Jury Finds Minneapolis Police Officer Guilty of Murdering George Floyd
What happened? After hearing arguments from the prosecution and the defense, all of which was televised per the judge’s order, the jury in the Derek Chauvin trial held brief deliberations and voted unanimously for the police officer’s conviction. Chauvin, who is white, was found guilty of the two counts of murder and one count of manslaughter he was charged with for the killing of Floyd, who was Black, last summer. Demonstrations began to gain momentum in anticipation of the verdict, but the announcement largely defused the atmosphere.
How was it covered? Outlets that lean left, along with many that have reputations for neutral reporting, gave extensive coverage to courtroom arguments, testimony, and evidence — particularly a cell phone video of Chauvin kneeling on Floyd’s neck for several minutes. On the right, outlets covered less of the trial as it proceeded, focusing instead on how public expressions of support for Floyd might sway the jurors against Chauvin. Fox News and other outlets, for example, reported on remarks by liberal Congresswoman Maxine Waters (D-CA) in which she called for “more confrontational” protests, comments she attempted to play down but that the judge criticized from the bench as being disrespectful to the rule of law. Most media coverage acknowledged that Chauvin was likely to appeal the verdict and that Waters’ statement could lend legal merit to the appeal.
What related misinformation circulated? Even more so than most major stories, Chauvin’s trial was a national event because of the way Floyd’s death sparked protests in cities across the country last summer, and the jury’s verdict was going to be consequential either way — and therefore fertile ground for misinformation. On one side, fake accounts purporting to be the police departments of cities like Chicago and Portland (tweet was later deleted) posted messages of solidarity with Chauvin after the verdict. In coverage of the demonstrations by conservative media, there were also echoes of the stories they have told since last summer of cities being wholesale burned or destroyed by rioters and violent factions, taking isolated incidents and using the imagery in particular to inflame audiences against protesters. Up until the verdict was announced, there were stories on the left about the misinformation and other harmful content that might be expected if Chauvin were to be acquitted, and Facebook announced it had taken measures to be ready to enforce its policies related to false information in anticipation of a post-verdict surge in social media activity.
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