Peter Baker

OUTLET

REPORTER

CLAIM

Left-Wing Media Pushes Fake Washington Crime Narrative

CATEGORY

THE OFFENSE

The Wall Street Journal, The Washington Post, The New York Times and Politico worked together to weave a narrative that President Trump’s enhanced law enforcement activities in Washington, D.C. were not taking place in the high crime areas of D.C.

THE TRUTH

Half of the arrests made in the Washington, D.C., crime crackdown have been in high-crime areas. The Washington Post included a map of “troops in the district” in one of their articles which was based on “accounts from Post reporters on the ground in D.C. and verified videos on social media.” Their reporters got it wrong, and used incomplete data to create their inaccurate map. NYT’s Peter Baker then made a post on X that cited the map as evidence that law enforcement efforts were not present in high-crime areas. Next, the Wall Street Journal released a story corroborating the narrative, but based entirely on the testimony of Ebony Payne, a Democrat neighborhood commissioner in D.C., and a deeply conflicted source. Finally, Politico continued the narrative by citing the WSJ story in their Playbook newsletter where they attempted to downplay the impacts of the enhanced law enforcement efforts.

KEY POINTS

• The Washington Post published a poorly substantiated map of law enforcement activity in D.C.
• NYT’s Peter Baker posted about the map, and caused the hoax to go viral.
• WSJ then released a story supporting the narrative, but only cited a Democrat neighborhood commissioner as evidence.
• Politico elevated the WSJ’s poorly source article on their newsletter which promoted the article and furthered the hoax.

SOURCES

• On D.C. Streets, Feds Make a Show of Force
• Where National Guard troops and federal agents are patrolling D.C.
• Peter Baker's Post
• Playbook: Zelenskyy’s White House do-over
• White House: Half of D.C. crackdown arrests are in high-crime areas
• Ebony Payne Biography