What a difference a decade makes. While much of the legacy media continues to bash ICE in the aftermath of the Renee Good shooting (even earning a scolding from the Vice President), video from ten years ago shows that once upon a time, even the liberal media treated ICE much differently. Social media users found the video from May 2016, in which CNN reporter Pamela Brown spent "A day with ICE in the Sanctuary City of Chicago."
In the six-minute report, Brown literally rode along with ICE agents for an entire day showing how they conduct raids, make arrests, and what types of challenges they face on the job. The report presented a fair and balanced account of ICE, with Brown even noting that ICE agents "arrest criminals in the U.S. illegally."
Fast forward to this week, when CNN anchor Dana Bash openly questioned reports that an ICE agent in Minneapolis was attacked with a shovel, implying the agency is not trustworthy.
Of course, a lot has changed in ten years. But the biggest reason for this shift in coverage seems obvious. "The difference between 2016 CNN coverage of ICE and CNN coverage of ICE today is simple, it's party ID," says Curtis Houck, managing editor for Newsbusters. "In 2016 Barack Obama was in the White House, so he was part of their team...now, Donald Trump is in the White House."
Houck also notes how the 2016 piece utilized basic journalistic tenets. "In the old coverage, Pamela Brown, who is still with CNN, was giving ICE the benefit of the doubt because she was trying to learn more about what they were doing, whereas there is no curiosity about what ICE is doing now," he tells KTRH.
For Houck, this shows how much even liberal outlets like CNN have shifted further left under Trump. "It is stunning that CNN would actually do this, because I doubt they ever thought this would come back to bite them," he says. "CNN has egg on its face today, and to be honest I don't think they even care."
Photo: NurPhoto
