The major broadcast networks were relatively calm, professional, and sober on Friday morning in their reporting of the deadly ambush of police officers in Dallas, Texas, but there were still a few moments in which the issue of gun control or criticism of police was prevalent with CBS This Morning offering a few examples.
Speaking to NAACP President Cornel Williams Brooks in the 8:00 a.m. Eastern hour, the fill-in co-hosts offered questions from the left about officer-involved shootings in America with the first one from Jamie Yuccas making clear that “[y]ou have two very separate issues happening here that are both tragedies,” but the country ha nonetheless “become so divisive in terms of how we’re talking about both of these issues.”
Fellow fill-in co-host and WCBS anchor Kristine Johnson expressed sadness at how minorities “feel as though they need to record these incidents” and then after Brooks cited proposed pieces of legislation that the NAACP have been pushing, Johnson lamented: “This isn't exactly, though, a new issue. We have been talking about this over and over and over and over again. Why can't we get anything done?”
After the 8:30 a.m. Eastern local news break, the program resumed with former Face the Nation host and Texas native Bob Schieffer providing his thoughts on what transpired in the city that launched his journalism career.
Yuccas lauded Schieffer for his “great perspective” and wondered if he could frame it based on what he’s experienced and specifically incidents from the 1960s such as “the Civil Rights Movement, JFK's assassination, and Vietnam.”
“Our culture is changing. I don't think there is any question about that. We are becoming a less patient society. We are becoming a more demanding society. For want of a better word, we’re becoming a ruder society and we see this playing out in road rage, in the way we treat one another. There's just almost people — nobody is satisfied with anything now,” Schieffer opined.
Schieffer’s poignant words that many Americans relate to were quickly dispatched as he bemoaned the “powerful weapons of war” and how police in general “are shooting first and asking questions later”:
People are dissatisfied, they are frustrated, and they act out on these things and when you put those who are deranged into the mix, and they have access to these very powerful weapons of war, it just makes the stakes even higher. There's no excuse for some of the police shootings that we have been seeing. Police are shooting first and asking questions later. But on the other hand, you have to remember that the police are scared too of these weapons.
Seizing on that subject, Johnson called out Congress in much the same vein that regular co-host Gayle King did after the Islamic terrorist attack in Orlando (see here and here):
Until we do find out, Bob, the fact is that the anger in this country really does seem to be at a tipping point and that is a very, very scary feeling, I'm sure, for a lot of people that woke up this morning to this news. Based on your experience, what do lawmakers need to do to finally turn this corner?
Before Schieffer would be interrupted for a CBS News Special Report to provide the latest press conference by Dallas Mayor Mike Rawlings and Police Chief David Brown, Schieffer responded: “Well, nobody knows the answer to this because there are so many things that this is so complex, but you're exactly right. We wake up each morning wondering what could happen today that is worse than what happened yesterday.”
The relevant portions of the transcript from July 8's CBS This Morning can be found below.
CBS This Morning
July 8, 2016
8:30 a.m. Eastern
JEFF GLOR: As we wait that, former Washington chief correspondent and Face the Nation moderator Bob Schieffer is from Texas, he grew up there. He started as a reporter there more than half a century ago. Bob is now a CBS News contributor. He is in Washington. Bob, it is good to see you. I know we’re still waiting for a lot of information here, Bob. We will go to this report when it happens. What do you make of what you've seen so far?
BOB SCHIEFFER: Well, I think what the mayor is going to say in this news conference is going to be very, very important, because what has happened here, Jeff, is different than any of these recent violent events that we have been talking about. This was not a random act by some deranged person. This was a carefully planned, military-style operation. This was a classic ambush where the ambushers put their shooters on the high ground, surrounded a certain place and then let their prey walk into their line of fire. They were also very good shots. These were people that knew how to use these weapons. We know that by the accuracy, by the number of police officers that were shot. They were, obviously, shooting at police. They were not shooting at the protesters and they were successful, obviously. Twelve people were shot, five police officers are dead. The question now is who are these people? Is this some kind of organized group? Could it be terrorists? The Dallas mayor has said already this morning that he is not ruling out anything as to what the motive is or who these people are. So as we begin to identify these shooters, we will have a better idea of what their motivation was. This may be tied to some of the police shootings we have been seeing around the country. It may be something entirely different. Those are the things that we will hope to find out more about when the Dallas officials hold this news conference.
JAMIE YUCCAS: Yeah, we’ve been going on hours now. Still don't have a ton of information, Bob. I want to ask you because I think you provide such great perspective, covering so many events over the last 60 years. The Civil Rights Movement, JFK's assassination, and Vietnam. Can you put into context the type of divisiveness we are seeing in this country and the rhetoric we are seeing?
SCHIEFFER: I think one thing that we overlook, Jamie, is our culture is changing. I don't think there is any question about that. We are becoming a less patient society. We are becoming a more demanding society. For want of a better word, we’re becoming a ruder society and we see this playing out in road rage, in the way we treat one another. There's just almost people — nobody is satisfied with anything now. People are dissatisfied, they are frustrated, and they act out on these things and when you put those who are deranged into the mix, and they have access to these very powerful weapons of war, it just makes the stakes even higher. There's no excuse for some of the police shootings that we have been seeing. Police are shooting first and asking questions later. But on the other hand, you have to remember that the police are scared too of these weapons.
YUCCAS: Right.
SCHIEFFER: That is why they are on such a hair trigger now. It's going to take great training and we are going to have to have more of it for our police departments around the country. The ironic thing and I think Scott Pelley talked about this earlier, the Dallas Police Department is a very good police department. They have been very transparent, they have put emphasis on community policing. The Mayor, Mike Rawlings, I know him personally. He is a very upstanding guy. He is very forward thinking. He enjoys very bipartisan support from both Republicans and Democrats in Dallas. It is somewhat ironic that this would happen in, of all places Dallas, where their police department has done such a good job, but again, I go back to this. We do not yet know what the motivation of these shooters is. This may be something totally unrelated. Probably not, but it could be something totally unrelated to some of these police shootings that we’ve been seeing across the country. This might be the work of terrorists. We are going to find out eventually, but right now, we simply don't know.
KRISTINE JOHNSON: Until we do find out, Bob, the fact is that the anger in this country really does seem to be at a tipping point and that is a very, very scary feeling, I'm sure, for a lot of people that woke up this morning to this news. Based on your experience, what do lawmakers need to do to finally turn this corner?
SCHIEFFER: Well, nobody knows the answer to this because there are so many things that this is so complex, but you're exactly right. We wake up each morning wondering what could happen today that is worse than what happened yesterday.
