Fox News Lies About Protests in Puerto Rico. Surprise?
It’s been almost 3 weeks since I posted this. I’ve been meaning to post a follow up, but I’ve been kinda busy since the student strike ended.
A good friend of mine sent me this video (NSFW, as it’s loaded with Spanish curse words), where Fox Business interviews Luis Fortuño, PR Governor (you may skip to 1:05 to see the segment). The interview was packed with lies: there have been several protests since early last year, one even reaching over 100,000 protesters on a weekday; most protesters that day were students who wanted to read a declaration in the Capitol, either inside or on the stairs; the Public-Private Alliances (APP by it’s Spanish abbreviation) agreements are quite devastating for the Island; and the APP and the firing of tens of hundreds of public workers weren’t part of his campaign.
But the worst aspect is the selective editing. It’s not that Fox hasn’t done this is the past, but it is infuriating the misrepresentation. On 1:07, we see the Capitol’s stairs, under heavy custody, throwing protests down the stairs. Skipping to 1:53, we see that the police officers magically gain shields, and are surrounded by the crowd. On 2:05, we even see a building atypical from the Old San Juan area, where the Capitol is located. On 2:10, there’s a blue car burning. Where did it came from, I have no idea, since no car has been set on fire in any public protest here. The protester hitting the police officer, on 2:18, didn’t happen here either. The shattered window on 2:22 wasn’t an image I actually saw here, but I can’t certify it’s from Puerto Rico either. And finally, the protester and the police officers with the Hammerspace shields make another appearance.