In case you missed it, gun rights activist and NRA spokeswoman Dana Loesch accused the media of "loving" mass shootings during her speech at the Conservative Political Action Conference Thursday. Not so much the tragedy itself, she explained, but the ratings that come with it.
"Crying white mothers are ratings gold to you and many in the legacy media in the back," Loesch said, directing her words to the press section at the back of the CPAC ballroom.
On CNN's New Day program Friday, anchor Alisyn Camerota confronted Loesch about her remarks, daring her to back up her claim.
Loesch insisted that networks like CNN enjoy the ratings bump they get from reporting on mass shootings.
"It's wall-to-wall coverage," Loesch said. "They put the murderer's face up on loop on television all across America more than they discuss the victims or survivors."
She expanded on Twitter.
It is not “inflammatory” to accurately criticize media’s obsession with tragedy for ratings. What IS inflammatory is presenting (& allowing accusation to stand uncorrected) millions of innocent, law-abiding Americans (who are parents too) as “murderers.” We’ve done nothing wrong.
— Dana Loesch (@DLoesch) February 23, 2018
Camerota refused to accept Loesch's narrative. She and her fellow reporters in no way want to see another mass shooting, she explained, and even if another did occur, it would do little to help their ratings.
I don’t know anybody in the media who likes mass shootings. You’re wrong on every single level. We pray that there’s never another one, and the idea of them being ratings gold…You just made a malicious statement and I have to respond. Guess what? They’re not ratings gold. Americans have reached saturation level. They’re so sick of it and it’s so heartbreaking that they actually often turn away and we still have the conversation trying to find solutions.
In her CPAC speech Thursday, Loesch also excoriated CNN for its gun control town hall on Wednesday, where attendees booed her and called her a "murderer" for her gun rights activism in the wake of last week's carnage at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School. CNN was the "malicious" party, Loesch said, for letting those accusations stand.
It didn't seem like CNN had "intended" for the town hall to result in any meaningful solutions, she concluded.