CNN's Pilgrim Highlights Media Bias at AP: Arrested Illegal Aliens Called 'Victims'

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Filling in for Lou Dobbs on Friday night, CNN's Kitty Pilgrim highlighted a case of bias at the “supposedly objective” Associated Press, which led a dispatch about the federal roundup Tuesday of workers at meatpacking plants, by referring to how “hordes of police” had “stormed” the plants, but “the illegal workers arrested may not have been the only victims.” Pilgrim marveled: “That's right, the Associated Press calling illegal aliens -- including some charged with stealing the identities of hundreds of Americans -- it called them 'victims.'"

Indeed, in a Friday morning AP dispatch as posted by Yahoo, "Immigration raids may affect meat prices," the AP's Roxana Hegeman led her Wichita-datelined story: “When hordes of police and immigration officials stormed meatpacking plants in six states this week, the illegal workers arrested may not have been the only victims. Consumers and the industry itself may be feeling the repercussions in a shortage of meatpackers, higher wage costs and, ultimately, higher prices for the beef that lands on America's tables at home and in restaurants....”

Pilgrim's short item toward the end of the first half hour of the December 15 Lou Dobbs Tonight:

“This broadcast is often criticized for taking a position on issues such as illegal immigration and border security. Well, here’s how the supposedly objective Associated Press covered Tuesday’s immigration raids on Swift Company meatpacking plants. In a story from Wichita, Kansas, and reprinted across the country, the AP reported that [text on screen under “Media Bias?”] 'hordes of police and immigration officials stormed meatpacking plants in six states this week, the illegal workers arrested may not have been the only victims.' That's right, the Associated Press calling illegal aliens -- including some charged with stealing the identities of hundreds of Americans -- it called them 'victims.'”