"President Donald Trump and his chief deputy, Stephen Miller, each insist chaos reigns, yet on the ground, reporters consistently find largely peaceful protests, interrupted by isolated skirmishes. The contradiction isn't a bugit's the point. Armored vans roll through city streets nightly. Agents in tactical gear confront demonstrators. DHS releases cinematic footage worthy of a streaming-action trailer. Every clip is carefully framed for maximum drama: slow pans, smoke, flares, even the choreography of officers moving in formation."
"These aren't raw dispatches; they are productions meant to shape what citizensand journalistsbelieve to be true. The messaging is slick, rehearsed, and deliberate. Every moment captured is designed to tell a story in which federal power is heroic, protests are menacing, and local officials appear ineffectual. For journalists, this is more than a reporting challenge; it's an epistemological trap. When federal videos circulate faster than verification, when social media amplifies curated fear, the very act of observing becomes fraught."
Federal agents have been deployed to cities like Portland and Chicago under the pretext of restoring order and protecting ICE agents. Authorities present cinematic, carefully framed footage—slow pans, smoke, flares, formation choreography—emphasizing drama and portraying federal power as heroic. On-the-ground reporting commonly finds largely peaceful protests with isolated skirmishes. Viral federal videos circulate faster than verification and amplify curated fear, undermining eyewitness credibility and sidelining local reporters. Local leaders face an optics dilemma between rejecting federal help and appearing weak or accepting and enabling militarization. The strategy effectively converts perception into policy and governs by spectacle.
Read at www.mediaite.com
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