Late Tuesday night two CNN reporters in Ferguson, Missouri, Jason Carroll and Don Lemon spoke about not reporting on certain elements of the crowds protesting and rioting because the reporters said they did not fit the agenda of peaceful supporters of the Brown family.
The crowds were protesting the grand jury decision to not indict police officer Darren Wilson in the August shooting of robber Michael Brown.
Tuesday night in Ferguson saw reporters robbed and carjacked at gunpoint, but those reports didn’t make it on air by other reporters with an agenda to protect the reputation of the protesters.
It appears CNN is not alone in censoring reports on the Ferguson protests. A Google News search shows no reports on the carjacking. Outside of The Gateway Pundit and Twitchy, the local Riverfront Times was the only media outlet Tuesday night to report on the armed attacks on reporters.
Speaking in the 10 p.m. CST hour on CNN, Jason Carroll spoke about his decision to censor his on scene reporting in Ferguson. Host Don Lemon discussed the decision with Carroll and agreed:
Transcript by CNN
LEMON: Jason, I want to ask you something because, you know, there are people were talking to you. Of course, we don’t want profanity or expletives on television if we could avoid them. But what’s the sentiment? What were those men saying to you, the protesters?
CARROLL: They were angry. I don’t want to give them the publicity to be honest. It is really — I mean, people, certain people have an agenda that’s separate from what some of the protesters, who are peaceful, who are coming out here, trying to demonstrate on behalf of Michael Brown’s family.
Those people who came up to us that was not their agenda so I don’t think it’s really worth giving them publicity. I think it’s far more important to focus on what is happening out here, those who are passionate about Michael Brown’s family. Those were passionate about Darren Wilson and his belief.
In terms of the police response, that’s what we are dealing with here, right now, trying to get a handle on the situation. Again, earlier tonight, it was a different tone. Much more peaceful than what we had seen, the previous night. It was a smaller group tonight by and large.
Most of the people who came out here tonight were peaceful. It was definitely a smaller group that they broke off in front of the Ferguson Police Department, came up the street, South Florissant, to where we are now.
Tried to overturn this police cruiser and as soon as police came in, they stopped. They tried to set it on fire. Once again, Don, much more aggressive response that we saw, quicker response tonight to try to make sure they didn’t see a repeat of (inaudible).
LEMON: So, Jason, my question was really, these are, wondering if these are people who want their voices to be heard or if these were just people who are agitators. You are right. If it is people who are agitators then you don’t want to give them any more publicity. There are many people there who just want their voices heard. Those, those guys are not those people, correct?
CARROLL: That is correct. Absolutely. Those are the kind of people — as you know, you get a mixed bag sometimes in these groups of demonstrators. But most of the people who are out here are out here because — they want to voice their support for Michael Brown and his family.
Those who came up to us, those were not those people, they had a different agenda. So that’s why I feel as though it’s really not worth getting into what their agenda was. It’s not important.
What’s important is those people who were out here in support of Michael Brown or those people who are maybe sitting at home and support the officer Darren Wilson. It’s I think what the community is going to have to grapple with going forward.
It’s finding a way to bring those two camps together with a backdrop of dealing with things like we are looking at right now.
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