Left-leaning news outlets ignored the lengthy criminal history of Brianna Kupfer's alleged killer in their coverage - and even omitted his mugshot from their homepages.
Reports by liberal giants - including the Los Angeles Times, ABC News, CBS and CNN - inexplicably left out details about Shawn Laval Smith's violent past. A picture of him - released by police in hopes the public might help find him - was also left off sites' landing pages.
The LA Times, in its article, made no mention of Smith's previous arrests, or the fact he was free during the stabbing on a $1,000 bond related to a Los Angeles County misdemeanor in October 2020.
Smith is also free on a $50,000 bond in Charleston, South Carolina related to a November 2019 arrest on suspicion of firing a weapon into an occupied vehicle, court records show.
An indictment in that case was handed down on March 16, 2020, just before COVID-19 paralyzed the courts, and the docket shows no further action on the case.
Kupfer, 24, was killed last Thursday during a solo shift at the Croft House store, shortly after texting a friend to say a man in the store was 'giving her a bad vibe.'
Los Angeles police on Tuesday revealed the identity of their chief suspect and dangled a $250,000 reward for information leading to his arrest and conviction.
There was no mention of CNN's coverage of the alleged killer's rap sheet, either, although it did note that Smith was considered 'armed and dangerous' and the story did not appear on the publication's main homepage on Wednesday morning.
ABC News coverage was also scant; the publication acknowledged a 'violent crime spike' but did not include background on Smith's alleged pattern of offending and being released or a photograph of him.
The information was also omitted by NBC News, which instead focused on the fact the suspect was identified and a reward was being offered for his arrest.
CBS, meanwhile, used a photograph of Brianna on their homepage but focused the angle of their story on her text to a friend saying she was getting 'bad vibes' from someone in the store on the day she was stabbed.
As of Wednesday morning, the New York Times had not covered the story.
CBS News's homepage showed a picture of Brianna Kupfer but not her alleged attacker under a headline that focused on the text message she sent a friend saying she had a bad vibe about someone in the furniture store she worked at on the day of her murder
ABC News's homepage used a photograph of Brianna shown at a police press conference but not her alleged assailant - a man who police say is Shawn Laval Smith, who has a lengthy rap sheet
NBC showed the story on Wednesday morning under their 'latest news tab' on their landing page but with no emphasis on photographs of Shawn Laval Smith
Brianna Kupfer, 24, was killed in a random attack last Thursday while she was working alone in in a Los Angeles furniture store. Shawn Smith (right) is being sought for her death
Julie Mastrine, director of media bias ratings at AllSides, said it is common to see left-leaning outlets focus on the victims, while conservative outlets are more prone to hone in on the criminals.
'This is me speculating, but the left tends to focus a lot on empathy, and views crime in the context of society,' she told Dailymail.com. 'The belief there is that people commit crimes due to societal factors. Maybe they've experienced poverty or trauma.
'And the right focuses more on personal responsibility, and they're less likely to see crime as the result, or the fault, of larger society. They see it as an active individual will or flawed human nature.'
Some outlets are hesitant to report on a person's criminal history unless they've been convicted of an offense, she added.
The New York Post was quick to dive deeper into the slaying with a headline reading: 'LA DA ripped for being soft on crime after deaths of two women.'
Its article detailed the criticism surrounding Los Angeles County District Attorney George Gascon, whose soft-on-crime policies are being blamed for a violent crime wave in the region.
It also shared with its readers that Smith 'had a lengthy criminal record' and was believed to be homeless.
The Los Angeles Times was among the outlets that made no mention of Smith's criminal background in its coverage - though they used surveillance footage from a 7-Eleven, released by the LAPD, in their story
CNN's reporting of the suspected killer was also scant, and lacked detail about his history. The story was nowhere to be seen on their homepage on Wednesday morning.
Fox News included in its coverage a story headlined, 'Progressive prosecutors blasted as homicide numbers climb in Los Angeles, other left-wing cities.' The piece included an interview with prosecutor Jon Hatami, who called on the public to vote out Gascon and other like-minded DAs.
He called Gascon out for endorsing policies that resulted in less jail time and lighter sentences for some crimes.
'There are some people that are so bad that they deserve to go to prison,' Hatami told the outlet. 'And the reason for that is punishment, accountability and protection for the public.'
It in another story detailed Smiths' criminal background.
