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Waukesha Christmas Parade Attack: Six Dead, a $1,000 Bail, and a Fast Fade From National News

Darrell Brooks drove an SUV through the Waukesha, Wisconsin Christmas parade, killing six people. He had been freed ten days earlier on $1,000 bail that the Milwaukee County DA's office itself called 'inappropriately low.' Critics say national coverage moved on quickly because the story did not fit the racial-justice framing of the Kenosha and Rittenhouse coverage that dominated the same week.

Nov 21, 2021
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Whose side it served: Democrats

A quick fade spared scrutiny of low-bail policy in Democratic-run Milwaukee County and of the narrative that dominated Kenosha coverage.

What the record shows

On Nov. 2, 2021, Brooks allegedly ran over the mother of his child; bail was set at $1,000 cash and he was released Nov. 11. On Nov. 21 he drove through the parade, killing six. The Milwaukee County District Attorney called the bail 'inappropriately low' and opened an internal review. After a monthlong trial in which he represented himself, Brooks was sentenced on Nov. 16, 2022 on 76 counts, including six counts of first-degree intentional homicide, receiving life without release on each homicide count, plus 762 years. Waukesha follow-ups led the ABC, CBS and NBC evening newscasts on Tuesday, Nov. 23, but critics documented a quick drop-off: NewsBusters (MRC) noted that on Dec. 2, the night Fox aired a jailhouse interview with Brooks, ABC, CBS and NBC evening newscasts ran stories on Alec Baldwin, Brene Brown and Amazon deliveries instead. The Washington Free Beacon noted a brief front-page mention in the Washington Post and no Waukesha story on CNN's homepage two days after the attack. No published minute-count study comparing Waukesha with Kenosha or Charlottesville was found, so the size of the gap is not measured.

In their words

“Milwaukee County DA's office: the bail was "inappropriately low" (CBS 58, Nov. 22, 2021)”— · source
The other side

The attack was not ignored at first: it led all three network newscasts, TVEyes counted roughly 96 MSNBC mentions in its first days, and the AP, NPR and NBC covered the sentencing. Unlike Kenosha or Charlottesville, it raised no national policy fight beyond bail, which is one reason it faded.

Sources

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