The irresponsible reporting of Brian Ross on the Colorado theater shooting, and it’s time to think about gun control
By now most everyone has heard the story about how Brian Ross tried to implicate the Tea Party in the shooting in a Colorado movie theater the other night, and I hadn’t intended to write a post on it, but the rush to judgement made on a major news outlet by one of its reporters and the utterly irresponsible reporting has really bothered the hell out of me and I can no longer ignore the story on America’s Watchtower.
First, let us look at the transcript of the conversation between Brian Ross and George Stephanopoulos:
Stephanolpoulos: I’m going to go to Brian Ross. You’ve been investigating the background of Jim Holmes here. You found something that might be significant.
Ross: There’s a Jim Holmes of Aurora, Colorado, page on the Colorado Tea party site as well, talking about him joining the Tea Party last year. Now, we don’t know if this is the same Jim Holmes. But it’s Jim Holmes of Aurora, Colorado.
Stephanolpoulos: Okay, we’ll keep looking at that. Brian Ross, thanks very much.
I think that it is safe to assume that when most people heard that a crazed gunman had opened fire in a movie theater filled with defenseless fans of the Batman movies our first thoughts were with the victims and their families, but that evidently was not the first thought that came into the mind of Brian Ross. His first thought seems to have been “is there any way we can possibly blame this on the Tea Party” because while investigating the background of the killer (Jim Holmes) he had the strange idea that he should check out the Colorado Tea Party’s Facebook page to see if there was a Jim Holmes listed as a member. Why did this thought occur to Brian Ross? The answer is simple, he wanted to find something there.
And he wanted to find something so badly that he didn’t even bother to investigate any further once he thought he found what he so desperately wanted to find. He ran with the story knowing full well he might not have the right guy, and the fact that he admitted during his report that he didn’t know if he had the right Jim Holmes is no consolation; in fact it is just more proof of how irresponsible and agenda driven he really is.
ABC has apologized for the mistake but this is not nearly enough because this was not simply a mistake, it was an instance of journalistic malpractice of epic proportions and Brian Ross has shown that he has no journalistic integrity and he should be fired by ABC–nothing less is acceptable. At this point I am willing to give George Stephanolpoulos a pass because there is no proof that when he said Brian Ross might have found something “significant” that he knew what Brian Ross was about to report, and he did seem to cut away from the segment rather quickly. There is no doubt in my mind that Stephanolpoulos thinks along the same lines as Brian Ross, but it does seem to me that even he realized this was most irresponsible.
As the Daily Caller points out here the media has a history of trying to falsely pin the blame for certain stories on the Tea Party when they think it can serve their agenda, but with the possible exception of the reporting after Gabby Giffords was shot, this just might be the worst case of irresponsible reporting in an attempt to push an anti-Tea Party agenda we have seen to date. Brian Ross did not think of the possible consequences which could have resulted from his decision–the family of Jim Holmes could have been targeted for retaliation–and luckily his report did not lead to more violence against innocent people.
Besides the media attempting to blame the Tea Party on the occasion that violence breaks out in the United States in the form of a story such as this there is one other thing that we can count on; the proponents for gun control use the incident to clamor for more gun control laws. Nanny Bloomberg was the first politician to say that we need to do something about our gun control laws in the wake of the Colorado shooting and I agree with him.
It is time we reexamine our gun laws to see if there is anything we can do to make Americans more safe. It turns out that the Colorado movie theater where this shooting took place was a gun free zone meaning that the only person in the theater with a gun was the killer. What would have happened if just one person in the crowd had a weapon? We all know the old adage about guns being outlawed so I won’t repeat it here, but when laws help to make citizens more defenseless this is precisely what can happen.
When Jim Holmes entered the theater on that night he knew he would be the only person in the theater with a weapon because law abiding American gun owners are the only people who are affected by gun control laws, and the law abiding citizens were the only ones without weapons in the theater. Gun control laws actually benefit the criminals and Jim Holmes might just have been emboldened by the fact that the laws which are designed to protect the people from gun violence actually make the criminal more safe than his potential victims, not the other way around.
So yes, it is time to look at our gun control laws. How is implementing more laws on the people who are already following the law going to prevent someone from acquiring and carrying a weapon who does not have any inclination to follow the laws which are already on the books? Why do these politicians want to punish people who are following the law and have done nothing wrong–like the victims in the movie theater–for the crimes of people who will disobey any gun laws? Gun control does not work, it doesn’t ameliorate the problem of gun violence, it only deepens it.
And finally, from The Right Scoop, this is what can happen when you have a well-armed citizenry:
Trackbacks
- Deranged leftist Christopher Dorner goes on a killing spree and the media remains silent about his beliefs « America's Watchtower
- Left wing website compares downing the Malaysian airliner to Tea Party mentality | America's Watchtower
- The mainstream media struggles to find a motive behind the Tennessee military facilities shootings | America's Watchtower
America's Watchtower 
While working as a contract security adviser for the DNC Finance Committee during the 2000 convention in Los Angeles – I had the unfortunate experience of having to push Ross and his cameraman out of a prominent democrat’s face, (don’t ask).
Ross suddenly had his cameraman swing the boom and camera towards my face while shouting “police brutality.” Predictably I hurried away to avoid a bigger issue. He is simply a self serving scumbag like most of the MSM’s so called “journalists.” I would have clocked his ass if I could have got away with it….WM
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William, I bet it is times like that you had hoped someone would look the other way. Sometimes we have to just bite our tongues and not respond, but not because as you said, ” you would have clocked his a**” had you been allowed to. Sounds like a fairly nasty individual.
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He does sound like a masty person who feels as if he is entitled, doesn’t he Lou? I would look the other way if I were there.
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Don’t ask? It sounds like such an interesting story though! 🙂 Sounds like he is one of the beautiful people who think they can do whatever they want, perhaps that is why he didn’t think it was a big deal to smear the Tea Party without proof.
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You did the right thing, even though it meant appearing to back down.
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Yes he did, but I’d still like to hear the whole story.
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Reblogged this on Freedom Is Just Another Word… and commented:
Irresponsible does not cover it..Complete idiocy does..
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Thanks again, I can’t even begin to express how vile I think this was.
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They have a hit squad that looks for the name of a tea party member that’s the same as the killer’s. They appear to have done the same thing when Sen. Gabby was shot. Their thinking is a) lets not let a crisis go to waste and b) even if its not correct our side at the very least will buy whatever we say.
Last – there was an online apology from ABC-TV but no on air apology! Who looks at ABC’s website? Ans. NO ONE.
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Exactly, never let a good crisis go to waste even if you have to make stuff up to promote your agenda. This was disgusting and really unprofessional and Ross needs to issue an on air apology. And then he should be fired.
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You are so right, ABC needs to do more. What exactly is the best way for us to pressure them?
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I would say that we need to email them repeatedly until we cannot be ignored. That plus the bad publicity should force them to do more.
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The bias reporting from the national news media is old hat for this observer. I’ve seen it for more years than I wish to recount. I recall the JFK assassignation and the early reports about Dallas being a hotbed of rightwing activity—it was all over the news that fatal day. But as soon as it was realized that Lee Harvey Oswald was a left wing activist all commentary on political motivation for the attack on Kennedy suddenly stopped—the networks went silent on this issue, for it did not fit their agenda. The shootings at Aurora, will be used for political advantage to push the gun control issue once again. Before the bodies of the victims were cold the voices on the left were calling for more, yes more gun control measures. Should some measures be taken, perhaps, but once the floodgates are opened to such actions they are hard to close. I’ve seen this too many times in my lifetime. Give an inch and give a mile! Just the way it is. When the MSM was reporting the Kennedy assassination they forgot to mention the attempt on the life of General Edwin Walker, a supposely right wing general, by one Lee Harvey Oswald. See my personal story Here
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Ron, that story you linked to was very interesting. Isn’t it amazing how some things come back in detail when set off by one thought or deed? We all know how biased the media is, too bad they don’t have any shame in reporting as they do. Thanks for sharing your thoughts from the past.
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The past is always there waiting to be awaken by an incident or a trembling of the ladder on which we climb. Each thought or deed is nothing more that a reflection of things gone by or things to come and we are for the better or the worst for things yet unwritten. BS, yes, but I know it! But those who supposely write the true are unaware of their lies and half-truths and will never know the real freedom on an untainted fact!
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Thanks for sharing that link Ron, I remember reading it when you first posted it.
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It seems as if the media has been at this for quite awhile now and I wouldn’t expect anything less at this point.But perhaps they can’t get away with it any more because of the internet. They are no longer the loan voice reporting on the issues and they still haven’t gotten use to the fact that we are out there and ready to hold them accountable.
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I am generally not a fan of conspiracy theories. I find most of them to be not based on facts, but rather on wild supposition and fantasy. However, what Brian Ross did makes me wonder why the media seems to be so ready and willing to blame any act of violence on conservatives. They did it with the Arizona shooting and they tried to do it with this shooting. It is sad and terrifying that they are willing to stoop to such lows to change the narrative to suit their own purpose and agenda.
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The media finds the Tea Party to be a real threat to the president’s reelection and we all know they are in the tank for Obama so they are doing whatever they can to hurt the Tea Party. Reporting like this really goes over the line, Ross was trying to pin a mass murder on an innocent person and an innocent group simply because he disagrees with their politics. It is grossly incompetent.
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Who was the innocent person?
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As reprehensible as Ross’ conduct is, and you’ll get no argument from me on it, may I point out that while you rightfully blast him for his attempt to assign blame to the Tea Party using the fallacious guilt by association argument, you also use the same fallacious tactic to paint Keith Ellison and Huma Abedin as agents of the Muslim Brotherhood within the US Government.
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The innocent person I was talking about was the Jim Holmes that Brian Ross found on Facebook.
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Yes, but while Ross simply found a Facebook entry with a man whose name was the same and ran with it, Bachmann’s statements are based on a government report. Guilt by association, yes but the point of my Bachmann post was to point out the fact that Democrats have thrown around accusations about Romney based on speculation and I was using their same tactics against them to show what can happen. The Dems expect Romney to prove what they are saying is wrong, and so now it should be up to Huma and Ellison to prove what Bachmann is saying is wrong. What comes around goes around.
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The truth is strange and terrible enough. The extremists on both sides, unfortunately, can’t seem to let well enough alone, frequently embellishing the facts. Unfortunately, when these embellishments are exposed, which is becoming more and more easy in the Internet age, the actual facts themselves become suspect.
A classic example is the reporting on President GWBush’s service in the Alabama Air National Guard. The facts were, and remain, murky, but the accusation was that it was a no-show job for the future President. When the media (Dan Rather) heralded the discovery of a document appearing to support the allegations with more than journalistic fervor, and the document was then proven a forgery, the national audience, especially the President’s supporters, dismissed the entire investigation. If, as is claimed, the forgery was actually the work of Karl Rove, its exposure guaranteed, one has to give credit to The Architect for a brilliant stroke.
Take good care, and may God bless us all!
TGY
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I have to admit I never heard the Karl Rove angle before, but that is a very interesting angle.
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I’ve loaded this page 3 or 4 times; each time, the Right Scoop excerpt doesn’t appear.
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It just worked for me TGY, the link is just a link to the video which I posted.
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