The Associated Press was recently raked over the coals for a piece by Darlene Superville referring to Darrell E. Brooks allegedly plowing his SUV into a crowd at the Waukesha Christmas parade as "a deadly Christmas parade crash in Waukesha."
The relevant Superville's piece from January 17, "Jill Biden: I didn’t expect ‘healing role’ as first lady," read as follows:
Her visits to Colorado and to see victims of a deadly Christmas parade crash in Waukesha, Wisconsin, and a trip last Friday to tornado-ravaged areas of Kentucky are a “prime example” of the responsibility she feels, she said. It’s what she would want as a regular person who survived a natural disaster or other tragedy.
“I would want to know that my president and first lady cared about me,” Biden said. “I think that’s an important part of what I do. I mean, just helping people through the tough times.”
The excerpt links to a November 23 piece, "‘Mama, are you OK?’ In Waukesha, minutes of terror recounted," which mostly focuses on the SUV. Brooks' identity had just recently been revealed at the time, but wasn't mentioned until the last four of the 44 paragraphs of the article.
The piece is a feature of First Lady Jill Biden. While it references that she went to go see the victims of Brooks' alleged deadly actions, it's also worth noting that President Joe Biden himself did not visit.
"Obviously, any President going to visit a community requires a lot of assets, requires taking their resources, and it’s not something that I have a trip previewed at this plan- — point in time, but we remain in touch with local officials," White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki said during a November 29 press conference.
Christopher Tremoglie highlighted the hypocrisy in a December 2 opinion piece for The Washington Examiner,
"Biden would have visited Waukesha if it could have helped him politically," pointing out that in September 2020, then Democratic nominee Biden visited the family of Jacob Blake, a Black man with a criminal record who was shot by police as he was reaching for his knife.
As it turns out, using terminology as "parade crash" has been consistent for the Associated Press, from the start, including:
- "Police: ‘Some’ killed when SUV hits Christmas parade," November 22, 2021
- "Legal experts see case for intent in Waukesha parade crash," November 24, 2021
- "Children’s Wisconsin treating 7 victims from parade crash," November 29, 2021
People were quick to react over Twitter.
It wasn’t a car accident. It was a mass murder. But because the murderer’s political ideology is useful for you, you obscure the facts. American Pravda
— Christina Pushaw ?? (@ChristinaPushaw) January 17, 2022
Yeah, what was that "deadly Christmas parade crash" all about, AP?
— Curtis Houck (@CurtisHouck) January 17, 2022
Care to point out she only showed up weeks after it happened? https://t.co/MAZuNdIA51
they know this, the phrasing is not incidental
— Nathan Klein (@NathanKleinDC) January 17, 2022
So odd you call this a "crash" while Charlottesville is a "deadly car attack."https://t.co/mP2zwgon50
— Fletch (@belmont_iii) January 17, 2022
“Deadly Christmas parade crash”…??
— Amy Curtis (@RantyAmyCurtis) January 17, 2022
Um, excuse me.
That was not a “crash”, it was intentional murder. https://t.co/Nxl5Te03Rr
For the outlet to be using the same problematic terminology almost two months later shows they have not learned the lessons of CNN and The Washington Post, who as I highlighted, were similarly raked over the coals for their terminology.
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