After neglecting to cover a series of New Year's Eve sexual assaults in Cologne, Germany, major American news networks are finally reporting on the crimes — but as the source of “right-wing demonstrators” and “anti-refugee protests,” according to a study by the Media Research Center.
In a Jan. 7 study, the Media Research Center found that both ABC and NBC had yet to report on the incident, and the attacks were only mentioned briefly on CBS.
This Dec. 31, 2015, photo shows people gathering in front of the main railway station in Cologne, western Germany. Police in Cologne told AFP they have received more than 100 complaints by women reporting assaults ranging from groping to at least one reported rape, allegedly committed in a large crowd of revelers during year-end festivities outside the city’s main train station and its famed Gothic cathedral. (Markus Boehm/AFP/Getty Images)
In another study, which was released Tuesday, the Media Research Center found that ABC and NBC had broken their silence on the case — but only in the context of protests in the aftermath of the attacks.
NBC anchor Erica Hill reported that “police used water-canons” to break up the “violent protests” of approximately “1,700 right-wing demonstrators” who gathered to protest “Germany’s liberal immigration policy.”
ABC anchor Amy Robach reported that “refugees are being blamed for a wave of assaults.”
“More than 500 criminal complaints have been filed and protests against refugees have now turned violent, with reports of Syrians and Pakistanis attacked in the street,” Robach said.
Cologne police said that more than a thousand men “of Arab or North African appearance” committed a series of crimes, including sexual assaults, robberies and at least one rape. Reports indicate that at least eight of the suspects who have been identified were in the country as asylum seekers.
Police called the assaults “a completely new dimension of crime.”
The mayor of Cologne sparked an international controversy after responding to the attacks by suggesting that women keep an arm's length from strange men in an effort to avoid assault.
(H/T Newsbusters)
