Satirical newspaper The Onion reminded the public in its article that “It Is Journalism’s Sacred Duty To Endanger The Lives Of As Many Trans People As Possible,” and the press never misses a chance to aim lower. Few moments in American history have made this statement ring truer than what happened two weeks ago on Sept. 10. Conservative influencer and founder of Turning Point USA, Charlie Kirk, was shot and killed shortly after stating there have been “Too many” transgender mass shooters in the last decade.
Tyler James Robinson was arrested for allegedly killing Kirk. When it became clear that Robinson was not Black, Muslim or part of any marginalized group, outlets like the Wall Street Journal salivated at the question: “How can we make this about trans people?”
The first narrative journalists pushed was that the ammunition used in Kirk’s killing was engraved with “transgender ideology.” This is as absurd as it sounds. The so-called transgender ideology stated, “Notices bulge, OwO what’s this?” The press is likely fulfilling its self-appointed duty of encouraging violence against trans people, showing they do not care about the truth.
Journalists did not stop there. As The Onion wrote, “If our work isn’t putting trans people further at risk of trauma and violence, we consider it a failure.” The WSJ retracted its false claim after finding out Robinson was not transgender, but was in fact a white man from a Republican household. Upon learning this information, reporters tried to frame the story around Robinson’s alleged transgender partner. The New York Post published this story on Sept. 13, citing a tweet from Fox News’ Brooke Singman, which only said, “sources tell me,” and refused to elaborate. The NYP published an article later titled, “Charlie Kirk assassination latest shooting committed by transgender people and advocates.”
The effort to make Kirk’s assassination about transgender people is astounding — imagine what some of these journalists could accomplish if they redirected that effort to improving credibility rather than pushing an agenda.
While Kirk and news outlets obsessed over the supposed transgender violence, statistics tell a different story. Talking Points Memo wrote in an article responding to Texas Congressman Ronny Jackson’s call for transgender people to be taken off the streets.
“Transgender suspects were involved in 0.11% of mass shootings recorded over the past decade, a figure far lower than the proportion of transgender people in the total U.S. population,” the article wrote.
Furthermore, right-wing attacks on the transgender community are empowered by false claims that these people are mentally ill. Kirk was a leading advocate for this rhetoric, which is rejected by many medical institutions, including the American Psychiatric Association.
The normalization of hateful rhetoric by news organizations is dangerous, and masking it as a difference of political opinion is iniquitous, irresponsible and irrational. Journalists reached a new low with their unprofessionalism in reporting about Kirk’s killer.
Political violence has no place in society, and when media outlets imply that an ideology is inherently hateful, they are only encouraging more violence. The reporting that Robinson was associated with transgender people is nothing more than a dog whistle for far-right individuals to further demonize a minority group whose existence they disagree with.
