Recently, the Trump administration and the media went wild over a guy who makes videos on social media involving issues in the news. One video in particular, about Somali immigrants in Minnesota and fraud, became a phenom.
Major news agencies responded with hypocritical attacks and performative stunts. It’s a case study in how the media mishandles so-called “citizen journalists.” It shows what the media ignores and the double standard it applies, leaving us all without the truth.
In the new episode, I dig into how the media presented this guy, and compare it to how the media presents “citizen journalists” it wants you to believe.
His name is Nick Shirley. This week, he was invited to testify before a House subcommittee. He was already popular in right-wing circles even before his video on fraud and Somalis in Minnesota was retweeted by both Elon Musk and Vice President J.D. Vance. (The video mentions proven fraud and alleges further fraud.)
Mainstream media responded in two ways. First, by emphasizing that the topic isn’t new. There have been prosecutions and convictions under Democratic Gov. Tim Walz and former President Biden, which did get some coverage. And second, the media rushed to warn you against trusting Shirley. CNN spoke with him on the street:
CNN: Are you 100% sure you’re true?
Shirley: Yeah, I am 100% sure I’m true.
CNN: CNN is looking into Shirley’s claims.
The network then showed their reporter trying to fact check him by making phone calls. It’s literally performative, and a sad sign of how the most basic acts of journalism are rare enough to be interesting.
A journalist fact checking should be as routine as a dental technician cleaning teeth.
On the show and here in the newsletter, I’ve shared dozens of examples of CNN lying and platforming liars. It’s a place that tells you things that Trump or other government officials say without mentioning they’re false. It hosts live events for politicians to lie, uncorrected. It tells you anything Hamas makes up that day as though it’s a fact. CNN even presents bonkers lies in its own inaccurately titled “fact checks.”
This same failure applies to “citizen journalists.” A CNN.com story heaped praise on so-called “citizen journalists” in Gaza, without telling you about their disproven lies. Big Media especially adores Plestia Alaqad, who only spent the first 45 days of the war inside Gaza, but spent the entire war shamelessly pushing outlandish Hamas claims.
It’s not just this topic. In the new episode, I share sound from NPR, which didn’t bother to ask a “citizen journalist” anything about fact checking his “reports on gun crimes.”
Then there’s Don Lemon, the former CNN anchor-turned independent journalist whose church raid stunt in Minnesota endangers everyone’s privacy, as I explained yesterday. What he did is far worse than what Shirley did. Where’s the media calling him out?
None of these folks are providing actual journalism. The solution isn’t complicated.
News agencies should fact check everything they present to you. They don’t. We need a Truth Countermovement. It starts here.
Supporters: More to come, just for you. Share thoughts, comments, questions, links you want me to fact check, and more: