The left leaning media in Colorado and their role in polarization of ICE
The left leaning media in Colorado and their role in polarization of ICE
Unless you live under a rock, I'm sure you've had ample opportunity to hear about the shooting of Renee Good in Minneapolis.
It's a sad story, no matter what your take is on it. Someone dying that didn't have to (and I say didn't have to without regard to blaming anyone), is always a tragedy.
I don't want to take you through an analysis of who's at fault, whether it was justified, or what politicians have said.
I think it is best to await an investigation before weighing in on the former two. I think the latter is something you can find plenty of on the internet.
I want to take you through some examples of how the left leaning media in Colorado has played a role in in polarizing this issue both by their paradigm around immigrants and by what they cover and how.
When you go to look at media coverage, one of the problems you will encounter is trying to tease out is who is driving the bus and who's a passenger.
A quite unsubtle anti-ICE (anti immigration enforcement?) sentiment exists broadly among some Americans. I won't go into the more extreme rhetoric like you've seen from politicians, but screenshots 1a and 1b attached (both found in or through the Colorado Sun) illustrate how this sentiment manifests among ordinary people.
It's either individuals on a chat board talking about following ICE on RTD buses or being disgusted at being next to them, or it's a cartoonist depicting Federal law enforcement as a killer of Democracy, this latter, of course, coming on the heels of broad praise of law enforcement post-January 6th.
It's easy, then, to take that next step to press coverage in left-leaning media outlets reflecting this anti-ICE sentiment: it's extant among their audience, and everyone appreciates reading things that reflect themselves. It ought to be different--if news were really about informing the entirety of the public--but while media outlets on all sides of an issue may occasionally stray into areas that make their base readership uncomfortable, they do not do it nearly enough. Commercial pressures and page clicks make sure of that.
What's a little less obvious, is to swim in the opposite direction, to note that equal signs work both ways. The media are helping to shape the opinions of those that read them while at the same time reflecting back the opinions of those that read them.
Links 1 - 4 below are to the ICE** archives for some major left-leaning outlets around the state, ones that have done substantial ICE reporting.
Go in to the links and poke around. You will quickly pick up on the dominant paradigms about ICE, the dominant narratives. You will probably not find yourself surprised to note that many of the themes echo Democrat talking points, and the talking points we hear around the shooting in Minnesota.
ICE is reckless. ICE is dangerous. ICE agents are a threat. ICE wears masks. They even sneak up on ICE being illegitimate.
Reporting on mistakes made by ICE, reporting on Federal law enforcement overreach are all perfectly valid things to share. I don't know what your experience was, but I remember being horrified at the way Ruby Ridge was handled. No one, no government agency, is immune from doing bad things or making mistakes.
To be news, and not to be the relentless drum beat of advocacy, to not be a pulpit used to stir up people who agree with you must necessarily put this in context and carry information about all sides of an issue.
Where is the coverage of ICE protestors being reckless and dangerous? Where is the coverage of illegal immigrants being a danger? To the extent there is any, it's a blip on the radar screen filled with the other kind of coverage.
Instead of fairness, what we all too often veers into the the territory of the CPR article linked fifth below titled "Claims of huge rise in assaults against ICE drive responses, but aren’t seen in available data"; an article which gives a nod to some of the dangers ICE agents have faced, but spends the vast bulk of its word count in talking about how we cannot verify the threats the government claims its agents face.
Contrast that with a Colorado Sun article and KSUT (SE Colorado public radio) I wrote about in a November 2025 op ed I link to sixth below. That article forwarded claims by a family and anti-ICE advocates held in an ICE facility in Durango, claims that included physical torture.
Claims of actual, physical torture by ICE which were merely forwarded along by the media, not verified independently. No pause to wait for a government response, and, as above, a minimal amount of space given to the other side.
Add to the incredible lack of balance in the number and type of articles about ICE you can see in the various archives below.
Those that commit violence are responsible for it, but amid all the talk of lowering the temperature on the rhetoric, amid all the talk of being reckless and irresponsible, the left leaning media in this state have conveniently seemed to exempt themselves from that discussion.
The left leaning media in this state cannot run with the usual oppressor/oppressed paradigm that they have until now and still claim to be merely reporting on events. No group, no matter how sympathetic to you and your ideology is perfect.
Doing so leads to what you see above. It leads to thoughtlessly forwarding the incredibly big claims like physical abuse (with no correspondingly big amount of evidence) while at the same time poo-pooing the claims about threats to ICE agents.
This is reckless.
This is likely to reinforce the already highly-polarized view many have on this issue.
This is their contribution to the problem, not an explanation of it and most certainly not an aid to ending it.
**NOTE: The Durango Herald has no specific ICE tag, so I used their "immigration" tag. While the Denver Post has an "ice" tag which includes ICE coverage as well as things on ice cream, for example.
https://coloradosun.com/tag/ice/
https://www.cpr.org/tag/immigration-and-customs-enforcement-ice/
https://www.durangoherald.com/tags/immigration/
https://www.denverpost.com/tag/ice/
https://www.cpr.org/2025/10/02/ice-agent-assault-claims-data-lacking/
https://completecolorado.com/2025/11/20/durango-ice-reporting-progressive-press-bias/