CNN's Alisyn Camerota confronts the NRA's Dana Loesch over her claim that reporters 'love mass shootings'

"Who loves mass shootings?"

CNN's Alisyn Camerota posed the improbable question to NRA spokeswoman Dana Loesch on Friday, one day after Loesch declared at the Conservative Political Action Conference that "[many] in legacy media love mass shootings." Loesch additionally accused the media of milking "crying white mothers" for TV ratings, just one week after 17 people were killed in a mass shooting at a high school in Parkland, Florida.

After reading Loesch's quote back to her, Camerota asked: "Why would you make a statement like that?" The NRA spokeswoman replied: "Because it's true." Loesch claimed that she was not referring to everyone in the media — "I said 'many,' not 'all'" — and pointed to "wall-to-wall coverage" of the shootings, claiming that TV networks give more air time to the perpetrators of mass shootings than to the survivors.

The Week

Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

SUBSCRIBE & SAVE

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters

Join more than 350,000 subscribers and keep yourself informed with a selection of The Week’s most interesting, enlightening and entertaining stories - plus daily puzzles.

Join more than 350,000 subscribers and keep yourself informed with a selection of The Week’s most interesting, enlightening and entertaining stories - plus daily puzzles.

Sign up

"It's just malicious, actually, that you would say that," Camerota retorted. "I don't know anybody in the media who likes mass shootings. You're wrong on every single level. We pray that there's never another one." Loesch tried to get a word in, but Camerota continued: "Guess what? [Mass shootings] are not ratings gold because Americans have reached saturation level," she said. "It's so heartbreaking that they actually often turn away, and we still have the conversation trying to find solutions."

"You're saying that it's malicious, but yet on your network, you've allowed [gun owners] to be indicted as child-murderers," Loesch replied. Watch the tense exchange below. Kelly O'Meara Morales