Fox 5 DC Reporter Emily Miller Dismisses Planned Parenthood Shooting As A “One-Off” Occurrence
Written by Timothy Johnson
Published
Emily Miller, the chief investigative reporter for Washington, D.C.'s Fox affiliate, characterized the mass shooting at a Colorado Planned Parenthood as a “one-off” incident, claiming on Fox Business, “Violence is not the one-off -- this psychotic guy in Colorado who killed these innocent people and an amazing police officer who saved lives as well -- I mean that's a one-off.”
Miller, who works for Fox 5 (WTTG), made the claim during a December 1 appearance on Fox Business Network program Kennedy while criticizing President Obama's reaction to mass shootings.
On the Planned Parenthood shooting, which claimed three lives and left nine other people wounded, Miller said, “The president of the United States would be honest about violence in this country.Violence is not the one-off -- this psychotic guy in Colorado who killed these innocent people and an amazing police officer who saved lives as well -- I mean that's a one-off, that is a mentally ill, he has a long history of hitting his wife and of criminal activity and he's psychotic.”
Miller then said of the Planned Parenthood shooting, “That's an easy one to jump on, but what's hard for [Obama] to even deal with, which is the majority of the 9,000 people who are killed every year by gunfire is that they're inner-city.” Right-wing media frequently exaggerate the proportion of violence that occurs in inner-cities -- gang-related gun murders account for less than 20 percent of the total number of gun homicides -- and the claim that Obama has failed to address inner-city violence is a common conservative media falsehood.
The notion mass shootings involving individuals with troubling personal histories are “one-off” occurrences is contradicted by the facts of numerous public mass shootings, including yesterday's mass shooting in San Bernardino, California.
Miller caused controversy earlier this year when she was criticized for openly attacking stronger gun laws during speeches at local pro-gun rallies while also working as a reporter who covered gun issues. Following the controversy over her conflict of interest, Fox 5 began including a disclosure that Miller is an “advocate of the Second Amendment” during her reports on gun laws.
She was also widely criticized in February after Washington Post's Erik Wemple reported that Miller had given different accounts of a 2010 “home invasion” she claimed to be the victim of in order to “squeeze the story for additional terror” in support of her pro-gun advocacy.