Known as not “burying the lede,” a fundamental principle of journalism dictates that information most important to a story should be provided first to give readers critical context that helps them make sense of the story.
But on Monday, the media buried the lede, proving once again why the majority of Americans do not trust them.
According to the Washington Post, Target stores in at least five states — Louisiana, New Hampshire, New York, Oklahoma, and Vermont — were evacuated over the weekend after receiving bomb threats. The Post’s headline — “Target stores see more bomb threats over Pride merchandise” — suggests the perpetrator was angry about Target selling LGBTQ merchandise. After all, Target faced backlashlast month overLGBTQ merchandise.
But what the Post failed to make clear from the beginning of its story is that the threats were made by someone angry over Target allegedly capitulating to “far-right extremists.”
“You have betrayed the LGBTQ+ community. You are pathetic cowards who bowed to the wishes of far right extremists who want to exterminate us,” read one of the threat emails sent to KFLY-TV, a Louisiana news station.
“We will not tolerate intolerance nor indifference. If you are not with us then you are against us. That is why we placed a bomb in each of your locations, evacuate now as this is only to cause economic damage,” the email continued.
News stations in New York, New Hampshire, and Vermont also received email messages that “accused Target of betraying the LGBTQ+ community,” according to the Post.
Police searched each Target location that was threatened and, fortunately, did not locate any explosive devices. It appears to have been a hoax.
This is actually the second time someone has hoaxed Target with fake bomb threats. Last month, someone threatened stores in Ohio, Pennsylvania, and Utah. The person behind those threats blasted Target as being “full of cowards who turned their back on the LGBT community and decided to cater to the homophobic right wing redneck bigots.” No bombs were ever found.
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