Media Bias in the Murder of Iryna Zarutska

Media Bias is on full display in Charlotte, where on August 22nd, 23-year-old Ukrainian refugee Iryna Zarutska was brutally stabbed to death on a light rail train. Her killer, a man with a long criminal history and known mental illness, attacked her without provocation, cutting her life short in a moment of pure evil.

And yet, as shocking as this story is, the silence from the mainstream media has been deafening. If the racial dynamics had been reversed—if a white man had murdered a black woman on a public train—you know and I know it would have dominated headlines for days. Instead, it has been buried or treated as just another local crime story.

Featured Snippet Takeaway: Media bias is on full display in the murder of Iryna Zarutska, as mainstream outlets selectively downplay the tragedy because it doesn’t fit their narrative.

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When Compassion Turns Deadly

Let’s talk honestly about why this even happened. The man who murdered Iryna was not a first-time offender. He had a rap sheet going back years, violent incidents tied to his schizophrenia, and his own mother had tried to have him committed earlier this year. He was a known danger.

So why was he free? Because of soft-on-crime policies that put “compassion” above public safety. Because of magistrates and prosecutors who treat criminals as victims of the system instead of protectors of society. Because of a culture that thinks releasing violent offenders without bail is somehow merciful.

But biblical mercy is never about enabling evil. Romans 13:4 tells us plainly that government “does not bear the sword in vain” but is meant to be “an avenger who carries out God’s wrath on the wrongdoer.” When leaders refuse to punish crime, they aren’t showing love—they are abandoning their God-given role. And innocent people, like Iryna, pay the price.

I wrote recently about how Christians should view justice and punishment in my post on the death penalty. The same principle applies here: compassion must never replace accountability.

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How Media Bias Shapes the Narrative

This brings me back to the media. If this had been a different kind of murder—say, a white suspect and a black victim—it would have been the lead story across CNN, MSNBC, and the New York Times for a week. There would be protests, speeches, and endless commentary about systemic racism in America.

But when a black man murders a Ukrainian refugee? Silence. It doesn’t fit the preferred storyline. And so the tragedy is downplayed, forgotten, or ignored.

Proverbs 20:23 says, “The Lord detests differing weights, and dishonest scales do not please him.” God hates double standards. And yet that is exactly what we see in today’s media. Justice is not supposed to depend on the skin color of the victim or the political usefulness of the crime. But in our cultural conversation, it often does.

That kind of bias isn’t just dishonest—it’s dangerous. It erodes public trust. It blinds people to reality. And it keeps our culture divided instead of united around the truth.

If you want proof, look no further than Kash Patel’s revelation that the FBI is investigating this case at a federal level—an angle reported by Breitbart, but largely ignored elsewhere.

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Ukraine Abroad, Silence at Home

There’s another layer of hypocrisy here that can’t be ignored. The same politicians and media outlets who beat the drum every single day about how much money we “must” send to Ukraine, how urgently we need to “stand with Ukraine,” and how much we must hate Russia—those same voices are virtually silent when a Ukrainian refugee is murdered on American soil.

Think about that. Billions of our taxpayer dollars have been shipped overseas in the name of protecting Ukrainian lives. But when a Ukrainian woman is brutally killed here, by a repeat offender in a Democrat-run city, the media has no interest.

And this is where the Left’s worldview of intersectionality comes into play. Intersectionality creates a hierarchy of concerns. They care about Ukraine because it fits their hatred of Putin. But when identities overlap, one wins out over the other. In this case, the “black identity” of the murderer ranks higher in their hierarchy than the life of a Ukrainian refugee. That’s why the story is quietly buried.

Jesus condemned this kind of selective morality in Matthew 23:23 when He rebuked the Pharisees for tithing even their herbs while neglecting “the weightier matters of the law: justice and mercy and faithfulness.” Our culture has become the same way—loud about virtue signaling, silent about true justice.

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The Value of Life and God’s Justice

At the heart of this tragedy is a simple truth: Iryna’s life mattered because she was made in the image of God (Genesis 1:27). Every life is sacred—black, white, Ukrainian, American, rich, poor. God does not rank people by their political usefulness.

And yet our culture does exactly that. Certain deaths are amplified endlessly, while others are buried because they don’t advance a narrative. That is not justice. That is partiality, and Scripture is crystal clear that partiality is sin. James 2:1 commands us, “My brothers, show no partiality as you hold the faith in our Lord Jesus Christ, the Lord of glory.”

We cannot claim to care about justice if we only care when it benefits us politically. True justice means equal concern for every victim, equal pursuit of the truth, and equal accountability for every criminal.

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Takeaway for Believers

As a Christian, I can’t remain silent when truth is being buried. I can’t look the other way when the media ignores one tragedy while exploiting another. And I don’t believe any of us who follow Christ are called to sit quietly, either.

So here’s what I believe we must do:

• Pray for the family. This young woman fled a war zone for safety, only to be murdered here. Her family deserves our prayers, our compassion, and our advocacy.
• Reject the culture’s selective outrage. Don’t buy into narratives that elevate some victims while erasing others. God’s justice is impartial, and so must ours be.
• Hold leaders accountable. Demand that government do its job: restrain evil, punish wrongdoers, and protect the innocent. Anything less is negligence.

This story isn’t just about one crime—it’s about what happens when truth is suppressed, when compassion is twisted, and when justice is applied unequally. It’s about the deep brokenness of our system, and the even deeper need for God’s truth to guide it.

Iryna’s death is a tragedy. But it’s also a reminder that without Christ, our culture will always twist justice to serve its own ends. And too often, media bias buries the truth, choosing narratives over honesty. That’s why we must stay bold in speaking truth—politically, culturally, and biblically.

For more on how Christians should respond to crime in our culture, see my post on Chicago violence and Christian responsibility.

Arch Kennedy
Bold, Unfiltered, and Unafraid