It’s the six-month anniversary of the Capitol riot, and all the media outlets are weighing in with their hot takes (while overlooking the 150 shot to death over the holiday weekend). It was back in May when Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, who was in a separate office building, revealed she was in therapy and that members of Congress effectively “served in war.”
Look, we get it — journalists are some of the most disliked people in the country next to politicians — but so much of that dislike is of their own making that we’re not ready for VICE News’s piece on the reporters who survived January 6. (Narrator: All of them did.)
NEW: Reporters who survived the deadly Capitol riot are still struggling. Some won’t go back into the building. Several have sought therapy to deal with trauma. Many still aren’t sleeping well. https://t.co/UzRIZg3GiQ
— VICE News (@VICENews) July 6, 2021
All of the reporters interviewed for this story are worried that the Capitol riot won’t be a one-off attack.
“We’ve become very complacent in thinking the U.S. is different,” said Bloomberg News reporter Erik Wasson. https://t.co/7PTS69StID
— VICE News (@VICENews) July 6, 2021
“It’s eerily back to normal. But sometimes It feels like one of those horror movies, like the end of Jaws," said Wasson. “Everything feels copacetic on the beach. But you wonder if there’s anything out there.” https://t.co/7PTS69StID
— VICE News (@VICENews) July 6, 2021
Ginger Gibson, a politics editor at NBC News, has covered natural disasters and murder scenes. But this was different.
“That day we weren’t just observers. We were one of their targets,” she said. “A lot of us reporters are having a tough time with that.” https://t.co/7PTS69StID
— VICE News (@VICENews) July 6, 2021
“I’m still not sleeping like I used to, even to this day,” said PBS NewsHour correspondent Lisa Desjardins. “I became kind of an insomniac.” https://t.co/7PTS69StID
— VICE News (@VICENews) July 6, 2021
“It’s my office, the building I love most in the fucking world. I used to call the Capitol my girlfriend. I’ve devoted 15 years of my goddamn life to that building,” said freelance reporter Matt Laslo, choking up. “Now? I don’t want to be there.” https://t.co/7PTS69StID
— VICE News (@VICENews) July 6, 2021
“I do remember just feeling unsafe in my house,” said Wasson. “It occurred to me like, I wonder if some protesters could show up at my house. [I was] trying to assess whether there was actually any danger to me and my family.” https://t.co/7PTS69StID
— VICE News (@VICENews) July 6, 2021
Remember how the press all gave their support when protesters literally did show up at Tucker Carlson’s house? No?
“The next day, I was so angry. So, so angry,” said congressional reporting veteran John Bresnahan. “Anyone who doesn’t want to come up here again, I don’t blame them at all, even a little bit, one iota.” https://t.co/7PTS69StID
— VICE News (@VICENews) July 6, 2021
This reminds us of CNN’s Jim Acosta covering Trump rallies all over again, fearful that the crowd might turn on the CNN crew and attack them.
— Glenn Greenwald (@ggreenwald) July 6, 2021
"I used to call the Capitol my girlfriend," he said, choking up.
Wow. Matt here makes Obama's Pajama Boy look like an extra on Duck Dynasty in comparison. https://t.co/Zw8EInkzIY
— Aldous Huxley's Ghost™ (@AF632) July 6, 2021
— Steve in Crowtown (@StevenCrowtown) July 6, 2021
🤡
— 𝙴𝚜𝚜𝚘𝚑 #𝕁𝕦𝕡𝕚𝕥𝕖𝕣𝕀𝕍𝔾𝕒𝕟𝕘 (@ess0h) July 6, 2021
We’re old enough to remember when CNN had a radical Black Lives Matter activist who’d been in the Capitol and was a witness to the Ashli Babbitt shooting on as a guest that night.
Love it when reporters write stories asking us to feel sorry for them 😆
— fake phony Dave (@Dave42491123) July 6, 2021
— kevin (@gerber68) July 6, 2021
— MATTMcAllister (@Catfatmatty) July 6, 2021
Imagine writing this with a straight face…
— Kevin (@412_PSU) July 6, 2021
— Chuck L (@TXHockeyRef) July 6, 2021
This should be hidden and only shared with a therapist
— Micah July 6th Matters 🔨 (@illMakeit) July 6, 2021
What'd you do this night? This was the night Trump was evacuated to the bunker and BLM attempted to burn down a historic and historically black church. We're you traumatized by this, or were you back in your comfy Virginian suburb for the day? pic.twitter.com/cNHypIx3bM
— Chris (@YourBestChris) July 6, 2021
Now do everyone who's had their city taken over in CHAZ, or their business burned down by BLM, or their stores looted in San Fran, etc. Vice is the Democratic Party.
— Jackson (@Jethro42587060) July 6, 2021
Imagine the store owners in Minnesota, California and New York last summer. Imagine the moms driving their kids in daylight in San Jose on the freeway. Windows smashed, kids inside. You should imagine them.
— NanaNanaFoFana (@fo_nana) July 6, 2021
That’s how the people of Texas feel about the lack of a sovereign border and the violent Cartel controlling part of our state, which then bleeds into our nation. So deal with it. That’s what we’re having to do.
— Laura Bellamie 🙏🏻🇺🇸🐾 (@Bellagal7) July 6, 2021
"Reporters who survived"
You people are simply amazing at distorting facts and lying to the general public…
— TheRealBaki (@TheRealBaki1) July 6, 2021
Did any reporters not survive the Capital riot?
— Neil. (@totter777) July 6, 2021
— AmericaisFirst (@Denise84196243) July 6, 2021
— Wally McBorder 🧱 (@WallyMcBorder) July 6, 2021
He should consider cutting down on his soy intake. Oh and if you're calling the Capitol your girlfriend – seek help immediately.
— Mia Da Karen Davis (@MiaDavisTwo1) July 6, 2021
So he’s single now?
— Hollaria Briden (@HollyBriden) July 6, 2021
He’s dating the Portland Courthouse
— Jezos (@BeanDipChamp) July 6, 2021
These are not a serious people.
— WVmotoguy (@WVmotoguy) July 6, 2021
When I was young reporters would go cover wars in Yugolasvia…. This new generation has a serious lack of courage.
— Bruno Zangari (@magranza7) July 6, 2021
OMG, is this a grown human being? I was in the Pentagon on 9/11, and we didn't react like this. We went right back to work with the building still burning, smoke-filled hallways and the stench of fuel/burned bodies. And "reporters" wonder why we have little respect for them
— CommonSenseIsn'tCommonAnymore (@DCFanFirst) July 6, 2021
It smells like bitch in here
— ACMC 🥶 (@ACMC118) July 6, 2021
— Deece (@Deece5555) July 6, 2021
This is pathetic & only cheapens real trauma.
— Manderz65 Is Still In The Game (@haolegirl1965) July 6, 2021
This is the cover image for the VICE article on how "journalists who survived the insurrection" — survived the insurrection! — are dealing with trauma, anxiety disorders, insomnia and therapy.https://t.co/ELV8oMDGlh
— Glenn Greenwald (@ggreenwald) July 6, 2021
Of course, CNN’s Brian Stelter had to chime in and say he wished he thought of doing this story:
I wish I'd thought to write this story by @cam_joseph. Don't miss it: https://t.co/WoNlMDCiBZ
— Brian Stelter (@brianstelter) July 6, 2021
Related:
Journalist fails to see the irony of gloating about tattling to Twitter about account mocking 'journalists posting their Ls' https://t.co/AQjE4TI0GM
— Twitchy Team (@TwitchyTeam) July 1, 2021
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