Show an ad over header. AMP

Maxine Waters offers right-wing alternative universe for Chauvin trial

20 April 2021
Dan Ackermann
Data: Stanford Cable TV News Analyzer; Chart: Axios Visuals

While Fox News has largely ignored the Derek Chauvin trial compared to competitors, conservative media seized on comments from Rep. Maxine Waters over the weekend, making it the single biggest trial storyline on social media since it began on March 29, according to NewsWhip data provided to Axios.

Why it matters: The data shows that for conservative America, the story in Minneapolis is being used as a way to highlight the aggression of protesters rather than the police killing of a Black man.

By the numbers: The three biggest stories on social media about the trial since it began all came this weekend, all from conservative media, all reacting to Waters’ comments on Saturday night.

  • Sunday was the biggest day of engagement around the trial since it began.
  • 7 of the top 10 stories during this period came from conservative publishers, all nodding at the prospect of protestor violence.

The big picture: Conservative media is otherwise looking away from the trial on TV.

  • Data from the Stanford Cable News Analyzer shows that Fox News has spent 4.2 minutes this month covering the trial, compared to 51.7 minutes from CNN and 40.7 minutes from MSNBC.

Driving the news:Waters said last weekend that protestors need to "get more confrontational" if Chauvin were acquitted, prompting swift outcry from conservatives.

Transcripts show George Floyd told police "I can't breathe" over 20 times

Section2

Newly released transcripts of bodycam footage from the Minneapolis Police Department show that George Floyd told officers he could not breathe more than 20 times in the moments leading up to his death.

Why it matters: Floyd's killing sparked a national wave of Black Lives Matter protests and an ongoing reckoning over systemic racism in the United States. The transcripts "offer one the most thorough and dramatic accounts" before Floyd's death, The New York Times writes.

The state of play: The transcripts were released as former officer Thomas Lane seeks to have the charges that he aided in Floyd's death thrown out in court, per the Times. He is one of four officers who have been charged.

  • The filings also include a 60-page transcript of an interview with Lane. He said he "felt maybe that something was going on" when asked if he believed that Floyd was having a medical emergency at the time.

What the transcripts say:

  • Floyd told the officers he was claustrophobic as they tried to get him into the squad car.
  • The transcripts also show Floyd saying, "Momma, I love you. Tell my kids I love them. I'm dead."
  • Former officer Derek Chauvin, who had his knee on Floyd's neck for over eight minutes, told Floyd, "Then stop talking, stop yelling, it takes a heck of a lot of oxygen to talk."

Read the transcripts via DocumentCloud.