“We’ve seen a lot of scaremongering,” Drennen tells Them over Zoom. “That’s especially jarring when you compare it with the silence of most cable networks, and broadcast networks when it comes to violence against trans people which, as we know, rose again last year and is on track to be pretty bad this year too.”
While Fox News did include one singular segment on anti-trans violence, Drennen says that the segment was “very much in line with what you’d expect.” The segment concerned a trans woman who was violently assaulted by a member of Mara Salvatrucha, the international criminal gang better known as MS-13 which became a common scapegoat for anti-immigrant policies during the Trump presidency. Even so, the segment primarily criticized the supposedly light criminal charges against the perpetrator, which the outlet blamed on L.A. County District Attorney George Gascón, a “progressive” prosecutor who is another favored target of the national right wing movement. In other words, Fox News was only concerned about covering anti-trans violence “when it lined up with their ideological priors,” as Drennen put it.
The study also found that one-third of cable news’ reporting on anti-trans violence aired during Pride Month, with a total of 13 minutes of coverage. Drennen adds that as June approaches, “it’s really important for networks to do a better job of rounding out their coverage,” which can look like including more trans guests on news segments, or even just saying the names of trans people who have been victims of violence.
But Drennen also adds that it’s “important to highlight that this is an ongoing story,” and that this lack of coverage coincides “with right wing violence in launching really specific, hateful attacks and calls for violence.” She points to a March 31 segment during which Tucker Carlson falsely claimed that trans people face lower levels of violence, as well as another Carlson segment during which he advocated for arresting and beating up teachers who talk to children about gender identity.
“The right-wing media has really been active this year in spreading the slander that trans people are grooming children for sexual activity,” Drennen says. “We’ve already seen a lot of incidents of real world violence that have been motivated by this. So their silence on this issue gives them permission to continue doing so without really facing the consequences of their hateful rhetoric.”
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