Journalists Recycle Racist Talking Points in Shutdown Stories

As Donald Trump holds the government—and the salaries of some 800,000 federal workers—hostage for one of the longest shutdowns in history, three separate national news outlets each ran pieces about how unpaid prison guards were disgruntled that incarcerated people were eating nice meals on New Year’s Day.

Though each had different bylines, stories from USA Today, The Washington Post, and NBC News (the story was also picked up by the New York Daily News and a number of local news outlets) had the same implied framework: namely, that it was despicable for people in prison to have a decent meal during the holidays when prison guards were working without pay because of the shutdown.

via Journalists Recycle Racist Talking Points in Shutdown Stories