Police sources tell me more than a dozen witnesses have corroborated cop’s version of events in shooting #Ferguson
— Christine Byers (@ChristineDByers) August 19, 2014
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I know the elections should be our chief focus right now, but just a brief interlude…
Although, this all says so much about the media, local and national, and how utterly poisonous it can be.
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Remember @ChristineDByers? The crime reporter for the St Louis Post-Dispatch, the one who tweeted the above back in August, her ‘scoop’ merrily RTed by the likes of Jake Tapper and over 3,000 Darren Wilson fans.
It set the media narrative about the murder of Michael Brown, the St Louis Post-Dispatch being the trusted source on this story, that poor old Wilson was simply defending himself.
Except?
It wasn’t true.
The story was, evidently, fed to Christine by her police buddies, Wilson’s colleagues, and she dutifully passed it on.
And Christine dutifully passes on a whole bunch of police stuff. That’s her thing.
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Read @allanbrauer at The People’s View, he said it all at the time.
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The St Louis Post-Dispatch refused to publish her “story” because it “did not meet standards for publication” – and for the St Louis Post-Dispatch to turn down a Ferguson police-friendly story, Christine’s standards must have been exceedingly low.
She disappeared from Twitter for about a fortnight, refusing to answer a single question about her tweet, but when she returned, she went back in to police-friendly overdrive.
Just some samples from her timeline:
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One of her earliest Ferguson RTs, of a fellow St Louis Post-Dispatch reporter (who couldn’t spell Ferguson)
White student gets cold-cocked by a random black.
Meanwhile, Michael Brown’s bullet-riddled body lay in a morgue.
But: White student gets cold-cocked by a random black.
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Another Christine RT. Of course, Chief Jackson admitted that Wilson didn’t know Michael Brown was a robbery suspect, but never mind the facts.
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Another RT of a St Louis Post-Dispatch reporter.
Another lie.
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And now a RT of the retired St Louis County Police Chief – the Ferguson police are “the keepers at the gate”.
You read that right.
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One of Christine’s many anguished tweets about the safety of Ferguson police cars.
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While Michael Brown’s family was mourning his loss, Christine was busy RTing support for the fatigued Ferguson cops who had to stay up late dealing with folk inexplicably upset about the murder of an unarmed teenager by a cop.
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Now she’s angry with Rev Al, because, you know, he’s the chief villain in the story.
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Another RT to let us know that the Ferguson police are truth-tellers.
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Aaaaaand: another RT – this one suggesting that if it wasn’t for those angry ‘rioters’, Michael Brown’s murder wouldn’t even be a story.
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If only Michael Brown was just injured by a rock, hey Christine?
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“Misunderstood”?
Oh boy.
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A tough time.
By now, Christine’s PR work for the Ferguson PD is off the scale.
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The retired St Louis County Police Chief loved her work!
This is the guy who tweeted this nine days after the murder of Michael Brown:
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And the killing of Vonderrit Myers, dutifully RTing St Louis Police’s version of events.
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Here we go. Never mind the facts of the incident, the dead guy was bad. He had it coming.
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Back to worrying about the safety of police vehicles – because #PoliceCarLivesMatter
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Ooooh, goodie, found a black officer who was abused! Go for it Christine!
(The unarmed black teenager who was murdered by a colleague of that officer? Meh)
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Because, you know, it’s not about race.
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Well then, he deserved to die.
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Ah, “no angel” again?
Christine, of course, doesn’t mention that Roorda, a Democratic (sigh) member of the Missouri House of Representatives, was a fired police officer who was behind the fundraiser for Darren Wilson.
But never mind, the important message for Christine to get out was that Myers, just like Michael Brown, was “no angel”.
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She’s dizzy with excitement now – the national media is aboard the Team Wilson train!
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Source.
(Aka: Team Wilson)
Christine is this -> . <- close to making ‘I Am Darren Wilson’ her Twitter avi.
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Marijuana! Well then, he had those bullets coming.
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There were, oh, a gazillion reports out there suggesting the opposite, but Christine opted to link this.
Surprised?
Well, we’re getting her drift now, right?
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Black witnesses!!
Of course, several black witnesses said the opposite, but Christine must have been too busy to RT their accounts.
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Ah, going for the Brown family now? Smear-a-rama! Their crime being they were related to an unarmed black teenager murdered by a white cop. So, fair targets.
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Marijuana!1!1!
One more reminder from Christine: Michael was a drug-fueled beast.
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Yes, because publishing and tweeting Ferguson PD leaks designed to smear Michael Brown and exonerate Darren Wilson is just like Woodward and Bernstein.
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The greatest irony?
Christine Byers has this Joseph Pulitzer quote in her Twitter header:
“I know that my retirement will make no difference in its [my newspaper’s] cardinal principles, that it will always fight for progress and reform, never tolerate injustice or corruption, always fight demagogues of all parties, never belong to any party, always oppose privileged classes and public plunderers, never lack sympathy with the poor, always remain devoted to the public welfare, never be satisfied with merely printing news, always be drastically independent, never be afraid to attack wrong, whether by predatory plutocracy or predatory poverty.”
“…..always be drastically independent….
….. never be afraid to attack wrong.”
Oh Christine Byers, the irony truly burns.
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Update – her latest ‘work’ for the St Louis Post-Dispatch:
“Officer fatigue and stress” …. Christine yet again producing police-friendly copy and a shoulder for the poor souls to weep on.
Any articles on the fatigue and stress of Michael Brown’s family and friends?
Don’t hold your breath.
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