MICHEL MARTIN, HOST:
Time after time, when federal agents used what seemed like extremely aggressive tactics during immigration sweeps and protests, conservative media outlets have been there to support them. After Alex Pretti was killed by federal immigration agents, Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem claimed he had come armed to massacre them. Videos contradict that. NPR's David Folkenflik has been following how some conservative news organizations now reject the official line from the government, and he's with us now to tell us about it. David, good morning.
DAVID FOLKENFLIK, BYLINE: Good morning, Michel.
MARTIN: So give us a feel for what this pushback in conservative media sounds like.
FOLKENFLIK: Yeah. It's more pushback than hashtag resistance, right? But take the center-right Free Press. It responded with an editorial titled "Kristi Noem's Reckless Lies." Yet the conservative Daily Wire had posted a piece about gun rights groups angered by the Trump administration's officials demonizing law-abiding armed citizens. Pretti had been armed but hadn't taken out his weapon. And in editorials, the Rupert Murdoch New York Post and Wall Street Journal separately called on ICE to scale back in Minneapolis and to ease tensions there.
MARTIN: What about on Fox News?
FOLKENFLIK: Well, I think the evolution on Fox in some ways best illustrates the story. Let's start with Saturday afternoon. I have a couple clips for you. Just hours after the shooting, you had Fox News contributor Joe Concha. He was condemning the governor of Minnesota and the mayor of Minneapolis for stirring up protesters against the crackdown.
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JOE CONCHA: And now here, literally, a guy pulls a gun on an ICE officer. He defends himself. And they're saying that, oh, no, he was only attacked at this point.
FOLKENFLIK: But Pretti literally had not pulled the gun he was carrying. It was holstered until an agent took it from him, and other agents shot him dead. Then Sunday, things start to change. Fox News correspondent Bill Melugin reports that numerous federal officials were expressing concern behind the scenes over the killing of Pretti. And just listen to how Fox News commentator Ted Williams, a former homicide detective, talks about the case in an appearance on Sunday.
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TED WILLIAMS: It was said that - by the White House that Mr. Pretti attacked those agents. No, he did not attack those agents. And one of the White House individuals called Mr. Pretti a domestic terrorist. This man is dead. He has a family. And to go out and call him a domestic terrorist without giving any more information is just unacceptable.
FOLKENFLIK: So you've seen a tone shift that you really haven't seen in similar situations, even in similar deadly situations in Minneapolis and elsewhere, and you're seeing President Trump shift. He's adopting less hostile rhetoric in the past 24 hours, and you're seeing some changes in policy and deployments.
MARTIN: So why do you think this moment is different?
FOLKENFLIK: Well, as you and I have talked about before in a bunch of different circumstances, video carries just a powerful punch. And in this case, the video is not particularly ambiguous. Mainstream news outlets, including Murdoch's Wall Street Journal, have broken down the multiple videos, offering multiple angles. None of them support Noem. None of them support federal claims on this. This is a pretty clear-cut killing, and there are fears that the rule of law is not being just tested but shattered by authorities.
And you're seeing this play out in other parts of society, too. When a place like The Wall Street Journal weighs in, it matters. Wall Street is being tested. Wall Street is being threatened. The head of the Federal Reserve is under Justice Department investigation after clashing with Trump. The head of JPMorgan Chase was sued by Trump shortly after criticizing him. So recognizing what's happening in front of our very eyes is becoming a test for us all.
MARTIN: That is NPR media correspondent David Folkenflik. David, thank you.
FOLKENFLIK: You bet. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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