“So Fucking Irresponsible”: NY Post's Cover About Shooting Of Dallas Police Roundly Condemned

Special Programs Guns & Public Safety

Written by Bobby Lewis

Published

In the wake of an attack on police officers in Dallas, TX, during a peaceful demonstration against the recent police shootings of two black men, the New York Post used the cover of its Friday edition to announce a “civil war.” Media figures from across the political spectrum condemned the “utterly irresponsible” cover as “morally perverse and factually wrong.”

Twelve Officers Shot, Five Fatally, By Snipers In Dallas At A Demonstration Against Police Shootings

Sniper Fire Kills Five Police Officers, Injures Seven Others In Dallas. On July 7, snipers targeted police officers at a demonstration against police shootings in Dallas, TX, killing five and injuring seven others. President Barack Obama addressed the attack from Warsaw, Poland, saying, “There has been a vicious, calculated and despicable attack on law enforcement” and that “Police in Dallas were on duty doing their jobs, keeping people safe, during peaceful protests.” From The New York Times:

Snipers killed five Dallas police officers and wounded seven others, along with two civilians, during a demonstration on Thursday night against police shootings in Minnesota and Louisiana this week, the authorities said.

By morning, one suspect had been killed by the police, who used a robot-controlled bomb after extensive negotiations during a standoff in a garage in downtown Dallas at the El Centro community college. Three others were in custody.

[...]

“There has been a vicious, calculated and despicable attack on law enforcement,” President Obama told reporters Friday morning in Warsaw, where he was attending a NATO summit meeting, after speaking by phone with Mayor Mike Rawlings of Dallas.

Mr. Obama went on: “Police in Dallas were on duty doing their jobs, keeping people safe, during peaceful protests. These law enforcement officers were targeted, and nearly a dozen officers were shot. Five were killed. Other officers, and at least one civilian, were wounded. Some are in serious condition, and we are praying for their recovery.” [The New York Times, 7/8/16]

NY Post Responded With An Inflammatory Cover Claiming There’s A “Civil War” 

NY Post: “Civil War: Four Cops Killed At Anti-Police Protest”

[Twitter, 7/7/16]

“Appallingly Inaccurate”: Media Figures Denounce NY Post’s “Utterly Irresponsible” “Civil War” Cover

Vox: NY Post “Shows How Not To Cover The Violence” In Dallas. Vox’s Zach Beauchamp excoriated the New York Post for its “Civil War” cover, which “appears to suggest that protesters were responsible for the violence.” Beauchamp condemned the Post for its “appallingly inaccurate” and “irresponsible” cover, concluding that “there’s no legitimate journalistic justification for what the New York Post did.” From the July 8 post (emphasis original):

The cover appears to suggest that protesters were responsible for the violence, even though Dallas police said the shots came from outside the protests and the people who organized the protest have explicitly stated that their organization “does not condone violence against any human being, and we condemn anyone who wants to commit violence.”

[...]

Even suggesting that a comparison to civil war might be worth thinking about is appallingly inaccurate.

Worse than inaccurate, actually — it’s irresponsible. Implying that one horrible event is part of a nationwide wave of violence makes problems seem far worse than they are. That’s especially bad when the implication is that black Americans demonstrating for their rights are the source of the problem. The last thing you want to do at a time when racial tensions are running high is to suggest that black people are waging war on the police, when they are most certainly not doing anything of the sort.

There’s no legitimate journalistic justification for what the New York Post did. Things are bad enough in America when you just look at the facts, honestly.

But I guess you can say one thing for the New York Post: Capitalizing on racialized fear after a tragedy will probably help it sell papers. [Vox, 7/8/16]

Wash. Examiner's T. Becket Adams: “The @NYPost Joins @DRUDGE In Competing In The Most Irresponsible Headline Olympics."

[Twitter, 7/8/16]

National Journal’s Ron Fournier: ‘This Is Irresponsible. This Is Wrong. This Is PR For Killers And Bigots.”

[Twitter, 7/8/16]

The Daily Beast’s Marlow Stern: “This Cover Is So Fucking Irresponsible It's Insane.”

[Twitter, 7/8/16]

The Week’s Marc Ambinder: “The @NYPost’s Cover Is Beyond Absurd; It Is Morally Perverse And Factually Wrong. "

[Twitter, 7/8/16]

Wash. Post’s Wesley Lowery: “This Is Utterly Irresponsible.”

[Twitter, 7/8/16]

NY Times’ Nick Corasaniti: “Most Unprofessional And Irresponsible Headline Of The Year? Decade? Ever?”

[Twitter, 7/8/16]

Wash. Free Beacon’s Lachlan Markay: “Not Helping, @NYPost.”

[Twitter, 7/8/16]

Mic’s Alexis Kleinman: “.@NYPost Responded To The #Dallas Shootings In The WORST Possible Way. Disgusting.”

[Twitter, 7/8/16]