Piggybacking off Cortney’s post about the heated exchange between National Rifle Association’s Dana Loesch and CNN’s Alisyn Camerota yesterday, where Camerota was appalled that Loesch would accuse the media of loving mass shootings.
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
“Crying white mothers are ratings gold to you and many in the legacy media in the back," Loesch said at the annual Conservative Political Action Conference this week. Camerota responded:
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.
During the interview, Loesch accused the network of allowing guests to accuse her, millions of law-abiding gun owners and NRA members of being child murders for supporting Second Amendment rights. Camerota said that was not true, which Loesch responded that these allegations lobbed on the network were allowed to stand unchallenged. The Free Beacon was there with the tape (via Free Beacon) [emphasis mine]:
"I do need to interject though, Alisyn," Loesch said. "You're saying that it's malicious, but yet on your network, you've allowed accusations against me and millions of law-abiding Americans to be indicted as child murderers. I've watched you, Alisyn, on your program at this very time slot, and you've allowed that to stand uncorrected on your network."
Camerota misunderstood at first, saying she had never called them "child murderers."
"It's not true. We've never called you a child murderer," Camerota said. "We have to be fact-based."
"No, you've allowed the accusations to stand, Alisyn. Please follow what I'm saying," Loesch said. "You've done nothing to correct that."
"I don't believe you," Camerota said. "I don't believe you, and I don't believe you."
However, on Monday's "New Day," Parkland shooting survivor David Hogg used that term to refer to the NRA, and Camerota let it pass.
Alongside Hogg, fellow Stoneman Douglas student Emma Gonzalez called on the NRA to "disband," but Camerota cautioned that the NRA gives millions of dollars to politicians.
"They have a very powerful tool, so how do you expect politicians who need money to keep running for office to say no to the NRA?" Camerota asked.
"Because we keep telling them that if they accept this blood money, they are against the children," Gonzalez said. "They are against the people who are dying. There's no other way to put it at this point. You're either funding the killers, or you are standing with the children."
During that interview, Hogg said in reference to the NRA and its endorsed candidates, “if you can’t get elected without taking money from child murderers, why are you running”?
Camerota allowed it to pass.
