Over the past several days, CNN has displayed another classic example of the liberal news network's double standard in rushing to feed the narrative that police officers get away with being excessively violent, while ignoring stories that undermine that premise.
After it was revealed on Thursday that former South Carolina police officer Michael Slager was given a substantial sentence of 20 years for shooting a black motorist in the back, CNN has barely touched the story in spite of a history of giving the case a great deal of attention when it seemed like the officer was managing to evade punishment.
After a mistrial in December, CNN's New Day spent more than 16 minutes on the story as other CNN shows devoted attention to it as well. But, so far, New Day has not mentioned Slager's sentencing.
But, after a former Arizona police officer was acquitted on Friday of killing a man in a hotel, CNN's New Day Sunday highlighted the newly released body cam video and spent more than five minutes discussing the case.
When word of Slager's sentencing came on Thursday, ABC's World News Tonight and the NBC Nightly News found time for full reports that each ran more than a minute, and the CBS Evening News spent almost two minutes on the story. On Friday, ABC's Good Morning America gave it half a minute while CBS This Morning gave it almost 50 seconds.
As CNN's three-hour flagship morning show, New Day, has so far not mentioned the sentencing at all, according to a Nexis search, the story has only been mentioned twice on the entire 24-hour news network. At 4:00 p.m. ET on Thursday, CNN anchor Brooke Baldwin gave the development all of 40 seconds when it was breaking news. The only other mention was buried at 4:23 a.m. ET on Friday morning on Early Start, in a brief that lasted 34 seconds.
By contrast, last December, after Slager's first trial ended in a hung jury, CNN's New Day spent more than 16 minutes on it, and anchor Chris Cuomo even promised that "we will stay on this story until its conclusion." Of all the high-profile cases of police officers being caught on camera being violent with a suspect, this was one of the few cases where even those who normally defend police actions -- like CNN analyst Harry Houck --- thought his behavior appeared difficult to defend.
Then, in May, after word came that Slager had pleaded guilty to federal charges, CNN's New Day spent a little more than one minute on the development as part of a segment that included a discussion of a couple of other high-profile police shootings. Anchor Alisyn Camerota seemed worried that the charge he pleaded guilty to did not sound serious enough because it was not "murder," and CNN analyst Cedric Alexander noted the importance of how tough a sentence he would be given.
Now that the sentence has turned out to be fairly tough, proving that it's not impossible for police officers to be convicted of illegal behavior, CNN's New Day and nearly all of CNN have lost interest in the case.
But, on New Day Sunday, the show did manage to devote five and a half minutes to the story of the officer in Arizona who avoided being convicted of shooting a hotel guest. Daniel Schaeffer -- who notably is white -- was killed after moving one hand to his waist against police instructions. As CNN contributor Wesley Lowery appeared as a guest to discuss the acquittal, no mention was made of the Slager case from just a few days ago in which the officer actually did end up receiving punishment.
Similarly, last August, CNN ignored the release of video showing a black police officer being shot and seriously injured while trying to confront a suspect, but, a week later, made sure to highlight video showing a police officer being aggressive with a black motorist.
