On CNN’s Reliable sourcesBrian Stelter was on the show for a lot of Sunday’s discussion about the Uvalde mass shooting. During the second segment of the show, Stelter brought on founder of The Reload, and former MRCTV writer and MRC Bulldog Award winner Steven Gutowski, as well as Mother Jones editor in chief Clara Jeffery to discuss the media’s coverage of the shooting.
Stelter, Jeffery and others brought nothing of substance and knowledge to the conversation. Gutowski however made certain to highlight this fact during his objective and reasoned analysis.
Jeffery started off complaining about “how does an 18-year-old, on his birthday legally buy a weapon of war with no checks, no training, no accountability of any kind?”
She dismissed the idea that we should be focusing on why the Uvalde police waited an hour to kill the gunman, and demanded we all “keep our eye firmly on that ball” and rush to ban AR-15s and other weapons.
Gutowski calmly responded that “there should be quite a lot of focus on the failings of the law enforcement response at the elementary school in Texas. Because that very likely got a lot of people killed.”
He also pointed out the obvious that “there’s no single magic switch that you can flip, whether it’s about hardening schools or banning guns as people propose, that’s going to instantly solve this problem.”
Stelter asked Gutowski about how media could do better at covering gun violence and other tragic events like those in Uvalde. In response, Gutowski noted that “we need better literacy about guns” and made the point that there isn’t “even a base level of knowledge that we have in our industry.”
Gutowski made several interesting points about the media’s lack of knowledge or curiosity about guns:
“There’s no beat, nobody covers this in our industry on a regular basis. This isn’t something that gets prioritized. And so when there are events that happen like this, what you get are reporters who are general-assignment reporters who don’t have knowledge of the subject and that’s when mistakes get made constantly.”
Jeffery predictably took issue with what Gutowski said and insisted I would just like to say that “Mother Jones have been covering this for more than a decade intensively.”
This isn’t the point he was trying to convey. While you can report on a story, it is easy to be completely unaware of the nuanced details.
The unhinged Mother Jones editor couldn’t handle being called out so she lashed out at Gutowski and wailed “This sort of shield of expertise that always comes up, oh, if you don’t know that an AR doesn’t stand for assault rifle, then you have no business talking about guns” Jeffery shrieked. “No, we’re all parents, we’re all citizens, we all have to go to school and to church and to temple and to the store. All of us are experts. It’s not what we want. But that’s what’s happened.”
After she finally calmed down, Gutowski clarified his point so even she could understand: “I’m not talking about you needing an expert level of education to comment on firearms. I think what we have issue in our industry is that we don’t very rarely have even a base level, even an understanding of the difference between semi-automatic and automatic.”
This segment was made possible thanks to LifeLock. The information of both is linked.
To read the relevant transcript of this segment click “expand”:
CNN’s Sources of reliability
5/29/2022
Eastern at 11:20 a.m.CLARA JEFFERY, EDITOR IN CHIEF MOTHER JONES: It’s time to step back and examine the true issue. How can an 18-year old legally purchase a weapon for war without any checks, training or accountability? We must not lose sight of the fact that we have to solve the mystery surrounding the police.
BRIAN STELTER Stephen, what did Clara say to you?
STEPHEN. GUTOWSKI, FOUNDER, THERELOAD.COM: Well, I disagree strongly on several points. Yes, I think it is important to focus on the failures in the Texas law enforcement response to the Texas elementary school. It is likely that many people were killed. It does not negate the notion that a person can end a situation such as this by using a firearm. They’ve done so repeatedly, I am sure. But it’s certainly not a guarantee. A ban on assault weapons isn’t a guarantee against these shootings. As we saw in Buffalo, the shooter bought a legal New York model of his rifle and modified his gun. This problem cannot be solved by one switch. It doesn’t matter if you harden schools or ban guns, there is no magic solution.
STELTER : We agree, there isn’t a magic switch. Stephen, we should aim to reduce deaths. It should be that goal. The goal is to reduce the amount of livestock.
GUTOWSKI – Of course.
STELTER: How can the media cover guns better?
[crosstalk]
STELTER – Stephen, this beat has been yours for many years. You are always reliable in covering gun-related issues. Is there anything the media should do differently? How can the media do more to report on this particular beat or issue?
GUTOWSKI: Certainly. We need to be able to understand the basics of guns and the laws that govern them. It doesn’t seem like there’s a foundation of knowledge in the industry. That is not all that I believe. It is an issue. It’s a problem that is not covered in the industry. It’s not something that can be prioritized. This is why when events like these happen, you end up with reporters who have no knowledge about the subject.
STELTER: Interesting. Clara —
[crosstalk]
JEFFERY: I’m able to interrupt you for one second.
STELTER: Yeah, please.
JEFFERY. Well, Mother Jones has been closely covering this topic for over a decade. The subject has a lot of information. I believe most Americans need to be familiar with the basics of gun laws, gun restrictions, and other views about guns. A common view about guns is that the majority of people don’t own one. Most people want universal background checks and red flag laws. They also want an increase in the minimum age for purchasing assault weapons. A majority want assault weapons to be banned. That shield of knowledge that is always there, which I consider to be a safeguard of competence, says that if an AR does not stand for assault rifle then it’s irrelevant that you are talking about guns. We’re all citizens and parents. Everybody has to be at school, church, temple, and the grocery store. All of us are experts. It’s not what we want. However, that is what has happened.
It’s because a few politicians, lobbyists, manufacturers, sell fear to the base. And that base is then beholden. This antimajoritarian system is what we have now, where only a small percentage of American citizens with extremist views about guns set the policy agenda. It has devastating consequences for children.
(…)
GUTOWSKI The problem we face in the industry is that very few people have a basic understanding, or even an awareness of what semi-automatic means. When you are trying to talk about policy and explain the impacts to an audience, these issues matter a lot.
(…)
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