CNN smears rape complainant then sheds tear for fetal tragedy

 

Does that sound trashy enough for CNN? Because if Birth Pangs is going to deconstruct the smarmy spin in CNN’s sexist news reporting, we should at least use a headline that is faithful to their style.

First, some facts. On Wednesday, January 9, a search for a missing Marine was disclosed to North Carolina media, following a series of suspicious events that were brought to the attention of civilian and military authorities.

According to her stepmother, Cpl. Maria Lauterbach had not been heard from since December 14. She was 20 years old and pregnant. On January 12 charred human remains were found buried in the back yard of the house where lived Cpl. Laurean, a colleague who was currently under investigation because of a sexual assault committed against Lauterbach.

Here’s an overview of key dates, as outlined by the Associated Press.

CNN displayed its editorial bias by selectively choosing bits of gathered information to produce at least one news item that was quite prejudiced against Cpl Lauterbach. In particular, on Friday January 11 the CNN story stated that the missing woman was a “compulsive liar” and suffered from psychological problems, drawing that interpretation from a police report they obtained. CNN was careful to attribute these claims to her stepmother and crafted a sensationalistic story that suggested that Lauterbach was selfish, deranged, manipulative and unlikely to be a suitable parent.

Remember how previously Birth Pangs observed that not all young unmarried pregnant women are treated the same?

Strange how a decision made by an unmarried Marine corporal to carry a pregnancy to term, to report to officials that she had been sexually assaulted, and to continue to fulfill her military duties in spite of the harassment she suffered, was not awarded the tacit approval nor the level of respect that CNN bestowed upon an unmarried TV starlet. Their news items about Cpl Lauterbach did not acknowledge that she took great responsibility for her condition. In fact, one might wonder that they were being coached by the three lawyers for her alleged rapist, by casting suspicion upon her mental health and her credibility.

So now it’s being reported by CNN and other MSM that the charred body found on the property contains the remains of a close to full term fetus. The murder of pregnant women, though sadly a common phenomenon, is not widely addressed in the mainstream media, as we wrote last year at Birth Pangs.

In this case however, the story was spun by CNN in the fashion that has made the TV conglomerate famous: a sensationalistic focus on an ‘innocent victim’. Not Cpl Maria Lauterbach of course. She’s already been judged and found guilty of conduct unbecoming to CNN’s double standards.

No, the throat-catching sob was reserved for the detailed description of a fetus also discovered when the body, presumably of Cpl Lauterbach, was unearthed. That’s far more newsworthy, as far as CNN is concerned. However had the body been that of a missing TV starlet … Ka-ching! … but we digress.

Birth Pangs feels the last word belongs to her concerned uncle, as reported by the Associated Press:

In a brief interview with reporters outside the family’s home in Vandalia, Ohio, Lauterbach’s uncle, Pete Steiner … said his niece didn’t have any kind of relationship with her attacker, and that Lauterbach had been forced to rent a room off base because of harassment at Camp Lejeune. “She was raped,” Steiner said. “The Marines, unfortunately, did not protect her, and now she’s dead.”

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This blog was co-authored by ella k. who provided most of the source material and the judicious perspective to locate this story within the current context of US infotainment aka mainstream media “news”.