Arrest of dangerous MS-13 gang leader gets 10x LESS media coverage that Pro-Hamas student protester

A study from the Media Research Center (MRC) has revealed the media’s priorities in choosing which stories to cover.

Legacy media outlets recently opted to cover the Immigration and Customs Enforcement arrest of Tufts University graduate student Rumeysa Ozturk at a significantly higher rate than the capture of 24-year-old Salvadoran national Henrry Josue Villatoro Santos, an MS-13 leader. MRC examined the coverage from March 26-27, only to find that ABC, CBS, NBC, CNN, and MSNBC spent a combined 119 minutes and 18 seconds discussing Ozturk’s arrest, but only 11 minutes and 42 seconds on the detention of a top gang leader.

“In fact, ABC, CBS, NBC didn’t devote a single second to the violent terrorist gang leader’s arrest,” wrote Geoffrey Dickens, director of media analysis at MRC.

“So why the discrepancy? Whereas the arrest of MS-13 leader was a great PR win for Team Trump, the footage of Ozturk being arrested on the street prompted leftist anchors, reporters, and pundits to decry what they called the ‘authoritarian’ actions of the Trump administration,” he explained.

The coverage disparity breaks down as follows:

MSNBC: Fifty-eight minutes and forty-eight seconds on Ozturk

CNN: Fifty minutes and nine seconds on Ozturk

NBC: Six minutes and six seconds on Ozturk

CBS: Two minutes and 39 seconds on Ozturk

ABC: 1 minute and 39 seconds on Ozturk

Villatoro Santos’s arrest was ignored on morning and evening newscasts, says MRC.

“On the MS-13 leader’s arrest, MSNBC offered a tiny 3 minutes, 43 seconds amount of coverage. CNN aired just 7 minutes, 59 seconds on the gang leader capture,” Dickens noted.

“ABC, CBS, NBC aired zero seconds on the MS-13 leader being brought in,” he revealed.

NewsBusters executive editor Tim Graham told Fox News Digital that the difference in coverage is no accident.

“A disparity like this demonstrates that the media prefer one narrative over the other. Trump having a success in arresting a gang leader is too positive to underline. They prefer the narrative that Trump is some kind of dictator arresting foreigners for speaking too freely about the horror of Israel. They don’t even have the shame to notice that Hamas isn’t exactly a free-speech paragon,” he said.

Last week, a Department of Homeland Security (DHS) spokesperson issued a statement on Ozturk’s arrest to Fox News.

“DHS and ICE investigations found Ozturk engaged in activities in support of Hamas, a foreign terrorist organization that relishes the killing of Americans,” they said. “A visa is a privilege not a right. Glorifying and supporting terrorists who kill Americans is grounds for visa issuance to be terminated. This is commonsense security.”

Writer/Columnist

Sierra Marlee is a millennial whose hunger for the truth in a world of fake news has led her to BizPac Review.

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