The Culture and Media Institute (CMI) recently released a report entitled “The Media Assault on the Second Amendment.” Its findings will not surprise you.
According to the study, in the first seven months of 2007, the three major networks ran some 650 stories on firearm-related homicides, yet only two covering the use of guns for self-defense. Considering guns are used three to five times more often for self-defense than to commit a crime, this disproportion is staggering.
CMI went on to report:
"The media first broached the urban crime wave immediately following a March 9 court decision, Parker v. District of Columbia, which struck down D.C.'s handgun ban. ABC, NBC, CNN, the New York Times, the Washington Post and USA Today each ran at least one story on the crime wave between March 9 and March 29.
The media had a field day during the week after the Virginia Tech campus shootings on April 16. The major broadcast networks ran nearly 30 stories promoting gun control, with another 24 from CNN, nine in the New York Times and 20 in the Washington Post. The message was delivered with machine-gun regularity: lack of gun control led to the massacre, so more gun laws might prevent another massacre.
Armen Keteyian of CBS Evening News quoted the Brady Center to Prevent Gun Violence and noted that Virginia Tech--which had recently imposed a total gun ban on campus—[f]ought Virginia's 'hunting culture' in a desperate effort to ‘safeguard the student population.’”
The Brady Center’s Peter Hamm said he found the report “chilling,” commenting that, "Reducing coverage of a problem won't make that problem go away”, and that using firearms for self-defense "doesn't happen nearly as often" as gun violence in this country.
In perhaps the best demonstration of hypocrisy, Hamm lamented that the anti-gun contingent is frustrated by the media’s lack of coverage of gun violence! How one who advocates gun bans can be upset when the media reports on virtually every criminal misuse of a gun, yet says nary a word when a law-abiding citizen uses a gun for self-defense, is mind boggling.
This goes to show why it is so important that pro-gun advocates continuously monitor the media for anti-gun bias and work to speak out when they see it. For more information on effectively communicating with the media, click here.
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