Radio host Rush Limbaugh said the national news media will be conflicted in their reporting on Wednesday’s slaughter of a Virginia news crew live on the air because the shooter was a black man, and his victims were white.
The shooter has been identified as Vester Flanagan, 41, who also went by the professional name of Bryce Williams. The victims are reporter Alison Parker, 24, and photographer Adam Ward, 27, who were gunned down during a live broadcast from the Bridgewater Plaza in Moneta, Virginia.
“A reporter of color is the shooter. Now there’s a conflict. Now what do they (the media) do?” asked Limbaugh on his national broadcast Wednesday. “If you take out the color [of the individuals involved] … you might not even hear about it.”
Read the main story: Gunman dead after slaughtering TV news crew
“He sued another TV station for racism a decade before he was asked to leave the Virginia station amid claims of racial bias,” Limbaugh noted. “So there’s clearly race as a motivation.”
Limbaugh, who called the slaying “horrible” and “a despicable thing,” said the incident may make some in the media rethink their opposition to carrying guns for their own protection.
“Journalists may want to consider arming themselves as they go out now,” he explained. “Journalists’ lives matter … ‘Hands up! I’m on the air!'”
Limbaugh said because virtually everything in the news becomes politicized, this tragedy will be as well.
“I guarantee you there are probably investigative reporters trying to tie this to some political group with which they do not agree, like the tea party,” he said.
Limbaugh also noted the shooter “actually videotaped himself committing this crime. He had his cell-phone camera in one hand, his gun in the other.”
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He then reportedly posted the video of the crime online.
“You want to talk about the ugly underbelly of social media,” said Limbaugh, “this is taking it to a level that nobody has ever dreamed of.”
“I don’t think we’ve ever seen anything like this. It may be an all-time first.”
Flanagan died after shooting himself.
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Limbaugh: Media conflicted since TV shooter is black
