In the Antifa stronghold of Portland, Oregon, on June 29, journalist Andy Ngo suffered a brutal beating that resulted in a life-threatening brain hemorrhage. Mainstream news coverage of the attack on the Quillette editor was spotty, and even organizations that purport to be about the protection of journalists and freedom of the press have chosen to ignore the incident.

Conservatives and Ngo himself blame that on two things … one, many of the people in mainstream news media embrace far left ideologies and perspectives … and two, although Ngo checks off two boxes that the left would normally count within their support base–being an Asian minority and gay–he in fact often shares his conservative opinions through his reporting and that cancels out any other professional support he might otherwise expect to receive from his peers.

The Voice of America (VOA), The Reporters Committee For Freedom Of The Press (RCFP), and the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) have all gone dark on the Ngo attack … publishing a grand total of zero statements or articles on their websites, as of 10 days later.

The groups promote themselves as being defenders of journalists’ First Amendment rights and they take special care to report on safety and physical abuse of reporters around the globe. So where are they today when such a well-documented and vile premeditated attack on the freelance reporter?

It’s certainly not because the assault was a minor or debatable non-event. The man had a dangerous brain bleed, was hospitalized, and continues to receive therapy for resulting cognitive issues, according to a SkyNews Australia interview he did on Saturday.

Fox News, CNN, The Hill and others did report on the attack in a timely fashion. Democrat 2020 candidates Joe Biden, Andrew Yang, and Eric Swalwell quickly condemned Antifa for the mob assault on Ngo.

VOA introduced a “Press Freedom” initiative this year to present stories of journalists “facing threats or other repercussions” as they report the news, according to their website.

“I’m familiar with the story; uncertain if or how we might approach it. Sort of lost the ‘news’ angle with time,” Doug Bernard, VOA press freedom editor, told the Daily Caller News Foundation (DCNF). “Hands more than full today with new report targeting dozens of Turkish journalists and groups, including BBC and VOA,” he continued. DCNF reported he did not respond to followup questions seeking clarification on why no report was issued on Ngo’s attack.

It’s important to note that VOA is a 100% taxpayer-funded organization. John Lansing, the chief executive of VOA, was appointed in 2015 by the Obama administration.

CPJ did send a comment to DCNF saying that it “condemn[s] the attack on Ngo” but it has not posted a report or commentary on its site. RCPF did not reply when asked multiple times for comment.

The Saturday interview of Ngo by SkyNews Australia focused on the failures of the media itself in reporting on the attack, with many “seeking to minimize it” or charging that Ngo “somehow provoked it by being there.”

“These people who are raising questions about how I put myself at risk are usually the first to come out and say ‘don’t victim blame’ and also say that we should believe Jussie Smollett, so these people are just hypocrites,” Ngo said. “They say they care about marginalized communities. I guess I was the wrong type of victim to them.”

“There’s a lot of attention on the violent Antifa militants,” he added. “But at some point we need to be having a discussion of the larger concentric circle of the non-violent Antifa sympathizers, which came out in full force the past week to mainstream, whitewash, and sanitize this violent militant movement.”

Watch a portion of Ngo’s Saturday interview …

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Victor Rantala

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Victor Rantala is an Army vet who lives in Minnesota, he is a former intelligence analyst and business owner, and is an NRA Life member who is officially retired but has yet to slow his roll.

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