Topic: WorldNetDaily
The tension in Ferguson, Mo., following the shooting of an unarmed black teen by police has proved to be a boon for WorldNetDaily. Since two of the things it hates most are black mobs and overactive police, it has been attacking both sides.
An August 13 WND article by Bob Unruh was quick to race-bait, repeating a claim that "a New Black Panther Party member is advocating violence against law enforcement in response to the shooting of Michael Brown." Unruh also claimed that "Multiple Twitter posts said the looting was a negative for the community and should have been done in 'white' neighborhoods."
Jerome Corsi tried to join the race-baiting parade with an Aug. 14 article attacking the Justice Department for having "dispatched its Community Relations Service to the scene of racially charged unrest in Ferguson, Missouri." Corsi uncritically quoted Judicial Watch's Tom Fitton claiming that the CRS "intervened in the Trayvon Martin case in Florida, helping organize protests that pressed for the prosecution of George Zimmerman, who later was acquitted by a jury of murder."
In fact, PolitiFact found that the CRS went to Florida "with the idea of keeping the situation peaceful and calm, not to instigate or condone protests or violence."
Because Corsi can't be bothered with basic fact-checking, he privileged Fitton's falsehood.
Meanwhile, an unbylined Aug. 13 article (though a tag at the end of the article credits it to an intern) claimed the situation in Ferguson "has put on display the country’s increasingly militarized local police force." WND quoted WND-published author Cheryl Chumley saying, "Armored vehicles on patrol, Kevlar-wearing, camouflage dressed officials carting high-powered rifles, tear gas wafting through the air – sounds like something right off the streets of Iraq. But it’s not. It’s actually the scene that’s playing out in Ferguson right now, with SWAT-type police taking to the residential streets for crowd control duties."
This was followed by a column by Chumley in which she denounces police tactics in Ferguson:
The camouflage battle-dress uniforms are simply part and parcel of the intimidation factor that’s trending among local law enforcers. Police are with ever-increasing frequency dressing and behaving more like battlefield soldiers.
What ever happened to the old “serve and protect” model and mantra of civilian policing?[...]
More than lives are being lost from this alarming police militarization trend. Our Constitution, and its specific rights to be safe and secure in one’s home and possessions, and to be considered innocent until proven guilty – two ideals that a shoot-first policy doesn’t uphold – are being rapidly scratched from our legal process. The spotlight of SWAT-type tactics may now be on Ferguson. But it really belongs on the backyards and residential streets around our nation – on the thousands of communities that serve as home to these same type of police agencies that are currently commandeering St. Louis.
WND seems to have found itself on the horns of a dilemma. It's bashing both sides, and it can't back off either one lest it be accused of condoning either black mob violence or heavy-handed police tactics.
