Gen. Honore Jabs the Media: 'People Like You' Driving Chaos in Ferguson

Matthew Balan | November 18, 2014
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[More in the cross-post on the MRC's NewsBusters blog.]

On the 17 November 2014 edition of CNN's AC360, retired Lt. General Russel Honore rebuked the media's coverage of the ongoing controversy surrounding the police shooting of Michael Brown. Anderson Cooper raised how a liberal legal analyst contended that Missouri Governor Jay Nixon's activation of the National Guard, in anticipation of a grand jury decision on the case, was an "escalation of this military-style approach that didn't work in the first place." He then asked, "Do you agree with that – that it could, in some ways, do more harm than – than good?"

General Honore, who is best known for leading the military's relief operations in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, replied by indicating that large part of the problem was the media's spin of the issue:

LT. GEN. RUSSEL HONORE, AUTHOR, "LEADERSHIP IN THE NEW NORMAL": Well, if you're a poor person in Ferguson...a disadvantaged person that speculates on – what's gone on in this trial has already been decided – and you have doubt (sic) in your mind – and somebody tells you that they have mobilized the National Guard, then that's quite possible. But I think how they described that to people – that the National Guard there is there to protect people and property. It's not there to necessarily to focus on a handful of protesters that might get out of control – that they're there equally to take care and protect the people. And that is the concern I have – that the governor continues to leave it to the media – people like you – to describe to people – the citizens – what's happening.

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