"the media bent over backwards to defend them"

Funny you should say that, because https://www.ukcolumn.org/ mentioned the exact same thing going on in UK press. An example was when a mounted officer had a bike thrown at her and fell from her horse. She broke a load of bones and the horse bolted into the crowd. The way this was reported made no mention to how the rioter caused it to happen and instead the headline focused on how the police "charged" at the crowd. Here is a link to the report if you want to take a quick look.