By Kristine Marsh | August 5, 2015 | 2:32 PM EDT

One year ago this Sunday, 18-year-old Michael Brown was shot during a struggle with then police officer Darren Wilson in Ferguson, Missouri. Immediately after Brown was killed, protests and misinformation spread throughout Ferguson and across America, but not without the media’s help. Brown’s friend claimed Brown had his hands up and was facing away from Wilson when Wilson shot and killed him.

“Hands Up, Don’t Shoot” became a common crowd chant, a hashtag, and a national catch-phrase that held no credibility but still was repeated by the media that knew better.

By Kristine Marsh | July 15, 2015 | 1:28 PM EDT

A white artist is making waves in the media for creating a reenactment of Michael Brown’s death as an art exhibit in Chicago.

The exhibit opens on the heels of a federal judge dismissing four counts of wrongful-death lawsuits filed by Brown’s parents. More are still being filed, according to the St. Louis Post-Dispatch.

By Tom Blumer | July 12, 2015 | 11:07 PM EDT

Aamer Madhani at USA Today took the easy way out on Friday in covering the sharp increases in murders in many U.S. cities during the first half of this year.

He quoted Milwaukee's police chief bemoaning "absurdly weak" gun laws. He noted that "the increased violence is disproportionately impacting poor and predominantly African-American and Latino neighborhoods." He found a university prof to allege that there's a lack of resources to "fund a proactive law enforcement." What rubbish. The fact is that the "broken windows" approach to law enforcement, the "proactive law enforcement" initiative pioneered in New York City under Mayor Rudy Giuliani in the 1990s which made New York one of the safest cities in America, is being systematically discredited by the left and abandoned by many police departments, with all too predictable results.

By Tom Blumer | May 7, 2015 | 10:15 AM EDT

In a "completely unexpected" (no, not really) development, Dorian Johnson, the person who was with Michael Brown in Ferguson, Missouri when Brown was killed by police officer Darren Wilson, has been arrested. I know, I know, it's a real shock to learn that the guy who completely fabricated the "hands up, don't shoot" lie and, along with Brown, "stole a box of cigars" from a store before their fateful encounter with Wilson could possibly have broken the law.

The Associated Press has written a story on the arrest. What's really odd, at least based on searches on Johnson's first name, is that the story isn't posted at the wire service's main national site or at its "Big Story" site.

By Tom Blumer | April 25, 2015 | 10:05 AM EDT

At a March 4 press conference, U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder grudgingly bowed to the truth relating to the events surrounding the death of Michael Brown in Ferguson, Missouri in August of last year: "Michael Brown’s death, though a tragedy, did not involve prosecutable conduct on the part of Officer (Darren) Wilson."

In doing so, Holder effectively acknowledged the falsity of the claim, repeated hundreds of times in broadcast, online, and print media reports, that Brown cried "hands up, don't shoot!" before he was killed. The Attorney General also (cough, cough) wondered "how the department’s findings can differ so sharply from some of the initial, widely reported accounts of what transpired" and "how such a strong alternative version of events was able to take hold so swiftly, and be accepted so readily."

By Tom Blumer | March 15, 2015 | 10:21 AM EDT

Thursday night, Fox News's Megyn Kelly went after the press's and the political class's continued lionization of a "protest movement based upon a lie," namely those sowing slow-motion anarchy in Ferguson, Missouri following the death of Michael Brown, and "a segment of our political leaders and pundits" egging them on by giving them undeserved visibility and sympathy.

Members of Congress who propped up the odious "Hands up, don't shoot" lie came in for a special mention.

By Matthew Balan | March 12, 2015 | 6:02 PM EDT

On Thursday's New Day on CNN, left-wing Missouri State Senator Maria Chappelle-Nadal wildly accused fellow guest Jeff Roorda of the St. Louis Police Officer Association of being a racist. Chapelle-Nadal asserted that she, as well as the far-left protesters she supports, were "trying to...ensure that racism does not continue by people like you." Roorda replied, "Are you calling me a racist, Senator?" The Democratic politician replied, "Yes, absolutely!"

By Matthew Balan | March 6, 2015 | 11:31 PM EST

On Friday, CNN's Anderson Cooper 360 surprisingly spotlighted that the "hands up, don't shoot" narrative and chant forwarded by many left-wing supporters of Michael Brown's family is grounded in falsehoods. Correspondent Sara Sidner cited a recent Justice Department report that underlined that the mantra is "inconsistent with the physical and forensic evidence" and that "witnesses have acknowledged their initial accounts were untrue."

By Randy Hall | January 14, 2015 | 5:40 PM EST

During Wednesday's edition of the Cable News Network's New Day morning program, co-host Chris Cuomo took the unusual step of vowing to help Arne Duncan, secretary of education in president Barack Obama's administration, to “go on a shame campaign with Congress to get them to act” on an issue dealing with education.

Cuomo made the remark during an exchange regarding the White House proposal to use the federal government to force taxpayers to cover the costs for two years of “free” community college.

 

By Tom Blumer | January 4, 2015 | 11:59 PM EST

In the final three paragraphs of a "Year in Review" item at the Los Angeles Times on December 31 (HT Patterico), reporter Matt Pearce joined the long list of journalists who have failed to properly characterize the evidence in Michael Brown's death in Ferguson, Missouri in August.

You had to know that distortions were coming based on the rest of the article content which preceded it. The most obvious giveaway was Pearce's description of Eric Garner's death on Staten Island. He wrote that Garner "died after an altercation with police; the officer accused of putting him in an unauthorized chokehold was not indicted." The officer involved was "accused" of the act, but he didn't commit it. In August, former NYPD detective Bo Deitl indicated that "it was a headlock, not a chokehold," and that the non-choking action was not the cause of Garner's death. Well, if Pearce couldn't get Garner right, it was a near certainty that he'd seriously botch his description of the Brown situation, which he proceeded to do (bolds are mine):

By Tom Blumer | December 28, 2014 | 9:52 AM EST

In St. Louis County, police have arrested 19 year-old Joshua Williams and charged him (HT Gateway Pundit) with committing "1st degree arson, 2nd degree burglary and misdemeanor theft" at the QuikTrip convenience store in Berkeley, Missouri on Christmas Eve. Williams "has confessed to the crimes."

The St. Louis Post-Dispatch gets today's prize for most absurd headline, as seen after the jump (bolds are mine throughout this post):

By Matthew Balan | December 12, 2014 | 8:56 PM EST

CBS Evening News's liberal bias was blatant on Friday, as their "young adults" panel discussing the issue of "the excessive use of force by police – especially against minorities" was made up entirely of people who have participated in the protests decrying the grand jury decisions in the Michael Brown and Eric Garner cases. Correspondent Elaine Quijano asked, "How many of you have been involved with the protests that have taken place in the wake of Ferguson?" All six panelists raised their hand or nodded their head.