‘Dear God’: AP Headline On ‘Two Interpretations’ of Jan 6 Eviscerated By Critics
Shay Horse/NurPhoto via AP
The Associated Press kicked up a firestorm of criticism on Thursday with a headline that appeared to give equal weight to both President Joe Biden and former President Donald Trump’s “interpretations” of what happened on January 6th, 2021.
The story in question was headlined, “One attack, two interpretations: Biden and Trump both make the Jan. 6 riot a political rallying cry,” and was written by national political reporter Will Weissert.
The article begins with a breakdown of how both Trump and Biden will mark the third anniversary of the storming of the U.S. Capitol by pro-Trump supporters. Weissert goes on to explain the events of the day in a clear and sober tone, noting the violence came from pro-Trump rioters who beat police officers to enter the building with the goal of preventing the certification of the election.
“With Biden and Trump now headed toward a potential 2020 rematch, both are talking about the same event in very different ways and offering framing they believe gives them an advantage. The dueling narratives reflect how an attack that disrupted the certification of the election is increasingly viewed differently along partisan lines — and how Trump has bet that the riot won’t hurt his candidacy,” Weissert adds, noting the 2024 electoral ramifications surrounding Jan. 6th.
While Weissert doesn’t unequivocally ever call Trump’s narrative false, he concludes with a quote from an expert on how dangerous the diverging claims are:
“When each side starts talking about the other as a threat to democracy — whatever the reality is — that’s a sign of a democracy that’s deconsolidating,” said Daniel Ziblatt, a government professor at Harvard University and co-author of the book “How Democracies Die.”
The AP framing quickly found critics online as the wire service was blasted for “bothsidesism.”
The criticism came days after the outlet acknowledged a story on Harvard President Claudine Gay resigning over widespread plagiarism did not meet its standards. The story ran with the initial headline, “Harvard president’s resignation highlights new conservative weapon against colleges: plagiarism.” The headline was later updated to, “Plagiarism charges downed Harvard’s president. A conservative attack helped to fan the outrage,” and Lauren Easton, the VP of AP Corporate Communications told Fox that the original story “doesn’t meet our standards.”
Nevada Sen. Catherine Cortez Masto (D-NV) shared the headline, writing, “Donald Trump incited an insurrection on Jan. 6th in an attempt to overthrow our democracy and stop the peaceful transfer of power. There is no other “interpretation” of this.”
The Atlantic’s Tom Nichols reacted, “Dear God, this is a real headline.”
“Next by @AP : ‘Julia Child and Jeffrey Dahmer are two famous cooks with different approaches to ingredients,’” replied former Romney 2012 campaign strategist Stuart Stevens.
Below are more reactions:
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