Can Someone Teach Newshub Journos How to Count – and Read?

One of my Three Laws of the Media is: when an article claims “Science says…” or “Study finds…”, always assume that it doesn’t until proven otherwise.

The latest “study” being breathlessly parroted by the lyin’ mainstream media is proof of the wisdom (if I do say so) of that admonition.

There are, famously, liars and damned liars, but the mainstream media are another breed of liar altogether: the gullible rube who happily repeats the lies they desperately want to believe. The gullible rubes at Newshub desperately want to believe their own lies about the racist, Marxist conspiracy sweeping the woke world, Black Lives Matter. Not least that it’s all about peace and flowers and hugs.

A study has found 93 percent of all Black Lives Matter (BLM) protests in the United States were peaceful, according to a non-profit research organisation report.

Pay no attention to those burning buildings, hurtling bricks and murdered bystanders.

But just because a “non-profit research organisation” makes the claim, that doesn’t make it true. Just like the similar “study” which claimed that “far-right terrorism” was a bigger threat than Islamic terrorism, the headline claim evaporates under even the most cursory examination.

In a report released Thursday, the Armed Conflict Location and Event Data Project (ACLED) analysed over 7750 BLM demonstrations in the US between May 26 and August 22.

The vast majority were reported as “peaceful” while fewer than 220 protests were reported as “violent demonstrations”.

Now, I’m not the world’s greatest mathematician, but I’m at least capable of figuring out a percentage. 220 is not 7% of 7750. If the “93%” peaceful claim is true, that means that 543 were violent.

More importantly, whether it’s 220 or 543, that’s a damnable figure.

Any movement that is responsible for 543 violent riots in just 90 days is clearly not “peaceful”.

But, if basic maths is beyond the ability of Newshub’s journalists, they’re even worse at reading and fact-checking. The “220” figure relates to “locations”, not the number of protests.

Even more importantly, if they’d actually bothered to even read the report they’re lionising, they’d have found howlers like this:

“Although riots were reported before 8 June (when CHOP was established) and after 1 July (when it was dismantled), only peaceful protests were recorded during the intervening period.”

CHOP, remember, was the site of at least four shootings and two murders, as well as numerous beatings, lootings and rapes, not to mention countless acts of looting and arson. In fact, crime in the area skyrocketed by 525% during the CHOP’s brief, unlamented existence.

But, hey, who are you going to believe?

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