The Inside Story: USA Votes 2024: The Republican Convention
Episode 153 – July 18, 2024
SHOW OPEN:
This week on The Inside Story:
Former President Donald Trump survives an assassination attempt… days before receiving his party’s nomination for another run at the presidency.
See who he picked for a running mate.
President Joe Biden insists he can serve four more years despite continued questions about his age.
Plus, a Trump-appointed judge throws out the classified documents case against the former president.
NOW…. On the Inside Story, American Votes: The Republican National Convention.
The Inside Story:
KATHERINE GYPSON, VOA Congressional Correspondent:
Welcome to the Inside Story, I’m VOA Congressional Correspondent Katherine Gypson. I am in Milwaukee, Wisconsin for the Republican National Convention.
This Week…
Republican Presidential Nominee Donald Trump takes center stage at the Republican National Convention amidst heightened security measures, following an assassination attempt last weekend.
Donald J. Trump, Republican Presidential Nominee:
Friends, delegates and fellow citizens, I stand before you this evening with a message of confidence, strength and hope. Four months from now, we will have an incredible victory and we will begin the four greatest years in the history of our country. Together, we will launch a new era of safety, prosperity and freedom for citizens of every race, religion, color and creed. The discord and division in our society must be healed. We must heal it quickly. As Americans, we are bound together by a single fate and a shared destiny. We rise together or we fall apart. I am running to be president for all of America, not half of America, because there is no victory in winning for half of America. So tonight, with faith and devotion, I proudly accept your nomination for president of the United States, thank you.
KATHERINE GYPSON:
In the aftermath of the shooting incident that left Trump injured, the United States Secret Service remains “confident” in its ability to protect the former President. VOA’s Arash Arabasadi brings us more details.
((PLAYBOOK SLUG: Trump Shooting Investigation (TV)
BYLINE: Arash Arabasadi
((NARRATOR))
The campaign of former president Donald Trump says he’s “fine” after surviving what the FBI described as an assassination attempt at a campaign stop Saturday night.
((STILL IMAGE, TRUMP INJURY, AP))
((NARRATOR))
Trump says he was shot in the ear during the attack by what authorities described as an “AR-style” rifle, like those used in several mass shootings in the United States.
((STILL IMAGE, THOMAS MATTHEW CROOKS, AP))
((mandatory cg Bethel Park School District))
((NO ARCHIVE))
((NARRATOR))
The FBI identified 20-year-old Thomas Matthew Crooks as Trump’s would-be assassin, and the Secret Service says it fatally shot him outside the rally venue. The Biden administration says it is looking into security failures.
[RADIO TRACK: Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas at a White House briefing as carried on The Hill’s YouTube channel]
((mandatory cg The Hill via YouTube))
((Alejandro Mayorkas, Secretary of Homeland Security))
“At President Biden’s direction, an independent review of the incident will be conducted. One that will examine the Secret Service’s – and other law enforcement’s actions – before, during, and after the shooting to identify the immediate and longer-term corrective actions required to ensure that the no-fail mission of protecting national leaders is most effectively met.”
((VOX POP, BIDEN, “My fellow Americans…”))
((BIDEN, OVAL OFFICE, WH, DC, AP, 07/14))
((NARRATOR))
The White House says Biden spoke with Trump by phone, and the president later addressed the nation from the Oval Office.
((VAR, JAN 6, AP))
((NARRATOR))
He called for unity while condemning the violence that’s plagued American politics, including the January sixth assault on the U.S. Capitol and extremists threatening election workers.
((VAR, RNC STREET SCENES, MILWAUKEE, WI, AP, 07/14))
((NARRATOR))
Trump is in Milwaukee this week for the Republican National Convention, which will likely make official his nomination as the party’s candidate for president.
But after the shooting in Pennsylvania, the Secret Service is responding to questions about its ability to safeguard the venue.
((Audrey Gibson-Cicchino, Secret Service RNC Coordinator ))
“We are confident in these security plans that are in place for this event. And we’re ready to go. It’s been an 18-month process. It’s the, we’ve worked together over that 18 months to develop operational security plans for any and all aspects of security related to this event.”
((VAR, RNC STREET SCENES, MILWAUKEE, WI, AP, 07/14))
((NARRATOR))
The Secret Service calls this a “national special security event,” the highest security designation the federal government provides.
((MILWAUKEE MAYOR NEWSER, MILWAUKEE, WI, AP, 07/15))
((NARRATOR))
Milwaukee’s Mayor, Cavalier Johnson, echoed his confidence in the 18-month process adding that local first responders, as well as state law enforcement, stand at the ready to safeguard the RNC.
((VAR, STREETS, BETHEL PARK, PA, REUTERS, 07/15))
((NARRATOR))
Back in Pennsylvania, cameras captured FBI agents entering the home of suspected shooter Crooks in the Bethel Park area.
His motives for the shooting remain a mystery.
But how he carried out the attack in the first place became a political flashpoint…
((SCREEN SHOT, HOUSE OVERSIGHT))
((mandatory cg oversight.house.gov))
((NARRATOR))
… as House Committee on Oversight and Accountability Chairman James Comer of Kentucky said, “Americans demand answers.”
((CHEATLE AT NEWSER, MILWAUKEE, AP, 06/21))
((NARRATOR))
Adding that the Committee will soon send a formal invitation for a hearing to Secret Service Director Kimberly Cheatle.
Arash Arabasadi, VOA News.
####
KATHERINE GYPSON:
In an election year that so far has been anything but normal, this year’s Republican National Convention has been surprisingly and perhaps comfortingly normal.
The party faithful have turned out to support Donald Trump to be the Republican Presidential nominee and with the usual pomp and circumstance announced the Vice-Presidential candidate, MAGA convert J.D. Vance.
Carolyn Presutti leads our team coverage coverage here at the convention in Milwaukee, Wisconsin.
((PLAYBOOK SLUG: E24 0716 RNC WRAP
BYLINE: Carolyn Presutti
((NARRATOR))
((thunderous applause))
(NARRATOR))
This is Donald Trump’s first public appearance since he was shot. He didn’t need to speak — his state delegates filled the void.
((NAT))
(fight, fight, fight))
((NARRATOR))
Here, to join his new ballot partner, Ohio Senator J.D. Vance. It was the biggest political secret of the year — announced at the Republican National Convention.
((nat of Vance announcement from earlier today))
((NARRATOR))
Senator Vance, at age 39, brings youth to the presidential election. Known for his rural America memoir “Hillbilly Elegy,” he’s a former Marine, and a conservative who once referred to Trump as “America’s Hitler.”
President Biden Monday called Vance a “clone of Trump.”
((nat of convention state roll call))
((NARRATOR))
The announcement comes on the first day of the Republican National Convention, in front of 24-hundred state delegates pledging their votes for the expected nominee, former President Donald Trump.
((Nat of protest))
(( broll of protesters https://app.frame.io/player/035648c5-2baa-45d9-bc70-622641ee56ad and https://app.frame.io/player/f1548e0b-6d96-4775-ad1a-fe3b1c29fd86 and https://app.frame.io/player/118b0795-dbc3-41dc-97f4-9e2d72e3fd87 ))
A few blocks from the convention, protesters — against Republican policies and Trump.
[[RADIO TRACK John Miller lives in Milwaukee, where the convention is taking place.”]]
(( https://app.frame.io/player/b1e7db88-5e5e-4e97-8379-5943d595e8a3 at :15))
((John Miller, Milwaukee Resident))
“I thought it was important to remind people that we have two candidates and one of the candidates has 34 felony counts against him.”
((NARRATOR))
But the Vance choice and Trump’s rebound after the attempted assassination energized this group even more.
[[RADIO: Michael Lawler is a US Representative from New York]]
((https://app.frame.io/player/c20210c9-29b8-4bdf-9df8-dd64374780ef at 1:55))
((Rep. Michael Lawler, New York))
“The question is not about the past. The question is about the future and how we move forward as a country and the issues impacting the American people.”
((NARRATOR/VO cover with convention or stand up))
((STAND UP CLOSE))
((Carolyn Presutti, VOA News))
((https://app.frame.io/player/dfd724ee-cc1b-46c8-9f97-139e1610e565))
These delegates say they want more unity. Now, at the end of this first day of their convention, they can rally around the full presidential ticket of Trump and Vance.
((Carolyn Presutti, VOA News, at the Republican National Convention, Milwaukee, Wisconsin.))
((PLAYBOOK SLUG: E24 0716 RNC WRAP
BYLINE: Steve Herman
((VIDEO: Turkish RNC https://app.frame.io/player/7eb3c109-9da4-4f9f-965e-7274e67872f1 ))
((NARRATOR))
The official theme of Day 2 of the Republican National Convention — ‘Make America Safe Again.’ It could have been ‘Republicans All Play Nice Again.’
((VIDEO: RNC Tuesday Trump walks in))
Donald Trump’s former foes in this year’s party primary took turns issuing messages of unity.
((VIDEO: RNC Tuesday Vivek 20:36 EDT))
((Vivek Ramaswamy, Former Republican Presidential Candidate))
“If you want to seal the border, vote Trump! If you want to restore law and order in the country, vote Trump!” [[:08]]
((Video: RNC Tuesday cutaway shot / RNC Nikki 21:36 EDT ))
((NARRATOR))
Besides entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy, former South Carolina Governor Nikki Haley also put aside her previous policy differences with the former president.
((VIDEO: RNC Tuesday Nikki 21:29 EDT ))
((Nikki Haley, Former Republican Presidential Candidate))
“I’ll start by making one thing perfectly clear – Donald Trump has my strong endorsement.” ((:11))
((VIDEO: Reuters Haley 4Mar2024 https://app.frame.io/player/355a1bdd-ef6b-4e81-9689-6fb28a62a654 TC 00:27))
((NARRATOR))
During this year’s primary battle, Haley was Trump’s last challenger. The U.S. ambassador to the United Nations during Trump’s administration attacked her former boss as unfit and unelectable.
((VIDEO: South Carolina b-roll https://app.frame.io/player/1a49029f-8d6d-4a96-b254-83cc71e8d9e2 TC 02:17))
Delegates from Haley’s home state, such as Gerri McDaniel and Robin Holley, prefer to look ahead, not back.
((VIDEO: South Carolina https://app.frame.io/player/f7131f6b-c218-4670-abb3-bdd39ccd002c TC 02:30 ))
((Gerri McDaniel, South Carolina Republican Delegate))
“It doesn’t matter who ran against him before. President Trump is bringing them all in together, and that’s what we want to see.” [[:06]]
((Reporter)): “Do you think Governor Haley has her heart into this Trump 2024 campaign now against President Biden?” [[:09]]
((Robin Holley, South Carolina Republican Delegate))
“I think if she is a person that I think she might be, because I don’t know her, I think that she’s got some forgiveness and some motivation to move on and to keep us together and to help our country.” [[:16]]
((VIDEO: RNC Cruz 21:08 EDT / Rubio 22:47 EDT / Carson 22:40 EDT/ DeSantis 21:40 EDT))
((NARRATOR))
Other former Trump opponents from this year’s primary and those from the past, addressing the convention Tuesday included Senator Ted Cruz of Texas… Marco Rubio of Florida… former Housing Secretary Ben Carson … and Florida Governor Ron DeSantis.
((VIDEO: RNC DeSantis 21:40 EDT))
((Florida Governor Ron DeSantis))
“My fellow Republicans, let’s send Joe Biden back to his basement and let’s send Donald Trump back to the White House!” [[:11]]
((VIDEO for web: Steve signoff https://app.frame.io/player/1f72b6c1-2ac6-4a49-be9e-641d87fecb32 TC 00:01))
((VIDEO for lang. services: SC b-roll https://app.frame.io/player/1a49029f-8d6d-4a96-b254-83cc71e8d9e2 TC 02:52 / https://app.frame.io/player/7eb3c109-9da4-4f9f-965e-7274e67872f1 Turkish RNC TC 00:14))
((Steve Herman, VOA News)) ((Standup))
Some of the former and future presidential hopefuls praising Trump here tonight might be seeking to court favor his favor and that of the delegates four years from now – as a Republican victory at the top of the ticket in November would give Trump his second and final term.
((Steve Herman, VOA News, at the Republican National Convention in Milwaukee))
[[:26]]
((PLAYBOOK SLUG: E24 0718 RNC WRAP
BYLINE: Katherine Gypson
((Narrator))
In his first speech on the national political stage, Donald Trump’s vice presidential nominee, U.S. Senator J.D. Vance, came out swinging….
((J.D. Vance, Republican Vice Presidential Nominee))
((Clip to Come))
“We’re done importing foreign labor. We’re going to fight for American citizens and their good jobs and their good wages.”
((Narrator))
Relatively unknown across the United States, Vance — a Yale Law school graduate who served in the U.S. military for six years — has served in elected office for about a year and a half. He was introduced by his wife, Usha Vance.
((Usha Vance, Wife of Vice Presidential Candidate))
((Usha Vance at 9:45 pm))
“Chosen to help lead our country through some of its greatest challenges. I am grateful to all of you for the trust you placed in him.”
((Open for nats of delegates chanting JD, JD))
((Narrator))
Wednesday night was a chance not only for Vance to introduce himself to the American public but to prove his foreign policy credentials.
((J.D. Vance, Republican Vice Presidential Nominee))
((Clip to Come))
“Together, we will make sure our allies share in the burden of securing world peace, no more free rides for nations that betray the generosity of the American taxpayer.”
((Narrator))
Delegates said they were not bothered by Vance’s lack of experience…
((FOR RADIO: Walter Goodwater is a Republican delegate from Texas.))
((Walter Goodwater, Texas Delegate))
((Walter Goodwater at 6:03))
“Really what we’re electing here is potential leadership, and he has got proven potential leadership, and he’s not one of us old fossils.”
((Narrator))
Or by his past comments criticizing Trump…
((FOR RADIO: Laurie Schaefer is a Republican delegate from Illinois.))
((Laurie Schaefer, Illinois Delegate))
((Laurie Schaefer at 2:04))
“I love that he’s young and he can be molded, and he is embracing the America First, which I also appreciate. I think under Trump’s tutelage, he can go pretty far.”
((Narrator))
In a night focused on “Making America Strong Again,” Trump’s son summed up the choice facing voters.
((Donald Trump Jr., Donald Trump’s Son))
((Donald Trump Jr. speech at 9:32 pm))
“It’s a choice between people who are proud of America and the people who are ashamed of America, and ultimately, it’s a choice between America last and America first.”
((Narrator))
((GYPSON On-Camera Standup))
((Katherine Gypson, VOA News))
The convention closes Thursday evening with Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump’s acceptance speech – his first time speaking in public since he survived an assassination attempt.
((Katherine Gypson, VOA News, at the Republican National Convention in Milwaukee, Wisconsin))
KATHERINE GYPSON:
In the Democratic camp, President Biden condemned the assassination attempt against his political rival, and said it’s time to cool down the political rhetoric.
All this as questions about his age, and ability to effectively govern the country for another 4 years continue to dog President Biden’s campaign. Plus, a series of one-on-one interviews have done little to convince the public he’s up for the job.
((PLAYBOOK SLUG: E24: Biden Candidacy TV/WEB
BYLINE: Patsy Widakuswara
((Wide of RNC and Trump scenes, AP 4506856 and other wires))
((NARRATOR))
Republicans are pledging unity and support behind their presidential nominee, former President Donald Trump, during their national convention this week.
((Biden arrival Delaware, AP 4506844))
((NARRATOR))
For President Joe Biden, it is a lonelier scene. He is isolating in his home in Delaware following a positive COVID test.
((GFX Schiff, Pelosi, Schumer))
((NARRATOR))
This amid calls from prominent Democrats for him to step down. Analysts say it is looking grim for the president.
((Radio: Larry Sabato, University of Virginia’s Center for Politics, via Skype))
((https://app.frame.io/player/97e1cbd1-7505-48ff-a9b7-7c06ce080dd3 TC 0:07))
((Larry Sabato, University of Virginia)) ((courtesy Skype))
“Democrats can’t even decide whether Biden is really in trouble or not. And if he is, how to get him out of the race. And if they get him out of the race, who should replace him and how. Now, that’s pretty fundamental. Meanwhile, the Republicans have gotten their act together, they have had a great convention. And Donald Trump, because in part of the assassination attempt, probably has more public support than he ever has had.”
((Biden stepping out of car then giving thumbs up, AP 4506822))
((NARRATOR))
Privately the president is reportedly listening to concerns. Publicly he is resisting calls to step aside.
((AP 4506793))
((President Joe Biden)) ((MANDATORY CREDIT COURTESY OF BET NEWS))
“I’ve demonstrated that I know how to get things done for the country in spite of the fact they’re told we couldn’t get it done. But there’s more to do, and I’m reluctant to walk away from that.”
((GFX2))
((NARRATOR))
Sixty-five percent of Democrats said Biden should step aside, according to an AP-NORC poll.
((https://app.frame.io/player/afb3c970-3e29-47da-9b7e-1f1bef3b600a TC 10:05))
Alan Lichtman, Presidential Historian, American University))
“It is the height of folly and ignorance to claim you know, based on the polls which constantly change, who’s going to win and who’s going to lose. And that you should force candidates out, just because you think they can’t win.”
((GFX))
((NARRATOR))
Presidential historian Alan Lichtman’s “Keys to the White House” system has accurately predicted all but one U.S. election result since 1984. He says Democrats should stick with Biden.
((GFX))
((NARRATOR))
Lichtman’s system ignores polling, including that 70% of Americans said they are not confident that Biden has the mental capacity to be president. For Trump, it’s 51%.
((Biden at NAACP, AP 4506553))
((NARRATOR))
What happens now is anybody’s guess. If Biden agrees to step aside, the most orderly scenario would be for him to endorse an alternative candidate.
((Biden and Harris, AFP V000_362Q846))
((NARRATOR))
Vice President Kamala Harris would be a logical choice at least financially, because as part of the Biden Harris ticket, she would inherit their campaign war chest.
((Patsy Widakuswara, VOA News, Washington))
KATHERINE GYPSON:
The U.S. district judge in Florida presiding over the classified documents case against former president Donald Trump dismissed the case on Monday. She sided with defense lawyers who argued the special counsel who filed the charges was illegally appointed.
Trump faced dozens of felony counts accusing him of illegally keeping classified documents at his Mar-a-Lago estate in Palm Beach, Florida. He is also accused of obstructing FBI efforts to get them back. He had pleaded not guilty and denied wrongdoing.
Defense lawyers filed multiple challenges to the case, including one based on a legal technicality. They asserted that Special Counsel Jack Smith had been illegally appointed under the Constitution’s Appointments Clause because he was appointed by the Attorney General rather than being confirmed by Congress.
In a 93-page order, Judge Aileen Cannon wrote: “The Framers gave Congress a pivotal role in the appointment of principal and inferior officers. That role cannot be usurped by the Executive Branch or diffused elsewhere — whether in this case or in another case, whether in times of heightened national need or not.”
The Department of Justice says it will appeal the decision.
Although the motive for the attempted assassination remains unknown, heated political rhetoric has long been a concern for observers of campaign speech for fear it could incite violence. We asked two experts on Presidential campaigns and rhetoric, University of Pennsylvania Professor Claire Finkelstein and Third Way executive Jim Kessler, if the attack could affect the tone of each campaign’s criticism of the other.
Jim Kessler, Executive Vice President for Policy, The Third Way
Both sides believe that the other side’s rhetoric is inappropriate.
Claire Finkelstein, professor of law and philosophy, University of Pennsylvania
We had years and years in this country in which people debated issues, talked about principle, actually try to answer questions that the media has or that members of the American public have about their positions, about what they stand for rather than slinging insults and you know accusations.
Jim Kessler:
I think the Biden language is strong. .Some may say that it crosses a line, but it’s certainly not as incendiary as the Trump rhetoric and the Republican rhetoric. But I’m not sure how well each side will be able to turn down the heat.
Claire Finkelstein:
I don’t want to be blaming the victim in this attack, but I do think that this is a lesson to candidates, to former President Trump, that words really matter and that when you use words that point in the direction of violence ,when you use words suggesting that there needs to be any kind of explosive reaction to the other side,in a country rife with weapons, we really run an enormous risk and we have been ratcheting up the political violence for years, making it really dangerous to hold public office.
KATHERINE GYPSON:
Project 2025, a conservative blueprint designed to centralize governmental authority under the President has, in recent weeks made its way into the broader US electorate.
While most of the electorate say they don’t know much about it, in recent polling by YouGov, a majority of those that do know of it, don’t like the plan, that has far reaching consequences for women’s rights, climate change policy and calls for the dismantling of the US government.
That led candidate Trump to disavow the strategy on his social media site Truth Social, even though many of the people who would serve in a second Trump administration have been involved in crafting the plan.
For more details, here is VOA’s Chief National Correspondent, Steve Herman.
((PLAYBOOK SLUG: TV-E24-Project 2025
BYLINE: Steve Herman
((VIDEO: SnagIt Trump speech TC 00:14))
((NARRATOR))
((courtesy: YouTube logo/@uspresidentdonaldtrumplive))
((Oct. 22, 2016))
Donald Trump, campaigning for president eight years ago, promised to bend Washington’s bureaucracy to his will.
((Donald Trump, Presidential Candidate))
“If I’m elected president, we are going to drain the swamp in Washington, D.C.” [[:07]]
((NARRATOR))
Trump’s continuing vow to drain the swamp —
((end data courtesy))
((end YouTube courtesy))
meaning to rid government of those who impose policy but are unaccountable to the president — is now backed with a blueprint, crafted by more than 100 conservative groups.
Project 2025, published by the right-wing Heritage Foundation, instructs how to swing a wrecking ball against the administrative state.
((Courtesy: Real America’s Voice/The War Room))
Heritage Foundation President Kevin Roberts is warning there may be violence along the journey to its implementation.
((The War Room with Stephen K. Bannon/Real America’s Voice))
((Kevin Roberts, President of The Heritage Foundation))
“We are in the process of the second American Revolution, which will remain bloodless — if the left allows it to be.”
((NARRATOR))
After that incendiary comment, Trump tried to distance himself from Project 2025 — asserting that while he knows “nothing” about it and its authors, “I disagree with some of the things they’re saying.”
((Courtesy: CSPAN))
The project’s head, Paul Dans, appearing on C-SPAN, left no doubt Trump’s words and ideas were the inspiration.
((Courtesy: C-SPAN))
((Paul Dans, Project 2025))
“He was president for four years, so many of the ideas are carry-ons from his original work. So, I would like to think a lot of it does spring from that first term of Trump.”
((NARRATOR))
VOA requested an interview with the Heritage Foundation. The think tank said it could not make anyone available, but e-mailed a statement stressing Project 2025 does not speak for any candidate.
Project 2025 seeks to eliminate the checks and balances writers of the Constitution, such as James Madison and Thomas Jefferson, crafted through dividing power among the executive, legislative and judicial branches of the government, according to Will Marshall, the president of the Progressive Policy Institute.
((Will Marshall, Progressive Policy Institute))
“Madison and Jefferson ought to be spinning in their graves when they see how much power they want to concentrate in the next president’s hands. And if that president happens to be Donald Trump, then it’s a kind of a nightmare for the country, given the way he’s misused power in the past.”
((NARRATOR))
President Joe Biden’s re-election campaign has made Project 2025 a primary target, setting up a separate website dedicated to criticism of it and highlighting liberal media reaction.
((Mandatory Courtesy: YouTube/MSNBC\))
((Melissa Murray, MSNBC))
“Critics are calling it the fascist playbook. And it should be one of the reasons, if not the reason, that you vote this November.” [
((Steve Herman, VOA News))
The sweeping plan also calls for slashing government funding for renewable energy and climate change mitigation. The Department of Education would be eliminated. The Federal Bureau of Investigation would be overhauled top to bottom, as would the U.S. Agency for Global Media, which oversees the Voice of America.
Steve Herman, VOA News, at the White House
KATHERINE GYPSON:
It became an instant iconic image. Former president Donald Trump, blood streaking his face, and his fist in the air after a botched assassination attempt in Pennsylvania. Social media ensured that image and others taken that day quickly circulated around the world. Media analysts examine the power of news photography and how independent media work to combat the waves of dis and misinformation following Sunday’s attack. Cristina Caicedo Smit has this story.
((PLAYBOOK SLUG: TV PF Trump Shooting PF Media Analysis
BYLINE: Cristina Caicedo Smit, Liam Scott
((Narrator))
It’s a photo seen around the world.
((AP photos collage of Donald Trump shows the multiple photos taken by AP journalist))
((NARRATION))
Taken by veteran AP photojournalist Evan Vucci, the image captures the immediate aftermath of the attempted assassination of Trump at a campaign rally.
((For radio: Here’s Evan Vucci))
((Evan Vucci, AP Photojournalist)) ((Mandatory: AP))
It was a normal rally. You know, I’ve done it hundreds of times. And, over my left shoulder, I heard several, several pops, and I knew immediately it was gunfire.”
((AP video of aftermath of shooting)) ((Mandatory: AP))
((NARRATOR))
Vucci is one of dozens of photojournalists covering the Butler, Pennsylvania rally Saturday. The shooting left one bystander dead and injured Trump and others.
Images from that day are described by some U.S. media outlets as iconic.
((AFP video of news headlines)) ((Mandatory: AFP))
But ethics experts are watching to see how — in a polarized time — media and others use the coverage of the attack.
((For radio: Subramaniam Vincent is the director of Santa Clara University’s journalism and media ethics center))
((Subramaniam Vincent, Media Ethics Expert)) ((Mandatory: Skype)) ((10:49))
“The media needs to stay on the facts and tell the whole story the way it is. It doesn’t have to exaggerate. It doesn’t have to add outrage to its own actual headline.”
((Narration))
Vincent sees no ethical dilemma in using pictures of the attack. But the more complex part is how those images will be used.
((Subramaniam Vincent, Media Ethics Expert)) ((Mandatory: Skype)) ((10:49))
“So, the real ethics of it, I think, comes in, in interpreting where the picture is, what it stands for in, in the narrative about American culture, politics, guns, violence.”
((NARRATION))
For photojournalist Vucci, his priority was documenting the events unfolding right in front of him.
((Evan Vucci, AP photojournalist)) ((Mandatory: AP))
“I knew that this was a moment in American history that had to be documented. I mean, it’s our job as journalists to do this work.”
((Name of file: AP video of chaos Trump rally)) ((Mandatory: AP))
((NARRATION))
As media work to verify what happened at the rally, on social media mis- and disinformation is flourishing.
((Name of file: AP video Trump rally PN AP video of Trump while he’s talking to the crowd and is shot)) ((Mandatory: AP))
((NARRATION))
Among the conspiracy theories being shared are baseless claims that say political parties on either side are responsible. Journalists are working to set the record straight. ((How? You’ve identified the challenge. But aren’t journalists always working to set the record straight?)) Yes, but now more than ever there must be more done when this happened…
Media analysts say this is where media have an important role in sorting fact from fiction and highlighting baseless claims.
((David Klepper, Associated Press Reporter)) ((Mandatory: AP))
“There’s no evidence for either of these conspiracy theories, but they reflect the kind of claims that are spreading in this very polarized emotional climate in the immediate aftermath of the assassination attempt.”
((AP Trump RNC Convention or AP 4506345_US. Trump at RNC))((Mandatory: AP))
As Trump appears at the Republican National Convention in Milwaukee just days after the attack, social media mentions of him are skyrocketing, says cyber analysts PeakMetrics.
Trump was back in public Monday at the Republican National Convention in Milwaukee. In the hours after the shooting, social media mentions of him skyrocketed, says cyber analysts PeakMetrics.
((Cristina Caicedo Smit, VOA News))
KATHERINE GYPSON:
From Milwaukee, Wisconsin,
Site of the 2024 Republican National Convention…
Thank you watching this edition of The Inside Story…
For the latest news you can log on to VOA News dot com…
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I am Katherine Gypson..
We’ll see you next week for another episode of…
The Inside Story.
