Looting costs in America’s 20 largest metropolitan areas exceeded $400 million from the first weekend of rioting, according to a new report from the Anderson Economic Group.
“This includes property damage, lost inventory, cleanup and reconstruction costs, and closure-related lost wages,” the report stated. “[The study] did not assign any costs to peaceful protests or demonstrations.”
The report, published June 5, used “news publications to identify where looting occurred…and estimate the total costs of looting between May 29 and June 3.” The report authors say this value could be severely underestimated.
“Our estimates are based on observed patterns of looting in the 20 largest metropolitan areas across the country. We did not estimate costs in smaller metro areas that may have also experienced looting,” stated Brian Peterson, the firm’s director of public policy and economic analysis. “Furthermore, our estimates do not include costs to state or local governments that experienced property damage or incurred increased emergency service costs.”
According to an approximation given to Market Watch by Property Claim Services, damage incurred by riots in just Minnesota could total more than $25 million.
“We hope that those businesses that experienced looting and damage will be able to bounce back, but we know that some will not make it,” said Peterson. “That means empty storefronts and the loss of jobs at those businesses, which ultimately hurts local communities.”
The corporate media, however, has downplayed the violence and destruction, claiming protests around the nation have been misrepresented as not peaceful. Despite the clear mob mentality of many of the recent riots, one article in The New York Times claimed “Mr. Trump and his allies have tried to discredit the protests by focusing on some isolated incidents of violence.”
One MSNBC anchor also shared a company directive ordering reporters to label violence as “protests.”
“While the situation on the ground in Minneapolis is fluid, and there has been violence, it is most accurate at this time to describe what is happening there as “protests”–not riots.”
This will guide our reporting in MN. “While the situation on the ground in Minneapolis is fluid, and there has been violence, it is most accurate at this time to describe what is happening there as "protests"–not riots.”
— Craig Melvin (@craigmelvin) May 28, 2020
While most news sites focused on coverage of the “protests,” many failed to report on events such as Seattle’s Capitol Hill Autonomous Zone, a violent vigilante takeover of private and public property, until long after it was established.
“CNN only mentioned ‘Seattle’ once on Wednesday when discussing general unrest in major cities, according to a search of transcripts, while MSNBC didn’t cover Seattle on-air at all during the same time period,” stated one Fox News article. “Both networks finally addressed the situation early on Thursday but only to comment on President Trump tweeting about it.”
RealClearPolitics’s Tom Bevan pointed out the media hypocrisy in a tweet: “Total blackout on the insanity in Seattle on major news websites: ABC News, NBC News, CBS News.”
Media bias is not just in the stories that get covered, but the ones that don't. Total blackout on the insanity in Seattle on major news websites: ABC News, NBC News, CBS News. pic.twitter.com/yTzWGTpwo1
— Tom Bevan (@TomBevanRCP) June 11, 2020
Most national media outlets also failed to cover a Florida incident in which a mob several hundred strong called the police with a false report to lure officers into an ambush.
Jeffrey McCall, a DePauw University professor and media critic, told Fox News this lack of coverage by the media simply shows they don’t cover important events that don’t fit into a leftist policial agenda.
“The traditional media loved covering those earlier protest stories because of their dramatic, sensational, and counter-cultural tone. But the escalation of the Seattle demonstrations into the actual closing of a portion of the city is a bridge too far for even a sympathetic media to cover with an approving nod,” McCall said. “The latest chaos in Seattle is not merely a political statement, but an anarchy that even the progressive mainstream press just can’t appear to be advocating. Thus, it is better to leave the story off the agenda, or to at least minimize it, rather than show light on it and have to try to explain it into proper context.”
