Free Speech Defenders Curiously Silent As MSNBC Is Barred From Rittenhouse Trial
Wonder what that's all about
Cable news network MSNBC was banned Thursday from the Kenosha, Wisconsin courtroom where Kyle Rittenhouse is standing trial for murder, but this assault on the free press didn’t faze certain free speech defenders.
Judge Bruce Schroeder banned the network after learning that an NBC producer, James J. Morrison, had followed a bus containing jurors for the trial last night.
“No one from MSNBC News will be permitted in this building for the duration of this trial,” Schroeder said, adding that it was a “very serious matter.”
It’s still unclear whether or not Morrison, who was issued a traffic citation, was working directly for MSNBC and NBC has denied that there was any intention to photograph jurors. Schroeder admitted he didn’t know the truth of the allegation but was nevertheless moving to bar the network.
For right-wing partisans who regularly cry foul when conservative media is criticized or perceived to be marginalized, however, the news that MSNBC was banned didn’t spark outrage.
Instead, the network’s alleged involvement in Morrison tailing the car was framed as part of a diabolical plot to intimidate jurors.
“MSNBC obstructing justice by trying to make the Rittenhouse jurors know that the media is watching them and trying to discover their identity, as a little warning that they had better deliver the right verdict,” Glenn Greenwald, a frequent Fox News guest, tweeted.
Matt Taibbi, a self-described “run-of-the-mill, old-school ACLU liberal,” followed Greenwald’s lead.
“You don’t have to ask to speak to the manager when you get caught trying to follow jurors in the middle of a high profile criminal trial,” Taibbi tweeted. “The manager is called a judge and asks to speak to you.”
Other nominal defenders of the free press have thus far declined to comment, despite the fact the judge has cut off access to the trial for MSNBC’s millions of viewers. Bari Weiss, who self-importantly blogged about the “facts” of the case just yesterday, hasn’t said a word yet about Schroeder’s ban.
It’s enough to make one wonder about the real motivation behind the constant bleating this crowd does about free speech and cancel culture. Perhaps it’s less about the principles at stake and more about stoking outrage and attention in the service of career advancement. I guess we’ll never know.
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