The Media Research Center was mad that former CNN anchor Don Lemon tagged along with an anti-ICE protest in Minnesota, then cheered when he got arrested over it. Alex Christy continued the cheering — with added nitpicking — in a Jan. 31 post:
When it comes to the case against former CNN host Don Lemon’s alleged role in a recent takeover of a St. Paul church, the two most serious allegations against him are probably those that state he did not leave when the pastor asked him to and that he obstructed congregants as they tried to leave. However, neither ABC’s nor CBS’s Friday evening or Saturday morning news broadcasts reported on those details. While NBC mentioned the part about Lemon being asked to leave, it joined the other two in not explicitly mentioning the obstruction allegation, even if it showed footage of Lemon by the door.
CBS reporter Matt Gutman was the most vocal against Lemon’s arrest on Evening News, declaring, “Tonight, Don Lemon defiantly addressing reporters after being indicted on that federal civil rights charge.”
After showing video of Lemon at a press conference and from the day of the alleged crime, Gutman didn’t see what the big deal was, “Don Lemon says this act of conventional journalism has landed him in federal court.”
Gutman then profiled co-defendant Georgia Fort, calling her a “Minnesota journalist,” but ignoring her role with the NAACP before playing some clips from Attorney General Pam Bondi and President Trump.
Steve Malzberg made his own contribution in a Feb. 1 post:
When it comes to the arrest and charges against former CNN Host Don Lemon, for his role in the invasion of a Church in St. Paul, Minnesota last month, it appears that some in the liberal media are not only willing to support his claims that he was there as a “journalist”, but they are willing to leave out some important information during their reporting. As pointed out by our colleague Alex Christy, ABC and CBS are guilty of doing it, and they are not alone.
Friday night on CNN’s NewsNight With Abby Phillip, the host incorrectly claimed that Lemon was not named in a part of the indictment where he was in fact included, and she wound up being corrected by panelist and New York Post correspondent Lydia Moynihan. Phillip opened the show by claiming, “Freedom of the press is under siege after the arrests of Independent Journalists, former CNN anchor Don Lemon and Georgia Fort for their coverage of an anti-ICE protest that erupted and interrupted a Church service in St. Paul, Minnesota.”
Phillip soon played part of Lemon’s interview with Pastor David Easterwood, who described what was happening as, “unacceptable and shameful,” and at one point said he needed to go and “take care of my flock.” But Lemon continued and eventually accused the pastor of “pushing” him, although it does not appear that way on the video.
Tim Graham grumbled:
The unanimously Trump-bashing PBS pundit show Washington Week with The Atlantic came rushing to the defense of Don Lemon on their Friday night pitch-and-catch. Host Jeffrey Goldberg began: “It’s been another semi-hallucinatory week in America. Just yesterday, the former CNN anchor Don Lemon was arrested for covering a protest inside a church in Minneapolis.”
“Arrested for covering a protest” is exactly the DNC talking point of the week. Jeff and his Biden-boosting panel never cared one whit about this concept when Steve Baker of The Blaze was arrested for accompanying January 6 protesters — in March of 2024, more than three years after the riot. Jeff didn’t care when the FBI raided right-wing journalist James O’Keefe in search of the stolen diary of the president’s daughter Ashley in 2021. There are other debater points. No conservative journalist ever appears to offer an actual counterpoint to Team Goldberg. The PBS mission is to offer the arguments of only one side. The unity is just so….comfortably undemocratic.
Actually, Baker pleaded guilty to his role in the riot, making sure to add, “I don’t have a regret about my behavior that day.” According to a government affidavit, Baker entered the Capitol through a broken door and joined the mob at the barricaded doors to the House chamber, and he “antagonized” police officers who tried to keep him on the other side of a doorjamb, repeatedly asking, “Are you going to use that (gun) on us?” And O’Keefe was clearly trafficking in stolen property, which Ashley Biden’s diary clearly was. Why does Graham oppose prosecuting criminals because they hold his partisan viewpoint? We thought right-wingers hated people who got away with crimes.
Graham then played the Trump equivocation card:
Trump Haters can never find any “basically manufactured charges” against Trump over the last ten years, like the entire crusade that Trump had colluded with the Russians to get elected in 2016, not to mention many of the other partisan prosecutions.
In fact, a government watchdog found that an investigation into Trump’s links to Russia was justified. Graham is playing the Trump Regime Media game of dismissing any link between Trump and Russia, no matter how legitimate, as a “hoax.”
Jorge Bonilla whined:
The Elitist Media circled the wagons in the immediate aftermath of the indictment and arrest of former CNN anchor Don Lemon over the many civil rights violations committed in the protest-swarm of Cities Church in St. Paul, Minnesota on January 18th. But after the initial swarm of coverage, the Sunday political shows appeared to be hedging on Lemon.
CBS’s Face the Nation didn’t address the matter at all. On NBC’s Meet the Press, the issue of Don Lemon was left to the panel discussion (which was truncated in favor of a lengthy interview with Ken Burns). Welker floated the question out in passing, but the panel didn’t bite. Not a single mention of Lemon beyond Welker’s initial question.
[…]The lengthiest exchange and defense of Don Lemon came via his former network, on CNN’s State of the Union. Host Dana Bash and [Todd] Blanche had the most significant tussle over Lemon:
[…]Bash’s exchange was the lengthiest with Blanche among the legacy Sunday shows, and hers was the most extensive defense of her former colleague. And in watching how she fared with Blanche, we see why her colleagues faded back from taking the issue on in a direct manner.
The CNN interview is best described as a comedy in three acts.
Brad Wilmouth joined the whinefest:
On Saturday’s The Weekend, MSNOW White House reporter Laura Barron-Lopez asserted that liberal journalist Don Lemon is being prosecuted by the Donald Trump administration because the President doesn’t like journalists who present facts and criticize him.
The show also tried to tie in race, with co-host Eugene Daniels teasing the story: “Today Trump’s immigration crackdown extends to the free press with federal agents arresting two black journalists, including Don Lemon, after documenting a church protest.”
After beginning the show by discussing the merits of the case, co-host Jackie Alemany turned to Barron-Lopez and posed: “Can you talk about why the White House is so obsessed with Don Lemon in particular?”
Wilmouth then took offense to Barron-Lopez stating that Lemon’s arrest shows “how this President treats black people, whether they’re journalists or not journalists.” He made no effort to rebut her claim.
Malzberg returned with a Feb. 2 post serving up some Fox News love, claiming that “Jesse Watters Primetime laid out a strong case against Lemon.” He added: “Watters then pointed out that Lemon is innocent until proven guilty. Very true. But after this presentation, Lemon should be thankful that Jesse Watters isn’t a member of the prosecution.”
Looks like Malzberg has concluded, like Watters, that Lemon is indisputably guilty and does not deserve an actual defense.