Seattle's "Capitol Hill Occupied Protest," which was originally called the "Capitol Hill Autonomous Zone," has gained fawning coverage from the mainstream media. The New York Times declared the area to be a "homeland for racial justice." A CNN reporter described his coverage of the CHAZ/CHOP as a "counter narrative" to Fox News "propaganda."
How CNN’s @DanSimonCNN described his CHAZ (or CHOP or whatever the police-free Seattle zone is called now) report in a private FB post: “A counter narrative to Fox propaganda of what things look like in Seattle. Does this look like the picture of anarchy?” https://t.co/TWUD8SztY7 pic.twitter.com/pWLXKFuMxP
— Steve Krakauer (@SteveKrak) June 15, 2020
Day after day, the mainstream media was happy to report on all the good things about the zone, and I was more than willing to note when it was peaceful, which was most of the time. But just looking at MSM's coverage of the area, you would get the impression it was peaceful all the time, which is not the case.
Fights occurring in and around the surrounding area of the zone were commonplace, especially at night. Oftentimes when I was recording such fights or scuffles, I was told not to record the incident, or someone tried to physically block my phone.
Another tense scene right outside the boundary of the “Capitol Hill Autonomous Zone” where people are getting into a confrontation, not sure why. I was asked to not record the incident by someone. pic.twitter.com/qz66fEYyZT
— Julio Rosas (@Julio_Rosas11) June 13, 2020
A scuffle broke out in the zone after a man came around screaming that this is a “Christ Zone.” A masked guy then tried to block my phone from recording the incident. pic.twitter.com/Z0XU8ZZyhw
— Julio Rosas (@Julio_Rosas11) June 13, 2020
After @Julio_Rosas11 got closer, blue activist started to follow him to try to block the view. pic.twitter.com/M2YZ6JsO6b
— (((Jason Rantz))) on KTTH Radio (@jasonrantz) June 13, 2020
Occupiers within the zone did not just try to stop me from recording the events in their area, as a local Fox reporter was mobbed on the night Seattle Police pulled away from the East Precinct. A Fox News crew was accosted when they were reporting right outside of the zone and had to move a few blocks away in order to continue working safely.
The zone's "security" told a Daily Caller reporter to not film an incident and to leave the area.
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Just outside of a CHAZ/CHOP entry point, “security” blocked off the road for a woman who seems to be unwell.
— Shelby Talcott (@ShelbyTalcott) June 15, 2020
“Security” asked me to stop filming and leave the area. The “security” woman didn’t answer when I asked what sort of training she had received to get that job. pic.twitter.com/IFlVu69l8d
So, of course, it easy for people in the CHAZ/CHOP to say it's simply a peaceful block party when they try to prevent reporters from being able to record the bad side of the zone. That's not to say it's absolute chaos, but there's more to the story that people within the zone would be happy to keep quiet.
