Don’t Fall for Media Propaganda — LA is not a “War Zone”
On Friday June 6th, ICE officials completed raids across three different sites in Los Angeles as part of the Trump administration-wide push to deport undocumented immigrants. 44 total people were arrested across the raids, as ICE officials entered workplaces to detain undocumented immigrant laborers.
Since then, thousands of people have taken to the streets of downtown Los Angeles–from Inglewood to Paramount– to protest the ICE-conducted raids as well as the Trump administration’s anti-immigration orders. Protests remained relatively peaceful amongst protestors, as many gathered outside the locations where raids took place and locations where law enforcement officials were said to be taking detained immigrants.
But as protests continued to spread across different areas of Los Angeles in the following days, so did the response and action from local and federal government officials. When The Los Angeles County Sheriff Police Department responded to a Paramount protest gathering they deemed unlawful the afternoon of Saturday, June 7th, tensions between protestors and law enforcement officials escalated. Later that evening, 2,000 National Guard troops were mobilized into Los Angeles County to control protestors following an executive memo signed by President Trump.
LA-based demonstrations from June 7th up until now have been characterized by peaceful protestors with occasional escalations and damages. However, some media organizations, particularly channels and social media accounts run by conservative personalities, have worked to create a dangerous narrative of the state of LA, categorizing the city as a “War Zone.”
Fox News, for example, has been one of the main culprits in spreading misinformation about the LA protests. The outlets’ headlines such as “Violent Anti-Ice Protests Spread Nationwide” and “Violent Anti-Ice Rioters Cause Mayhem in L.A.”, in addition to the re-looping of videos featuring damaged property and fires in very few places of the city, have created a specific narrative. Fox wants viewers to believe that LA has become a playground for violence and chaos, when that is far from the truth.
Social media platforms have also played an important role in painting LA as a “dangerous” war zone. Actor and vocal Trump-supporter James Wood, for example, shared a video on his X platform featuring law enforcement vehicles set on fire, which he captioned, “If I hear one more leftist shill in mainstream media utter the words ‘peaceful protests’, I’ll throw up.” The post has since been taken down by X, after it was discovered that the videos were actually from 2020 protests following George Floyd’s death, during the height of the Black Lives Matter Movement. (It is notable that similar media tactics were utilized in Los Angeles-related coverage of BLM.)
There is no doubt that the media plays an important role in informing and shaping the public’s perspective about current events. But unfortunately, news outlets and public figures can decide to abuse their power and influence to spread anti-protesting propaganda. This not only contributes to normalizing the spread of misinformation, but it delegitimizes important movements that aim to expose tyranny and flaws in our government at the local, regional and national levels. And even then, the “violent” actions of a few (who are well within their right to express their anger about the administration’s inhumane policies) should not undermine a long-lasting movement that has sought to protect the liberties and legal rights of immigrants wanting to start a fresh, new life in the United States.
The truth of the matter is that LA is far from a war zone. In fact, a report from the Washington Post highlights that the “lawlessness and chaos” that has been used to characterize Los Angeles in fact “have been mostly confined to a few downtown blocks.” Protestors across Los Angeles County have also taken to social media to express their discontent with this narrative. Tiktok user Christian, who lives a mile away from where some of the LA protests took place, uploaded a video explaining that he could walk down to the nearest Shake Shake and not be in harm's way.
Some of the very media we consume through major media corporations and social media platforms can still be filled with false reports and misinformation. With the rise of the digital age and developments in technology, we as a society must learn to engage in proper fact-checking practices, so we don’t fall victim to propaganda that demonizes, rather than celebrates, protestors advocating for the most pressing issues shaping our world today.
As Gen-Z are the most vulnerable to media propaganda and misinformation, it’s especially important that we don’t allow these narratives to perpetuate. We can’t let the portrayal of LA as a war zone prevent us from using our voices and protesting against injustice. Cross-referencing information across various sources and engaging with multiple different viewpoints are just some of the many ways Gen-Z can develop better media literary skills, while still being civilly engaged.