“The Today Show” tweeted a total of 18 seconds of footage portraying the arrest of two separate suspects this morning and asked Twitter users to assess the amount of force used “slamming two men to the ground during an arrest”.
The tweet failed to provide any context or explanation of why force was used, what happened in the lead up to the officers on the scene believing physical intervention was necessary, or if any charges were laid. It also failed to explain if there were any misconduct complaints, officially or informally from witnesses, or even if the Qld Police were investigating the footage.
The context of this social media decision by Channel Nine is months of global “peaceful protests” and demands to defund police amidst accusations in global social media that “all cops are bad” sparked by incindiary rhetoric from the far left political organisation, “Black Lives Matter”.
One Australian police officer was recently viciously assaulted and her head repeatedly slammed into concrete by the suspect she was trying to deal with, and another had his face slashed on a routine visit to a suburban Brisbane address.
Responses to the question posed by The Today Show’s twitter account were somewhat varied.
Sympathising with the tweet’s inflammatory choice of verb, @EdWellham answered:
“Based on the clip, I’d weed these guys out of the force based on the excessive head push into the concrete. Too dangerous.”
@Alina_Mambo agreed:
“Wow a bit rough slamming head on the ground, it’s very risky. Can’t they do it differently?”
@richardmelbo5 also worried:
“Yes. He is lucky to not have cracked his head open on the concrete ground because of the cops using excessive force in arresting him.”
Lecturing the show on journalistic integrity, @Jaccupp responded:
“You need to stop this crap, the majority of Australians, presumably your target audience, aren’t interested in further divisiveness, especially the targeting of our Police. A centrist approach with balanced stories would be refreshing.”
@JewsDownUnder replied:
“Typical of TV News to not tell the truth. What led to this? They just wouldn’t go up to a guy in the street and tackle him.”
@Russell63855845 agreed:
“A real news item would show the whole clip and describe the events. This is yet another story creating bias and division”.
@daisymay4263 asked:
“What happened in the lead up to this? You can’t ask that question and only show the video of him attempting to be restrained, without showing the lead up!”
@HodgieHodges remarked:
“Your show is so divisive. Only showing the end result not what led up to this. “Don’t let the truth get in the way of a good story.” Media are a disgrace and trouble makers.”
WATCH: Police officers in Brisbane's Fortitude Valley have been filmed slamming two men to the ground during an arrest. Do you think they used excessive force? #9Today pic.twitter.com/y8fgiLIJJI
— The Today Show (@TheTodayShow) August 9, 2020
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Dave Pellowe is a Christian writer & commentator, founder of The Good Sauce, convener of the annual Australian Church And State Summit and host of Good Sauce's weekly The Church And State Show, also syndicated on ADH TV. Since 2016 Dave has undertaken the mission of arming Christians to influence culture through events from Perth to Auckland, videos, podcasts and articles published in multiple journals across Australia and New Zealand. [more]
