Omar Mateen posted a selfie to his Facebook page before he shot up an Orlando nightclub a year ago while swearing allegiance to the Islamic State.
Mainstream media types and their ilk on Monday grappled with their coverage of the one-year anniversary of an Islamic State-inspired terrorist attack in which a lone gunman shot and killed 49 patrons of a gay nightclub in Orlando, Florida, with outlets like the Washington Post receiving heavy criticism for apparently downplaying the motive behind the killings.
WaPo’s lead story boasted more than 1,000 words without once mentioning the words “jihad,” “terror,” “Muslim,” or “Islamic.”
The story itself focused on the memorial — and the terrorist’s weapon of choice — noting that “by the end of the night, more than 1,000 people had gathered to remember what happened last June, when Orlando became the first U.S. City of the summer — before Falcon Heights, Minn., and Baton Rouge and Dallas — to be upended by gun violence.”
The newspaper’s coverage was later mocked on social media, when the hashtag #WashPostRemembers began to circulate on Twitter:
“1 year later, we remember the victims who died in the World Trade center fire” #WashPostRemembers
The social media giant itself, utilizing its “moments” news feature, also appeared to intentionally avoid any mention of the killer’s religion:
A transcript of the killer Omar Mateen’s 911 call to police seconds after the massacre leaves little doubt as to what his motivations were:
Orlando Police Dispatcher: Emergency 911, this is being recorded.
Mateen: In the name of God the Merciful, the beneficent [Arabic]
Dispatcher: What?
Mateen: Praise be to God, and prayers as well as peace be upon the prophet of God [Arabic]. I wanna let you know, I’m in Orlando and I did the shootings.
Dispatcher: What’s your name?
Mateen: My name is I pledge of allegiance to Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi of the Islamic State.
Dispatcher: O.K., what’s your name?
Mateen: I pledge allegiance to Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi may God protect him [Arabic], on behalf of the Islamic State.
Dispatcher: All right, where are you at?
Mateen: In Orlando.
Dispatcher: Where in Orlando?
[End of call.]
The New York Times also caught some criticism for sprinkling in some racism coverage in its columns recapping the Orlando massacre:
New York Times op-ed: Yeah, that Pulse shooting was bad, but what about Donald Trump? pic.twitter.com/RVlXO12FPG
Mateen’s hometown newspaper of record, the Orlando Sentinel, also appeared to question what truly motivated the mass-murderer. The Sentinel’s lead story, featuring the headline “Pulse Gunman’s Motive: Plenty of Theories, But Few Answers,” acknowledges the 911 call transcript but points out that “not everyone killed at Pulse was gay.”
The report goes on to raise the question of whether Mateen himself was gay as well.
The city of Orlando’s own proclamation, which declares June 12 as “Orlando United Day — A Day of Love And Kindness,” like the WaPo report, omits any reference to terrorism or the religious views that apparently fueled Mateen’s rampage:
Omar Mateen posted a selfie to his Facebook page before he shot up an Orlando nightclub a year ago while swearing allegiance to the Islamic State. 
