Tip your hat to an unnamed CBS reporter, who wins the prize for the most objective news report. Notice the extreme use of passive voice,
even in the headline.
Violence continues in France over Islamic veil ban
It's just violence and it's continuing. No hint as to who's being violent. To further confuse things, they include a picture of an Islamic woman, with this caption:
Rabia, 17, a veiled woman victim of agression (sic) in the street on May 20,
speaks during a press conference on June 22, 2013 in Argenteuil, Paris
suburb.
A veiled woman was attacked? Sounds like the jack-booted anti-veil forces are out in great numbers! But again, we get the very noticeable passive voice:
Some 20 cars have been torched and four people detained in a second
night of violence in suburbs west of Paris, a result of tensions linked
to authorities' handling of France's ban on Muslim face veils.
This continues throughout the piece; if you are not paying close attention you might even think that it's the narrow-minded anti-Islamic crowd responsible:
The interior minister urged calm and dialogue, insisting on both the
need for public order and respect for France's Muslims. The incident in
the town of Trappes on Friday night reflected sporadic tensions between
police upholding France's strict policies of secularism and those who
accuse authorities of discriminating against France's No. 2 religion.
The first part is an obvious false dilemma. How about if the folks in favor of the veil ban are also in favor of public order and respect? But the "people" who are not are, say, Muslims, opposing the veil ban?
Time for some more passive voice:
A few garbage dumpsters in the area were torched and a bus shelter
shattered in the Trappes unrest. Spent tear gas capsules lay on the road
Saturday near the police station at the center of the violence.
No hint as to who might have torched those dumpsters or shattered the bus shelter. It just happened, mkay? And the tear gas capsules are easily the blame of the local constabulary.
A 14-year-old boy suffered a serious eye injury in the violence, from a
projectile of unknown provenance, Prosecutor Vincent Lesclous told
reporters. Four police officers were injured and six people were
detained in the violence, said an official with the regional police
administration.
It goes on and on.
