Questioning Local Media Coverage of the Dakota Access Pipeline Protests

Tensions are once again rising in North Dakota. Demonstrators who call themselves water protectors are currently preparing for an anticipated police raid, the latest step in the North Dakota state government’s attempts to silence opposition to the controversial Dakota Access pipeline.

Part of the recent wave of conflict is due, in part, to the news: while the mainstream media has remained largely silent on the #NoDAPL demonstrations, local media has been keen to criticize the movement.

Jordan Chariton, a reporter for The Young Turks who has spent ample time reporting from Standing Rock, recently appeared on a local North Dakota television station to combat such reporting.

He faced off with Chris Berg of North Dakota’s Valley News Live in Berg’s segment “Point of View.”

Almost immediately, the two launch into a fierce debate over the “facts” of the situation.

Chariton says he’s reported from the scene and accuses Berg and his channel of spreading falsehoods. Chariton also asks why the local news has remained silent on the #NoDAPL movement until recently.

They then get into a broader conversation about pipeline construction, and whether pipelines can ever truly be safe.

“Who is the governor to play God with the drinking water?” Chariton asks.

Berg, however, refers to any criticism of the safety of the pipeline as “speculation” because “it hasn’t even been built.”

Finally, Chariton brings up the role of law enforcement during the #NoDAPL movement at Standing Rock.

“[You] are misinforming your audience that the police are following the law,” Chariton says. “I’ve been there seven times and seen — literally — a police state, the brutalization of unarmed people.”

Watch the full video below:

—Posted by Emma Niles