Media top headlines January 5
In media news today, a producer exits Canada’s public broadcaster over its ‘radical political agenda,’ Jen Psaki denies the White House has ‘lost control’ of COVID, and an MSNBC anchor says his family was denied entry into an NYC restaurant because his 4-year-old daughter was unvaccinated.
Daily Mail columnist Meghan McCain took a swipe at those who are elevating the one-year anniversary of the Jan. 6 riot on Capitol Hill to the level of some of the most tragic events in American history.
"Tomorrow will be a solemn day - and we should remember it for what it was and learn important and necessary lessons," McCain tweeted Wednesday.
"I will not however be treating it like the anniversary of Pearl Harbor or 9/11 because it is tonally and logically inappropriate. I implore you to do the same," she added.
"The View" co-host Meghan McCain apologized after spoiling the finale of "Game of Thrones."
Over the past year, as Jan. 6 dominated coverage among liberal news outlets, many members of the media invoked comparisons to Pearl Harbor, 9/11 and even the Civil War.
Thousands of Americans were killed during the attacks of Pearl Harbor and 9/11 and an estimated 750,00 were killed during the course of the Civil War. Meanwhile, just one person, pro-Trump rioter Ashli Babbitt, was shot and killed at the Capitol riot while others died that day of natural causes.
9/11 VICTIMS' FAMILIES OUTRAGED OVER MEDIA CLAIMS CAPITOL RIOT WAS WORSE ‘TO SCORE POLITICAL POINTS’
Regardless, some commentators and reporters have claimed Jan. 6 is not just on par with the 9/11 attacks, but actually even worse.
Left-wing pundit and former George W. Bush strategist Matthew Dowd recently argued the riot was worse because it's divided the country. Lincoln Project co-founder and Republican-turned-independent-turned-Democratic strategist Steve Schmidt said not only that Dowd was right, but that the riot was worse because it would end up leading to a greater loss of life.
FILE - In this Jan. 6, 2021, file photo insurrections loyal to President Donald Trump rally at the U.S. Capitol in Washington. U.S. Capitol Police officers who were attacked and beaten during the Capitol riot filed a lawsuit Thursday, Aug. 26, against former President Donald Trump, his allies and members of far-right extremist groups, accusing them of intentionally sending insurrectionists to disrupt the congressional certification of the election in January. ((AP Photo/Jose Luis Magana, File))
New York firefighters and families of 9/11 victims spoke with Fox News about how they're disgusted when they hear of the two events even being compared, let alone suggesting the riot, while stunning and disgraceful, was the darker day.
"Are they kidding me?" retired New York Deputy Fire Chief Jim Riches told Fox News. "Three thousand people died, plus we have more people dying from the air that was down there … They're comparing it to score points politically. The families are really [angry]. When I talk to them, when they compare it to that, they find that outrageous."
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"There are a lot of young people who have no living memory of 9/11 … When you have all these comparisons and analogies, which are inflated and ridiculous, it minimizes what actually happened, and that’s what’s happening here. It’s a deliberate ploy," said Debra Burlingame, whose brother Charles Burlingame was murdered while piloting American Airlines Flight 77, the plane that crashed into the Pentagon. She wrote in the Wall Street Journal, "It is deeply offensive and sad that the brutal and harrowing memories of the worst terrorist attack in American history are being deployed by political partisans."
394261 14: A fiery blasts rocks the World Trade Center after being hit by two planes September 11, 2001 in New York City. (Photo by Spencer Platt/Getty Images) (Spencer Platt/Getty Images)
Joe Connor, whose cousin Steven Schlag was among the thousands who perished at the World Trade Center, told Fox News there's no comparison.
"They just dehumanize our families for political gain," he said. "I guess they call it gaslighting. They can say these things that will make people believe that these riots were worse than the worst thing that happened on American soil. Either they're ignorant or they're just really devious and clever, and you can put nothing past them, because if you're willing to lie to that degree … It's a disturbing trend to me."
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Don Arias, whose brother Adam died on 9/11 while working on the 84th floor of the South Tower, told Fox News it makes his "blood boil" that anyone of any political stripe would make that comparison.
"Clear thinking people see these inflammatory statements as the bulls--t they are," Arias said. "There’s no comparison."
Fox News' David Rutz, Brian Flood and Andrew Murray contributed to this report.