Fact Check

Media Blackout of Video Showing Muslims Chanting 'Death to America'?

The footage in question comes from a 2014 protest in Chicago and at no point includes the phrase "death to America."

Published March 7, 2016

Claim:
The mainstream media suppressed video of a massive march in which Muslims chanted "death to America."

On 6 March 2016, the video of a protesting crowd embedded below was circulated along with the following comment about what it supposedly depicted

Muslim's in Chicago chanting: "Free Palestine, death to Israel, death to America".

Where was the mainstream media on this?

Muslim's in Chicago chanting: "Free Palestine"Pro Palestine protest in September 2014. https://youtu.be/QOQQVxXmvsYWhere was the mainstream media on this?(Thank you to a viewer that confirmed this information)

Posted by The Rocci Stucci Show on Sunday, March 6, 2016

On 7 March 2016, the unreliable web site ClashDaily also reported (in a piece bearing the title "WATCH: Muslims in THIS U.S. City Chant ‘DEATH To America”) that there had been a concerted effort by the news media to cover up an anti-American, anti-Israel march in Chicago:

Where was the mainstream media on this? You better not hold your breath while waiting for them to cover this, because it isn’t gonna happen. Watch as these Muslims in Chicago chant “Free Palestine, death to Israel, death to America”

Mentions of the clip on social media invariably claimed that the event was recent and deliberately suppressed by the mainstream media. However, the clip was from July 2014, not March 2016:

In addition to the video's being nearly two years old, it did not capture Muslim marchers chanting "death to America." A description of the clip stated that it depicted a "Protest in downtown Chicago. Palestinian supporters were protesting the bombings in Gaza."

Claims that the footage received no mainstream media attention were also easily disproved, as videos were readily available through the Chicago Tribune, Chicago's ABC affiliate WLS-TV, the Chicago Monitor, and CNN's iReport

Kim LaCapria is a former writer for Snopes.

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