The Media Research Center has been flirting with race-baiting narratives over the past couple months. Curtis Houck complained in a July 30 post:
Over the weekend, video surfaced of a violent brawl Friday night at Cincinnati, Ohio’s annual music festival where a man and woman where beaten to the ground (and then some) by a violent mob. Given the victims appeared to be white and the mob black, ABC, CBS, and NBC have steered clear given the clear racial breakdown and not given it a single second on their flagship morning or evening newscasts.
In contrast, the Fox News Channel, Newsmax, and NewsNation recognized the seriousness of this story, providing multiple segments since video went viral.
Or it could be that Fox News Channel, Newsmax, and NewsNation are right-wing outlets that have partisan narratives to push — one of which appears to be pushing the idea of scary black people. Houck didn’t want to discuss that possibility. This was the only post the MRC published on the Cincinnati incident, so it didn’t go all race-baity about it the way WorldNetDaily did.
The MRC more heavily latched onto another crime with a racial component. Jorge Bonilla huffed in a Sept. 7 post:
A common feature of legacy media coverage leading up to the 2024 presidential campaign was their collective reluctance and/or outright refusal to cover heinous crimes that reflected poorly on key Democrat policies. With the 2026 midterms over a year out, it appears that the media are reverting to form.
The nation is horrified by the brutal murder of Ukrainian refugee Iryna Zartuska, who was randomly stabbed to death while riding the light rail in Charlotte, North Carolina, by a homeless man with an extensive criminal and mental health record.
Bonilla then touted how right-wing media (not that he identified them as such) quickly pounced on the story:
The first mention of this crime on any kind of video media, per our research, was during a panel discussion on the August 28th episode of Just the News, Not Noise on Real America’s Voice. But this NewsNation item was the first standalone report of this horrendous story on a national newscast. ABC, CBS, and NBC had multiple weeks’ worth of nightly newscasts on which to air this story, but didn’t (neither did CNN or MSNBC). Instead, the legacy nightlies chose to air such compelling stories as: the Japanese field goal kicker at the University of Hawaii, the opening of Princess Di’s time capsule, multi-day cycles on the Swift-Kelce engagement, the growing Powerball jackpot, Haboobmania, and the legal travails of Cardi B, among many others. But they will eventually get to this brutal crime, albeit kicking and screaming and omitting whatever key details they think they can get away with.
Bonilla won’t admit the possibility that those right-wing outlets pushed the story because it serves their partisan interests to do so — you know, the way Bonilla himself is pushing it.
Houck returned to again praise right-wing media for pouncing on the story:
On Monday, CBS Mornings spent just over two minutes on last month’s brutal murder of Ukrainian refugee Iryna Zarutska in Charlotte allegedly at the hands of a man who had 14 prior arrests but was still allowed to roam free. This ended the shameful network blackout on the flagship morning and evening newscasts of ABC, CBS, and NBC.
This stood in stark contrast to others such as NewsNation, Newsmax, and the Fox News Channel which have, in some cases, been covering this murder all weekend following the release of the video leading up to and after Zarutska being stabbed:
[…]So, while it’s certainly the news judgement viewers can and should expect under the new regime at the Skydance-helmed CBS News (and possibly Bari Weiss joining the fray), there were still a few key details missing such as party ID of those whose policies allowed the suspect to live on the streets.
It would seem to make Houck look bad by admitting his partisan motivation in hyping the story.
Bonilla returned to grouse more in a Sept. 8 post:
And on the 17th day, the legacy media finally got around to reporting the brutal murder of Ukrainian refugee Iryna Zarutska on board a Charlotte light rail. Rather than simply reporting the inconvenient story straight up, though, NBC saw fit to engage in a little Trumpwashing.
[…]The Trumpwashing tease was set early on, in Tom Llamas’s introduction to the report, which framed the story. Correspondent Jesse Kirsch then went into his report, which narrated the horrendous details of the crime and made note of the defendant’s criminal record. It was at this point that Kirsch reacted to President Donald Trump weighing in on cashless bail. As if that were scandalous. Kirsch then closes out the report with a quote from North Carolina Governor Josh Stein, making sure to work Stein’s partisan ID into the close.
This is a typical tactic of legacy media when forced into reporting on an inconvenient story they previously omitted. The horrible thing that happened takes a back seat to whatever Trump said in reaction.
As was the case with the stories of Laken Riley, Jocelyn Nungaray, Rachel Morin, and so many others, the legacies held off on reporting this horrific story until an explosive element made it unavoidable. In the aforementioned cases, the explosive element is the illegal immigrant status of the perpetrators. In the Zarutska murder, the explosive element is the video of the killing.
Tim Graham used his Sept. 8 podcast to grumble that it was pointed out how Republicans did indeed pounce on the story — and introduces the racial element:
Horror bubbled up on social media over the brutal murder of Ukrainian refugee Iryna Zarutska, who was randomly stabbed to death while riding the light rail in Charlotte, North Carolina, by a homeless man with an extensive criminal and mental health record. A young woman fled war in Ukraine with her family, only to find death in an American city.
The liberal networks struggled to locate it. CBS Mornings arrived first. Once CNN touched it, it was framed as Republicans Pounce.
Senior research analyst Bill D’Agostino joins the show to discuss how and why this hypersensitive resistance to the Charlotte story happened. It’s all about race, and a black man brutally killing a white woman seems like a narrative best suited for white racists, so they don’t want to talk about it.
Graham didn’t explain why it was a bad thing to pointed out how Republicans pounced on a story with a racial component and were emphasizing that component.
Houck then groused about how it was pointed out the racial component was seized upon:
On Monday afternoon’s CNN News Central, chief law enforcement and intelligence analyst John Miller and chief media analyst Brian Stelter offered two ridiculous reactions to last month’s brutal murder in Charlotte, North Carolina of a Ukrainian refugee allegedly at the hands of a thug with 14 prior arrests.
For the latter, it was a lack of government-funded mental health care while the latter bemoaned those outraged have been dabbling in racism.
Fill-in co-host Danny Freeman huffed at the top in a tease: “Fueling a political firestorm. How a video of a deadly stabbing in Charlotte has turned into a flashpoint as the administration pushes its crime crackdown.”
Notice how it’s always painted as a negative and political when CNN’s enemies blow the whistle on something being a problem.
[…]Stelter started with the observation that “most murders in the U.S. never become national news” and this murder, like “the times when civil rights groups have raised attention about police-involved shootings,” this murder went from a local to national story because of “the energy from pro-Trump activists” and “influencers…posting up a storm about this case.”
“Really, over the weekend, Elon Musk, Charlie Kirk, other Trump aligned figures succeeded in making this senseless death a symbol of big city crime…This story has trickled up from so from local news to social media and now to the President’s attention and it’s being used, as you said, Brianna, as a political symbol with MAGA media calling for more forceful punishments and more incarceration,” Stelter fretted.
Again, the horror concern is raised about what one could argue was an abuse of the justice system to allow someone with over a dozen arrests to roam freely!
Was it, though? It seems that right-wingers seized on this story specifically because a scary black man was captured on video killing a white woman. If the races were reversed, it’s unlikely the MRC or any of its right-wing buddies would care even slightly as much.