On June 29, a video appeared showing masked activists wearing black clothing—the garb commonly associated with “antifa,” the self-described anti-fascist movement—assaulting the conservative journalist Andy Ngo in Portland, Oregon. As if in unison, conservative publications published articles accusing the “left,” “liberal journalists,” and “reporters” of condoning the attack.
That's a disturbing charge. Luckily, there's little evidence it's true. Indeed, the articles in question say less about widespread liberal approval of antifa attacks than about the right's need to conjure it up.
Typical of the genre was a June 30 Daily Caller article bearing the headline “Here's How Liberal Journalists Reacted After Andy Ngo's Attack at a Portland Rally.” In its first sentence, the article accused “media pundits” of having “dismissed reports of a conservative journalist's attack.”
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