Yesterday's Media in Today’s Los Angeles: Democracy Armed with a Baton
The realities of today’s world are constructed through language — language carefully chosen by media outlets to frame and narrate events in ways that serve specific interests. But can all media truly be trusted to fulfill their journalistic duty with integrity? The answer, as recent developments clearly show, is no. A striking example of this failure is found in the conduct of Western media.
In recent days, the streets of Los Angeles have become a focal point of public outrage following aggressive, large-scale raids by U.S. immigration and federal law enforcement forces. These operations targeted immigrant communities under the pretext of national security, but in reality, unleashed fear and instability. Protests erupted almost immediately, fueled by widespread anger at what demonstrators described as “inhumane and racist practices.” What followed was a harsh crackdown: batons, tear gas, armored vehicles, and a swift declaration of a state of emergency.
Footage circulating on social media platforms clearly depicts violent confrontations between law enforcement and protesters — including minors, journalists, and elderly individuals. However, these images have been conspicuously absent from mainstream Western media coverage. In stark contrast to their extensive and often sensational coverage of protests in other parts of the world, particularly in the West Asia, Western media outlets have remained largely silent or have adopted the official narrative, referring to the events as “restoring order,” “preventive measures,” or “violent unrest.”
This selective approach underscores the longstanding double standard that governs Western media coverage. When riots erupt in places like Tehran, Caracas, or Moscow, the very same outlets rush to frame them as “freedom movements” or “popular uprisings against repression.” But when unrest breaks out within Western borders, particularly when it challenges domestic policies or security institutions, it is framed as a “threat to public safety.”
June 6, 2025: A Turning Point
On the night of June 6, 2025, coordinated federal raids were carried out across immigrant-populated neighborhoods in Los Angeles, targeting dozens of families in surprise midnight operations. By dawn, crowds of protesters had flooded the streets, calling out systemic injustice and racist policy enforcement. Rather than engaging in dialogue, U.S. authorities responded with heavy-handed force, escalating the situation and drawing sharp criticism from civil rights advocates.
Yet in the face of these alarming developments, Western media outlets that often pride themselves on upholding freedom of expression chose a path of silence or deflection. No live coverage. No expert panels. No widespread condemnation. Only sanitized statements from official sources — in stark contrast to the media storm they routinely stir when similar events occur in non-Western nations.
A Crisis Beyond the Streets
What is unfolding in Los Angeles is not merely a social or political crisis — it is an exposure of the duplicity at the heart of Western media. The same outlets that once broadcast images of unrest in West Asia with enthusiasm and moral judgment now refuse to reflect the wounds of Los Angeles — a city whose vibrant identity is built by the hands of immigrants.
This is not just a media failure. It is a moral failure. A democracy that brands protests abroad as “movements for liberty” while labeling its own dissenters as threats, reveals the fragility and hypocrisy of its narrative. It is time the international community recognized this double standard for what it is: an erosion of credibility and a betrayal of the very democratic ideals these nations claim to champion.
MNA/
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