doesn’t appear the press is making any such effort, instead just allowing politicians and anti-gun lobbyists to continue using such phrases and quoting them obediently.
However, there was one hint of progress in a story appearing in The Hill about the announcement from the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives that it is “going after so-called ‘ghost guns.’” The term “ghost guns” appears to be an invention from the gun prohibition lobby designed to demonize privately-built firearms, which is a tradition dating back centuries.
Additionally, Rasmussen notes “majorities of both Republicans (67%) and unaffiliated voters (59%) don’t trust the political news they’re getting.” On the other hand—and not surprisingly—55 percent of Democrats “trust the political news they’re getting.”
Breaking things down even farther along political lines, 76 percent of Republicans and 68 percent of Independents “believe the problem of bias in the news media is getting worse,” while only 44 percent of Democrats think so.
It isn’t just the appearance of bias in published reports, but in the reluctance to publish or do stories based on news releases from gun rights advocacy groups. Many newspapers also years ago stopped accepting classified advertising about firearms.
Coincidental to this report, the National Rifle Association’s Institute for Legislative Activity posted an article online noting, “Gun control advocates have renewed a longstanding plan to have the Federal Trade Commission (which regulates commercial speech) punish firearms manufacturers for how they advertise firearms. A petition filed with the FTC by several large firearm prohibition organizations claims that any suggestion firearms provide protection to their owners or make their homes safer is tantamount to false advertising. The petition also suggests that the use of patriotic, militaristic, or macho images and languages in firearm advertising – the same themes used to sell everything from beer to vehicles to sunglasses – is deliberately being used to appeal to insurrectionists and mass shooters.”
While the battle may have been about the Second Amendment, it is now shifting to the First Amendment, with the establishment media pushing a particular narrative rather than simply reporting the news and allowing the readers and listeners to decide and reach their own conclusions.
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About Dave Workman
Dave Workman is a senior editor at TheGunMag.com and Liberty Park Press, author of multiple books on the Right to Keep & Bear Arms, and formerly an NRA-certified firearms instructor.
they are loosing in court so now they will start screaming and acting like spoiled children…we do need to get atf into scotus might not even take a memo to get rid of them and fbi they have not stayed within bounds of their creation memos and they are not congress so they cant make laws,and have been acting like they can that is a clear violation of title 18 242
I’ve been saying this for years, all of these Alphabet Organizations need to be Castrated or done away with and not soon enough!!!!!!!!!!
Does society even care about truth? It wouldn’t seem so, since these vipers cannot or will not be held accountable. Even when caught, they spin the narrative or just simply ignore it. This sinister element is alive at all levels. I for one have come to expect this narcissistic behavior as daily routine, everything and everyone seems to be in collusion and the list isn’t about who’s on it, but who isn’t.
Mark Twain was way ahead of most on this subject when he said: “People who don’t read newspapers are uninformed. If you do read newspapers you are misinformed.” Thomas Jefferson observed, even in his time: “Nothing can now be believed which is seen in a newspaper. Truth itself becomes suspicious by being put into that polluted vehicle. The real extent of this state of misinformation is known only to those who are in situations to confront facts within their knowledge with the lies of the day.” Fast forward to our day and insert “media” in place of “newspaper” and you’ll… Read more »
Between the times they are accidentally wrong, the times they are ignorantly wrong, and the times they are deliberately wrong, it is a wonder they ever get anything right, or that anyone believes anything they print.
the reason most are going out of business is people can no longer be fooled by their propaganda so adds stop selling no money coming in no pay many people only watch weather and sports they search crimes near work and home to gauge safety mostly oblivious to the world around them. how many here know about severe drought in china?
Much of the news has been fake for DECADES, it’s just two things that are coming into play of late – first, thanks to the Internet, the established networks and newspapers no longer have a total monopoly on what we see and hear. (Note that there’s a lot of nonsense on the Internet, too.) Secondly, the establishment media has gotten so arrogant they no longer care about making their fake news plausible – they get pats on the back from their colleagues in the same echo chamber so they don’t care that the rest of us don’t believe them.
and have stopped watching ,wounder when the advertising companies start to take notice and their revenue tanks
I seem to remember decades ago a few Rock stars trying to tell people how the media. But then they weren’t to be believed. Because they were drunks & druggies. lol
The fear of mass shootings, however, doesn’t always align with the actual threat, research shows. Mass shootings are statistically rare, but factors such as pervasive media coverage give the perception that they’re more common than they really are, said Jaclyn Schildkraut, interim executive director of the Regional Gun Violence Research Consortium at the Rockefeller Institute of Government. “If you look at all of the offenses that are known to law enforcement… homicide, in general, makes up about 1% of those offensive and then mass shootings make up less than 1% of that 1%,” Schildkraut said. “We’re talking about something that is incredibly rare… Read more »
basicly you are more likely to be struck by lightning than be present at a mass shooting…….in florida…now I am afraid shootings I can stop
Remember “the summer of the shark?” “The Summer of the Shark has since been remembered as an example of tabloid television perpetuating a story with no real merit beyond its ability to draw ratings.” https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Summer_of_the_Shark From the news coverage it seemed like no one could enjoy a Florida beach weekend and survive. The reality was that shark attacks in 2001 were no more frequent than in the summer of any other year. But the stories about shark attacks certainly were. Seen any coverage of this? https://heyjackass.com/ Don’t hold your breath. If a story won’t attract eyeballs to be sold to… Read more »
Dave – good article as usual.
I was somewhat ‘amazed’ that 44% of democRATs actually admit that the lame stream media bias is getting worse.
Question – have you had any success in determining who ‘invented’ the term “gun violence”? That misnomer has been wildly successful in perpetuating the myth that “crimes are the guns fault”.
It’s not clear where the term originated, although there seems little doubt it is the creation of the gun prohibition lobby, quickly adopted by the establishment media, which is always interested in a sensational term.
Thanks for reading and sharing this AMMOLAND report.
You can’t believe everything you read and only half of what you hear.
Hopefully, that doesn’t include reports at AMMOLAND!
Thanks for reading.
The DSA is pretty much running the show. They’re doing exactly what the Communist Party said that they will do, and using the same methods; control the news media, the entertainment industry, and the educational system. The dsa doesn’t keep it a secret. It’s all laid out in detail on their website.