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How the mainstream media downplay left-wing violence By Warren Henry
ON JUNE 29, 2019, a journalist named Andy Ngo was assaulted while covering political demonstrations on the streets of Portland, Oregon. He was almost certainly beaten by vigilantes from Antifa, an inchoate national gang whose activities were classified as "domestic terrorist violence" by the Department of Homeland Security during the Obama administration. Ngo suffered a potentially life-threatening head injury.
The general reaction from the establishment media, when they have bothered to cover the story, has been to blame the victim. There is no evidence Ngo provoked the attacks against him other than by committing acts of journalism. But to many in the media, Ngo has the wrong politics-and his sudden notoriety rankles.
The animosity toward Ngo is such that elements of the press now suggest he was complicit in the violence of the far-right groups that engage in street brawls with Antifa. The public evidence of this charge is remarkably thin. Yet major media outlets uncritically laundered the claim from an activist working for far-left groups. Whether ironic or hypocritical, the media's behavior toward Ngo and Antifa corrodes not only our political discourse but also the standing of American journalism.
FROM THE OUTSET of his career, Ngo has been no stranger to controversy. He first came to public attention in April 2017 after being fired from Portland State University's student newspaper, the Vanguard. Ngo had posted video clips of a student interfaith panel discussion from his personal Twitter account. One tweet, stating that "the Muslim student speaker said that apostates will be killed or banished in an Islamic state," went viral and became the basis for a Breitbart News story.
By Ngo's account, published at National Review, Vanguard editor in chief Colleen Leary confronted him with the Breitbart article and referred to his "history" of affiliation with conservative media. Leary told Willamette Week that she fired Ngo because his tweet was a "half-truth" that "incited a reaction and implicated the student panelist." She denied her decision was political but added, "It was reasonable to ask about Breitbart collusion because he has [worked with the network] before." Ngo denied contacting Breitbart about his tweet, and he had declined a previous offer to write there.
Until...