This week’s senseless shootings as over 1-million revelers were celebrating the Chiefs’ Super Bowl victory in Kansas City put a spotlight on a disturbing trend in America: politicians and public officials tripping over themselves to offer “briefings” in the immediate wake of tragedies.
We saw two examples in the past few days: police “updates” following a shooting incident at Joel Osteen’s Lakewood Church in Houston, and then immediately after the Kansas City Chiefs celebration at Union Station was disrupted by gunfire.
This differs from our alleged “leaders” on the national level. Just as Claude Rains instructed his police officers in Casablanca to “round up the usual suspects,” 24/7 news channels like MSNBC and CNN raced to air gun-grabbing talking points from liberals like President Joe Biden and former U.S. Senator Claire McCaskill…little more than pathetic pandering to their bases but an immutable part of their DNA.
This is long expected from the talking heads on the Left. What I’m talking about is how local officials quickly march out to “inform” (CODE: under-inform) the public following traumatic events like shootings or natural disasters, apparently oblivious of the adage: “Better to remain silent and be thought a fool than to speak and remove all doubt.”
In Houston, for example, authorities provided scant information on the discharge of a “long gun” at Lakewood Church beyond the shooter—then deceased—being “a woman.” Hours went by with literally zero facts about the shooter, leading many observers to wonder why there was such a blackout on the identity of the person who apparently brought a young child into a megachurch who was then critically injured in the gunfire. Turns out—according to Houston Police—the alleged perpetrator was an immigrant (or in some news sources described as a “non-legal” citizen) from El Salvador named Genesse Ivonne Moreno who “identified as a female” but used multiple aliases including the name Jeffrey. Now, days later, there is still no clear picture of who this perpetrator actually was. Madness.
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Social media posts began screaming that the shooter was a “deranged Trans activist” who had scrawled something about Palestine on the gun used in the church shootings. I don’t know—or care—if these are facts but it seems odd that officials hadn’t released even a tiny hint about the shooter’s identify for many hours afterward. (If this had been a MAGA supporter, we’d have seen entries from his diary within 15 minutes and we’d have seen interviews with co-workers who “always thought he acted weird” at the office.)
Similarly, in the wake of the Kansas City shootings, police chief Stacy Graves joined Mayor Quinton Lucas to provide virtually no relevant information in a live, nationally televised briefing. The mayor served up that “this is what happens with guns” (?) and offered his personal observation that from parades to rallies and from schools to movies “it seems like nothing is safe.” Finally, something we can agree on…conservatives have been ringing this bell since 2021 with Democrats ushering in the open border, police “reform” and “no cash bail” policies.
When it was her turn, Chief Graves did not exactly inspire confidence that she’s the right person to lead the investigation into who or what endangered over a million Chiefs fans when gunshots rang outf…offering such mangled English as “Our gunshot total has went up to 22” and that her officers “have recovered firearms, at least one.” On the plus side, the chief announced she was “in the process of staffing a centralized phone number for those who are victims and witnesses” but couldn’t say when the hotline would be available. Style over substance.
This wasn’t how things used to be…especially in Kansas City. I will never forget the Friday evening in July 1981 when four giant concrete skywalks collapsed onto each other during a dance in the lobby of the Hyatt Regency Hotel. I was news director at KCMO Radio in Kansas City and was dispatched to cover the carnage which resulted in 114 deaths, arriving in time to set up our remote unit inside the hotel lobby and broadcasting live as emergency crews and paramedics raced to save survivors.
Then-mayor of Kansas City Richard Berkley arrived on the scene, joining our broadcast, and saying that he and his police chief were keeping themselves updated by listening to our descriptions as they drove downtown. We asked if he wanted to comment, and he declined saying he wanted to stay out of the limelight and let emergency workers do their jobs. Thoughtful, wise leadership…choosing not to speak until facts were known. Unlike what we see so often these days.
It also was heartbreaking to learn that the single death in the shootings at Wednesday’s Super Bowl rally was a popular disc jockey named Lisa Lopez, host of Taste of Tejano on KKFI 90.1 FM. Lopez—mother of two kids—was on hand to cover the celebration when shots were fired.
As V.P./News for a national radio network, I understand better than most the need for 24/7 news reporting to keep Americans informed and up to date on breaking stories. And I am not suggesting that FOX News or CNN shouldn’t set up cameras and encourage officials to stand before them like moths to a flame, pontificating on news as it unfolds. That’s the media’s job.
I just wish more local officials would think twice before deciding to wander out with few—if any—facts. It does not in any way serve the public’s need to know for someone like Graves to look into the cameras and tell viewers “I am angry at what happened today.” So what? Everyone shares that sentiment. How about telling us the names of the three people her department had in custody…and what—if anything—is going to happen to them in our justice system now that they’ve been apprehended.
For her and most overwhelmed public officials, instant analysis and parsing out little or no actionable information should make them view the TV lights on their doorsteps as less of a megaphone and more of a bug zapper.
Tom Tradup is V.P./News & Talk Programming at Dallas-based Salem Radio Network. He can be reached at ttradup@srnradio.com
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