Yesterday’s Media in Los Angeles Today: Democracy Armed with Batons
The reality of today’s world is constructed through language. Languages were carefully selected by media outlets to frame and narrate events in ways that serve specific interests. But can all media really be trusted to fulfill their journalistic duties with integrity? The answer is no, as recent developments clearly show. An impressive example of this failure can be seen in Western media practice.
Recently, the city of Los Angeles has become the focus of public outrage following aggressive, massive attacks by US immigrants and federal law enforcement forces. These businesses targeted immigrant communities under the pretext of national security, but in reality they unleashed fear and instability. The protest exploded almost immediately, fuelling widespread anger at what the protesters described as “inhuman and racist practices.” After that, there was strict enforcement. Batons, tear gas, armored vehicles, and a quick declaration of emergency.
The footage circulating on social media platforms clearly depicts violent conflicts between law enforcement and protesters, including minors, journalists and seniors. However, these images are not prominently present in mainstream Western media coverage. In stark contrast to the widespread sensational coverage of protests in other parts of the world, particularly in other parts of Western Asia, western media have largely been silent or adopted official narratives, calling events “restoration order,” “precautions,” or “violent anxiety.”
This selective approach highlights the longstanding double standards of managing Western media coverage. When riots erupt in places like Tehran, Caracas and Moscow, the exact same exits rush to frame them as “moving freedom” or “a popular uprising against oppression.” However, when uncertainty erupts at the western border, especially when challenged domestic policies and security agencies, it is framed as a “threat to public safety.”
June 6, 2025: Turning Point
On the night of June 6th, 2025, a federal attack coordinated in a popular area of Los Angeles immigrants targeted dozens of families in a surprise midnight operation. By dawn, a crowd of protesters had flooded the roads, calling for systemic injustice and racist policy enforcement. Rather than engaged in dialogue, US authorities responded with a strong force, escalating the situation and eliciting acute criticism from civil rights advocates.
However, in the face of these astonishing developments, Western media often proud to support freedom of freedom of expression has chosen a path of silence or bias. There is no live coverage. There is no expert panel. There is no broad criticism. Only statements from official sources are sanitized – in stark contrast to the storms of media that they routinely stir when similar events occur in non-Western countries.
A crisis that crosses the street
What unfolds in Los Angeles is not just a social or political crisis, but an exposing of overlap at the heart of Western media. The same outlet that once broadcast images of Western Asian unrest with enthusiasm and moral judgments refuses to reflect the wounds of Los Angeles, where a vibrant identity was now built at the hands of immigrants.
This is not just a media failure. It’s a moral failure. Branding democracy, protesting overseas as a “free movement,” labels its own opponents as threats, revealing the vulnerability and hypocrisy of its narrative. This is when the international community recognizes this double standard for what it is. It is the erosion of reliability and the betrayal of the highly democratic ideals these countries assert their champions.
MNA/