Jeremy Scahill, the investigative reporter at The Intercept and author of Blackwater: The Rise of the World’s Most Powerful Mercenary Army, slammed American media coverage of the attack on Canada’s Parliament Wednesday. “I’m trying to think of a stronger word than atrocious or embarrassing.”
Many have noted the stark difference between Canadian news coverage of the Ottawa attack and how the story was reported in the United States. Speaking on CBC Radio’s “As It Happens,” Scahill singled out two networks:
“Any rumor that happens to pop up on Twitter or social media is carried almost as though it’s a totally true story from a reliable source. And this is true of our biggest networks, CNN, Fox News.”
Advertisement“What we are really seeing right now in the U.S. media is a push for Canada and Canadians to adopt this default rhetoric that now permeates the discussion on terrorism in this country that this needs to be immediately labeled terrorism, and there has to be a paramilitary or military response to what may have been a deranged individual.”
Listen to the interview after the jump.