Elon
Musk
shared
a
tweet
Sunday
claiming
the
recent
murder
of
a
college
student
in
Georgia
was
being
subjected
to
a
“media
blackout.”
But
the
killing,
allegedly
committed
by
a
26-year-old
Venezuelan
national
in
the
U.S.
illegally,
has
been
covered
extensively
by
just
about
every
media
outlet
in
the
country.
“The main way legacy media lies is by controlling the narrative,” Musk tweeted on Sunday night.
Musk’s
tweet
shared
an
article
by
Zerohedge,
a
pseudonymous
right-wing
influencer,
that
was
published
on
Sunday
with
the
headline,
“Media
Blackout
Over
Illegal
Immigrant
Who
Murdered
GA
Student.”
What
evidence
does
Zerohedge
present
for
the
assertion
that
mainstream
media
outlets
are
ignoring
this
murder?
None,
if
you
actually
read
the
article.
The
author
simply
claims
it’s
true:
Although
the
tragedy
of
Riley’s
murder
is
befitting
of
a
true
crime
mystery
series
that
Netflix
would
capitalize
on
in
a
heartbeat,
her
death
has
received
little
attention
by
their
mainstream
media
cohorts.
The article goes on to falsely insist “the media establishment remains silent about the murder of Laken Riley,” despite a mountain of evidence to the contrary. All anyone has to do is type the name of the victim or the suspect, Jose Antonio Ibarra, into Google News and they’ll see dozens of articles about the murder.
A small sample of mainstream news outlets that have covered the story, with some covering it with multiple articles in the past few days, appears below:
But, again, you don’t need to take our word for it. Just head over to news.google.com and check for yourself. If there’s a “media blackout,” whatever that’s supposed to mean, it’s a terribly executed one.
Musk has seemed obsessed lately with crime and illegal immigration, two topics that have energized the billionaire on his social media platform X in recent months. And these issues are evidence, in his eyes, that Joe Biden shouldn’t get a second term as president in the upcoming 2024 election.
Musk obviously has incentives as the owner of a social media company to insist his platform is the place to find the “real story.” And with other large platforms like Facebook, Instagram, and Threads abandoning news content, the X owner has said repeatedly that his site is the best way to know what’s really going on in the world. While there’s some truth to the fact that social media has given a more prominent voice to previously marginalized communities and smaller publishers, it’s intellectually dishonest to claim X is where most news breaks first.
“Newspapers
basically
just
report
on
what
they
read
yesterday
on
X
lmao,”
Musk
tweeted
on
September
29,
2023,
expressing
an
idea
he’s
repeated
many
times.
Nine
times
out
of
ten,
anyone
who’s
complaining
“why
isn’t
the
media
covering
this?”
on
social
media
is
referring
to
a
story
they
learned
about
through
mainstream
media
outlets.
And
the
tragic
murder
of
Laken
Riley
is
no
different,
as
we
can
see
with
how
many
news
sites
have
written
about
the
story.
It’s great to have social media as an alternative way for smaller voices to get amplified when necessary. But if you really think this particular murder isn’t getting enough coverage, you may need to learn how to use Google better.
Musk didn’t respond to questions email to X on Sunday night. We’ll update this post if we hear back.
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