BLUF
\nIt\u2019s too bad none of the scores of journalism contests out there yet offers a fake news category. If one did, the 14 stories chosen by the Trace would be award winners.<\/p>\n
The \u2018most memorable gun violence journalism of 2023,\u2019 according to the Trace<\/a> The Trace, the propaganda arm of former New York City mayor Michael Bloomberg\u2019s antigun empire, recently published their picks for\u00a0\u201cThe Most Memorable Gun Violence Journalism of 2023.\u201d<\/a><\/p>\n If there was a Pulitzer Prize category for gaslighting or agitprop, the 14 stories highlighted by the Trace would all be serious contenders.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n CNN<\/strong>\u00a0leads the list, of course, with their entry\u00a0\u201cGun violence has affected most families in the US, new survey finds,\u201d<\/a>\u00a0which was published in April. CNN\u2019s\u00a0journalists<\/em>\u00a0based their story on data from the long-debunked\u00a0Gun Violence Archive<\/a>.<\/p>\n \u201cMass shootings have escalated in recent years, reaching a record pace in 2023,\u201d the story states. \u201cThere have been at least 146 incidents so far this year, according to the Gun Violence Archive, leaving more than 200 people dead and hundreds more injured.\u201d<\/strong><\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n Any data from the\u00a0Gun Violence Archive<\/a>, we have shown numerous times, is about as reliable as a $20 Rolex. Keep in mind the GVA claims there were 417 mass shootings in 2019. The FBI says there were 30, because it uses a much narrower and realistic definition.<\/p>\n This year, the GVA claims there have been more than 72,000 shootings, of which 636 were mass shootings \u2014 an average of more than 1.7 per day.<\/p>\n Rolling Stone<\/strong>\u00a0tried again to reenter the world of investigative reporting with\u00a0\u201cMass Murder Is a Choice. The Gun Industry Made It,\u201d<\/a>\u00a0which was published in November. The Trace said the story provided a \u201chighly detailed, historical look at AR-platform rifles, shedding light on how the gun industry has marketed these weapons in ways that appeal to mass shooters.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cThe mass murder in Lewiston was a tragedy, but not an accident. It is a choice. And it\u2019s one that the gun industry made, and has doubled down on \u2014 pushing tens of millions of massacre-ready weapons on the American public,\u201d the story states.<\/strong><\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n Massacre-ready? Really?<\/p>\n The last time Rolling Stone tried its hand at serious investigative reporting it failed miserably. Journalism schools still study the magazine\u2019s infamous \u201cRape on Campus,\u201d series, which falsely accused members of a college fraternity of gang rape. Columbia University called the series \u201ca journalistic failure at every level.\u201d Other journalism thinktanks were less kind. The left-leaning Poynter Institute named the Rolling Stone story one of its \u201cErrors of the year.\u201d<\/p>\n This is Rolling Stone\u2019s investigative pedigree.<\/p>\n The New York Times<\/strong><\/em>\u00a0was lauded for its\u00a0\u201cArmy Ammunition Plant is Tied to Mass Shootings Across the U.S.\u201d<\/a>\u00a0which\u00a0we debunked in November.<\/a><\/p>\n Everything you need to know about the newspaper\u2019s \u201cinvestigation\u201d into the Lake City Army Ammunition Plant is summed up in the story\u2019s secondary headline:<\/p>\n \u201cIn recent years, the factory has also pumped billions of rounds of military-grade ammunition into the commercial market, an investigation by\u00a0The New York Times<\/em>\u00a0found, leaving the \u2018LC\u2019 signature scattered across crime scenes, including the sites of some of the nation\u2019s most heinous mass shootings.\u201d<\/strong><\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n In other words, mass shootings are not just the fault of the mass shooter. The ammunition manufacturer bears responsibility as well, the newspaper would have you believe.<\/p>\n As we pointed out in\u00a0our story<\/a>, the Biden-Harris administration chose to target ammunition manufacturers as part of their war on guns, so they turned to their loyal sycophants at the\u00a0Times<\/em>\u00a0to write a hit piece about the storied Lake City Plant, which has been making ammunition since World War II.<\/p>\n The Washington Post<\/strong><\/em>\u00a0published actual crime scene photos from 11 mass murders in a photo essay titled,\u00a0\u201cTerror on Repeat: A rare look at the devastation caused by AR-15 shootings,\u201d<\/a>\u00a0which was published in November.<\/p>\n In a\u00a0sidebar<\/a>, in which the newspaper attempted to justify their use of overly sensational and graphic photos, the\u00a0Post\u2019s<\/em>\u00a0editors claimed the AR made them do it.<\/p>\n \u201cLike other news organizations, we cover the effects of these tragedies when they occur. But because journalists generally do not have access to crime scenes and news organizations rarely if ever publish graphic content, most Americans have no way to understand the full scope of an AR-15\u2019s destructive power or the extent of the trauma inflicted on victims, survivors and first responders when a shooter uses this weapon on people,\u201d the story states.<\/strong><\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n The\u00a0Post\u2019s<\/em>\u00a0photo essay took the gun-ban industry\u2019s penchant for blaming an inanimate object rather than the murderer pulling the trigger to new lows. Also, there\u2019s a key point the editors missed: All crime scene photos are shocking and disgusting, regardless of the type of weapon used. By far the most graphic crime scene photos I\u2019ve ever taken involved cuttings not shootings.<\/p>\n Bloomberg News\u2019<\/strong>\u00a0contribution to the Trace\u2019s list is still a head-shaker. Its story, titled\u00a0\u201cHow the US Drives Gun Exports and Fuels Violence Around the World,\u201d<\/a>\u00a0blames Sig-Sauer Inc. for a mass murder at a nursery school in rural northeast Thailand, which left 36 people dead.<\/p>\n \u201cThe killer\u2019s gun, a Sig Sauer P365 \u2014 touted by the company as small enough to easily conceal yet able to hold 13 rounds \u2014 had traveled more than 8,000 miles from a factory on New Hampshire\u2019s rocky seacoast to Thailand\u2019s lush Nong Bua Lamphu province. It was part of a growing number of semiautomatic handguns and rifles exported by American gunmakers and linked to violent crimes,\u201d the story inexplicably states.<\/span><\/strong><\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n About the only thing factual in the story was the disclaimer Bloomberg News publishes every time one of their staffers writes about guns:<\/p>\n Everytown for Gun Safety, which advocates gun-safety measures, is backed by Michael Bloomberg, founder and majority owner of Bloomberg News parent Bloomberg LP.<\/em><\/strong><\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n
\nIf there was a Pulitzer category for gaslighting, the stories chosen by the Trace would all be serious contenders.<\/em><\/p>\nTakeaways<\/strong><\/h4>\n