Above, the headline on a conservative news site.
I complain a lot about how The Establishment increasingly views the world through Stalin’s framework of Who? Whom?, but here’s an example of the mainstream media obscuring the key questions of Who? Whom? until the 10th–11th paragraphs.
If you are very clever, you might figure out who was the criminal and who were the victims by combining clues in the 2nd and 5th paragraphs, but plenty of readers will get bored before realizing what really happened and intend take away the newspaper’s intended meaning: more murderous Trump Nazis ran over Peaceful Protesters.
From the Los Angeles Times:
Driver arrested on suspicion of attempted murder at Yorba Linda police brutality protest
By DEBORAH NETBURN STAFF WRITER
SEP. 26, 2020 10:09 PM UPDATED 3:28 PM1. A woman was arrested Saturday on suspicion of attempted murder and assault with a deadly weapon after driving her car into a crowd during a demonstration in Yorba Linda involving protesters against police brutality and counter-demonstrators, authorities said.
2. Tatiana Turner, 40, of Long Beach, was being held at the Orange County Jail Intake-Release Center in Santa Ana in lieu of $1 million bail, according to jail records. Investigators believe she was part of a group that planned the protest, the Orange County Sheriff’s Department said.
3. Two people were injured in the incident, according to Sgt. Dennis Breckner of the Sheriff’s Department.
4. One man suffered two broken legs and was hospitalized, and one woman suffered major and moderate injuries throughout her body, he said.
5. The original protest was advertised as a march against police brutality, social injustice and systemic racism, according to a flier posted on Instagram by the Urban Organizers Coalition.
6. It was scheduled for 2 p.m. Saturday outside the Yorba Linda Library on Imperial Boulevard.
7. A counter-demonstration held by Trump supporters was slated to start at the same time. The two groups faced off, with protesters on one side shouting “Black Lives Matter,” and their counterparts yelling “U.S.A.,” according to the Orange County Register.
8. The Sheriff’s Department received multiple reports of physical confrontations between the two groups, Breckner said. At least one person was pepper sprayed by a protester or counter-protester, the Sheriff’s Department said. Authorities also received reports that someone was displaying a firearm.
9. Breckner estimated that there were a total of 250 people from both sides.
10 Shortly before 3 p.m. video posted on social media shows a white car driving into a group of people, many of whom were waving Trump 2020 and American flags.
11. “The people in the crowd that were hit were in the Trump support group,” Breckner said.
Journalists used to write news stories where they crammed the Five Ws—Who, What, Where, When, and Why—into the first paragraph or even the first sentence.
But nowadays, the Five Os are more highly valued: Obfuscation, Opinion, Obscurity, Occlusion, and Opposite-orientation.
