Fox News contributor Tammy Bruce lit into the mainstream media in an appearance on ‘Fox & Friends Weekend’ Sunday for what she said is an intentional downplaying of crime surges in major cities across the country in their attempt to get invited to "cocktail parties with Democratic leadership."
Major cities such as New York City, Portland, Chicago, Atlanta, Philadelphia, and Seattle have all experienced upticks in homicides and shootings from this time last year, statistics show. Highlighting New York City as an example, in May the NYPD reported a 350% increase in murders for the week prior compared to the same time year-over-year, according to reports. Shootings were up 166% in April compared to April 2020, police said.
But Bruce observed that the media is "choosing to spin" the crime surges, and she said it's no accident.
"This isn't some kind of accident where they were bitten by a mosquito or tripped over a log," Bruce said, accusing the media of avoiding much crime coverage so they can win over Democratic leadership or get a job in the Biden administration.
Bruce likened the phenomenon to the media’s about-face on coverage of the coronavirus lab leak theory.
"Remember the media talking to itself about how shocked it was that it didn’t get the Wuhan lab issue correct because in part they just didn't like Donald Trump because it came from him?" she asked.
"This is an infection that affects every single thing they look at, everything they report in," Bruce continued. "So yes, a crime wave speaks badly about governance. A crime wave gets people active and involved. A crime wave tells people, 'wait a minute, something's going wrong.' And that is what they don't want you to think. So this is another part of this infection."
In many cases, Bruce reasoned, those omissions "cost people their lives."
DAN ABRAMS TELLS ‘WATTERS WORLD’ CRIME IS ‘UNDERREPORTED’ BY MAINSTREAM MEDIA
In Chicago, the most recently available crime statistics show that murder was up 56% from April 26 to May 2 compared to the same time last year, the Chicago Police Department said. The number of shooting incidents was also up 40% during the same time frame year-over-year, police said.
Dan Alberga, the owner of Chicago's "Bella Luna Bar & Pizza," later told 'Fox & Friends Weekend' on Sunday that the "out of control" crime in the city has forced him to close his business at the earlier deadline of 10 p.m. Depending on the crowds, Alberga said his team would typically keep the doors open until 11 p.m. or later. But the situation has become too dangerous with so many young adults he says are "ransacking" businesses.
"It's just not safe and I have a lot of customers that are complaining about it," he said. "They just don't want to deal with it anymore."
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Alberga added that he's penned a new slogan, "Make Chicago Safe Again."