This week, illegal alien Jose Ibarra was convicted of the murder of Georgia nursing student Laken Riley. PBS and NPR have aired next to nothing on Riley over the last 6 months. Curtis Houck and Bill D’Agostino explain their studies of broadcast and cable news coverage of the Laken Riley trial.
AP’s insensitive headline was “Man convicted of murder” of Laken Riley. The lead paragraph just said “A Venezuelan man has been convicted of murder in the killing of Georgia nursing student Laken Riley, a case that fueled the national debate over immigration.”
There was nothing on the Laken Riley trial until it was over. There was nothing on Laken Riley’s murder on PBS over the last six months. Finally, when the trial was over, NewsHour anchor Geoff Bennett gave it 31 seconds. “A Venezuelan man was convicted today,” he said, and “Ibarra entered the U.S. illegally…
