Earlier this week, Floyd Lee Corkins II pleaded guilty to charges of terrorism in the Family Research Council shooting last August, and admitted using a "hate map" produced by the Southern Poverty Law Center. But, Newsbusters reported Thursday, the so-called mainstream media remained silent about the map.
Corkins admitted that he targeted the FRC's Washington, D.C. office after discovering the organization using the SPLC’s so-called “Hate Map.”
Katie Yoder noted that just two years ago, the media was convinced that a map showing congressional districts targeted for victory was one of the main causes of the tragic shooting of Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords, a Democrat. The public was led to believe that the map and partisan rhetoric made Jared Loughner pick up a gun and shoot Giffords.
None of that was true, Yoder wrote.
"But that didn’t stop the media from breathlessly conjecturing that a target-festooned map on Sarah Palin’s website had pointed Jared Loughner to Rep. Giffords, and that Palin’s 'reload' rhetoric made him shoot," she wrote.
But now, the media is silent when a shooter admits being motivated by left wing rhetoric and a map produced by a left wing organization.
According to Yoder, "the broadcast networks failed to mention the map’s role in the shooting." CNN did mention the SPLC in an online report, Yoder said, but omitted it in broadcast reports.
"Corkins -- who had chosen the research council as his target after finding it listed as an anti-gay group on the website of the Southern Poverty Law Center -- had planned to stride into the building and open fire on the people inside in an effort to kill as many as possible," CNN said.
Earlier in the week, Newsbusters said that the Washington Post failed to mention the SPLC connection in its initial reporting. The Post, however, changed its article to mention the SPLC after Ken Shepherd reported the paper's omission.
Last August, FRC president Tony Perkins said the SPLC created the environment that allowed the shooting to take place.
“Corkins was given a license to shoot an unarmed man by organizations like the Southern Poverty Law Center that have been reckless in labeling organizations as hate groups because they disagree with them on public policy,” he said.
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