New York Post targets trans people with 'harmful' reporting on Charlie Kirk murder, critics say

"In the days following the killing of conservative activist Charlie Kirk, the New York Post's coverage repeatedly cast transgender people as central to the violence, leaning on anonymous sources and unverified leaks from law enforcement, some of which Utah Gov. Spencer Cox and investigators have since contradicted. The effect has been to paint a target on a community already living under intensifying political scrutiny and cultural hostility."

"One declared Kirk the "latest victim of a shooting committed by trans people and advocates." Another insisted the investigation had expanded to "pro-trans online groups." Yet another suggested that a rifle round tied to the killing was engraved with "trans-sex, furry meme: notices bulge OwO what's this?" By Monday morning, the drumbeat continued with a headline focusing on the alleged shooter's roommate, who Cox said was trans, framed as someone who "hates conservatives and Christians.""

"The Rupert Murdoch-owned New York Post was not alone in publishing false claims about trans people. The Wall Street Journal, also owned by Murdoch's right-leaning News Corp, initially ran a headline suggesting ammunition was engraved with "expressions of transgender and antifascist ideology." By late Thursday, after sources and officials raised alarms, the walked back its language, adding cautionary notes about the limits of the early bulletin. As The Advocate has reported, Cox explicitly debunked the notion that the engravings referenced transgender people."

New York Post published a series of headlines that cast transgender people as central to Charlie Kirk's killing, basing claims on anonymous sources and unverified law-enforcement leaks. Coverage included allegations about pro-trans online groups and suggested a rifle round bore engravings referencing transgender and antifascist ideology. The Wall Street Journal ran a similar initial claim about ammunition engravings and later softened its language. Utah Gov. Spencer Cox and investigators contradicted the engraving claims and officials raised alarms about the limits of early bulletins. Reliance on leaked, anonymous information produced a narrative implicating transgender identity and amplified risks for an already targeted community.

Read at Advocate.com