Fake News

Greeniceland, No Problem

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Article in Poynter by Tom Jones, 1/22/26

Headline:  “Opinion | Trump misspoke at Davos. Karoline Leavitt told reporters not to believe their ears.”

Subhead:  “During a speech, Trump repeatedly referred to Iceland while talking about Greenland. Then the press secretary denied what the video plainly shows.”

“Greenland? Iceland? What is President Donald Trump talking about? . . .”

“Meanwhile — and this is the larger concern — Leavitt losing her cool and trying to gaslight a reporter by saying the reporter didn’t hear what the world clearly heard only makes Leavitt and the administration look more deceitful and, quite frankly, shady. Somehow, Leavitt’s remarks made the matter even worse. . .”

Read the full article at:

https://www.poynter.org/commentary/2026/did-trump-call-greenland-iceland-davos-speech/

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Article in The New Republic by Greg Sargent, 1/22/26

Headline:  “Trump Press Sec. Goes Full Cult as Reviews of Davos Fiasco Turn Brutal”

Subhead:  “As Karoline Leavitt and others struggle to spin Trump’s speech as a world-historical triumph, a critic of Trump’s unfitness explains why it was a disaster for our whole country and its future.”

“. . .White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt unleashed an extraordinary stream of obsequious praise, absurdly declaring that “America is back” and that Trump played “leader of the free world.” When reporters savagely noted the Greenland-Iceland confusion, she offered a true knee-slapper of buffoonish damage control. We think it all exposed the scam at the core of MAGA in a fresh way. . .”

Read the full article at:

https://newrepublic.com/article/205528/trump-press-sec-goes-full-cult-reviews-davos-fiasco-turn-brutal

Right Media Escalate Conflict?

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Article in Media Matters by John Knefel & Sophie Lawton

Headline:  “Right-wing media are describing pro-immigrant Minnesota activists using the language of war”

Subhead:  ” ‘Civil war,’ ‘insurgents,’ ‘a guerilla tactical playbook’ — these are just some of the ways MAGA pundits are describing civil resistance to Trump’s ICE rampages”

“Right-wing media figures and outlets are using the language of war to characterize protests against the presence of violent Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents in Minnesota. . .”

“While some in right-wing media have referred to anti-ICE demonstrations as an “insurrection” since at least October, the overall tenor of right-wing rhetoric has escalated dramatically in recent days. . .”

Read the full article at:

https://www.mediamatters.org/immigration/right-wing-media-are-describing-pro-immigrant-minnesota-activists-using-language-war

Fake News for Fake Journalist?

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Article in Daily Beast by Jack Revell, 1/2/26

Headline:  “MAGA’s Favorite ‘Journalist’ Busted Paying to Fake ‘News’”

“The ‘journalist’ at the center of a viral clash over alleged Somalian welfare fraud once paid Hispanic laborers to protest outside the White House in support of President Joe Biden.

“Nick Shirley, 23, is currently being praised and amplified by the MAGA right, including FBI Director Kash Patel and billionaire Elon Musk, for a video purporting to reveal ‘Minnesota’s Billion Dollar Fraud Scandal.’

“While the YouTuber with no journalism background and only a high school-level education claims to ‘bring the truth to all’ of his 1.35 million subscribers, he has previously been shown to be staging his content. . .”

Read the full article at:

https://www.thedailybeast.com/magas-fav-journalist-paid-hispanic-laborers-for-bizarre-stunt/

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Article in Babylon Bee by Staff, 1/2/26

Headline:  “Republicans Vow To Uncover All Somali Fraud And Then Do Nothing About It Except Fundraise”

“With allegations of money laundering in Minnesota and other states growing by the day, Republican lawmakers in Washington have vowed to uncover all Somali fraud in Minnesota and then do nothing about it except to fundraise for future elections.

“It is absolutely vital that we uncover as much fraud in Minnesota as possible so that we can fundraise off it,’Senate Majority Leader John Thune said. ‘Some of us have elections coming up.’. . .”

Read the full article at:

https://babylonbee.com/news/republicans-vow-to-uncover-all-somali-fraud-and-then-do-nothing-about-it-except-fundraise

 

Fake News media “Influencer” Exposed?

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Article in The Intercept by Jonah Valdez, 12/31/25

Headline:  “Right-Wing YouTuber Behind Viral Minnesota Fraud Video Has Long Anti-Immigrant History”

Subhead:  “Before alleging fraud in Minnesota’s Somali community, right-wing YouTuber Nick Shirley built a following with anti-immigrant clips.”

“The day after Christmas, far-right YouTuber Nick Shirley posted a video claiming to have exposed fraud at Somali-owned day care centers in Minnesota. . .”

“This isn’t the first time the conservative YouTuber has gotten the attention of the Trump administration. . . At age 23, his videos aren’t merely influencing his audiences — they’re also influencing government action. . .”

“ ‘The very real-world consequence is that it’s going to exacerbate the situation that we have in Minnesota right now where we have a lot of people, including U.S. citizens or people with lawful status being arrested and detained by ICE,’ said Ana Pottratz Acosta, who leads the Immigration and Human Rights Clinic at the University of Minnesota Law School.

“The video, she said, reinforces xenophobic tropes about the Somali community, specifically tying the community to fraud. . .”

Read the full article at:

https://theintercept.com/2025/12/31/nick-shirley-videos-minnesota-somali-day-cares-fraud-claims/

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Article in The Hill by Tara Suter, 12/31/25

Headline:  “CNN reporter grills YouTuber whose Minnesota day care video went viral”

“. . .In the video, shared by Elon Musk and Vice President Vance this week, Shirley knocks on doors at various day care centers, pointing out that no children are visible, which he cites as evidence that they are improperly collecting funds. . .”

“. . .Nikki Brown, commissioner of the new Minnesota Department of Children, Youth, and Families, responded to the video this week, saying the centers in question had active licenses, with the exception of the center with the misspelled name, which she said closed last week. . .”

“ ‘There have been ongoing investigations with several of those centers. None of those investigations uncovered findings of fraud,’ she added. .. .”

Read the full article at:

https://thehill.com/homenews/media/5668221-cnn-reporter-confronts-youtuber-minnesota-daycares/

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Article in The Contrarian by Josh Levs, 12/3/25

Headline:  “The Media Helped Trump Spread a Lie After the National Guard Shooting”

Subhead:  “The job of the media is to provide truth, which equals facts plus context.”

“The shooting of two National Guard troops in Washington, D.C., last week should have led to bipartisan action—specifically, an immediate commitment to shoring up protections for these men and women who volunteer to serve. Instead, it became President Donald Trump’s latest opportunity to spread a made-up number to Americans. And the legacy media, as always, helped him. . .”

Read the full article at:

https://contrarian.substack.com/p/the-media-helped-trump-spread-a-lie

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Article in Politico by Daniel Block, 12/2/25

Headline:  “News Organizations Are Bowing to Trump. This Small Magazine Knows How to Resist.”

Subhead:  “U.S. media outlets could learn some lessons from The Caravan.”

“. . .In India, the crackdown has been effective: the country’s mainstream media now rarely critiques Modi. In the United States, the press is also starting to pull some of its punches. But if India’s trajectory is cause for alarm, it also provides some reason for hope. . .”

Read the full article at:

https://www.politico.com/news/magazine/2025/12/01/lessons-on-surviving-autocracy-from-one-small-indian-magazine-00667380

Media in Special Court?

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Article in Reporters Without Borders by Staff, 1/3/25

Headline: “USA: New White House “Hall of Shame” webpage expands Trump’s war on the press, disparaging the media”

Subhead: “Misleading. Biased. Exposed.” Far from encouraging trustworthy journalism, the new media bias page on the White House website is the Trump administration’s latest effort to pillory the media. Journalists and outlets critical of Trump’s measures are labelled as “offenders” with no factual breakdown of why their reporting is incorrect. Reporters Without Borders (RSF) urges the White House to take the page down immediately.”

Read the full article at:

https://rsf.org/en/usa-new-white-house-hall-shame-webpage-expands-trump-s-war-press-disparaging-media

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Article in Daily Kos by News Corpse, 12/3/25

Headline:  “A CALL TO ACTION: The Trump White House Launches a ‘Media Bias Offender Tipline’ – Let’s Use It!”

“The battle against biased media is a continuing and exhausting ordeal during the administration of Donald Trump, who frequently refers to the press in Stalinist terms as “the enemy of the people.” No American president has been more hostile toward the media, or more hospitable toward sycophantic toadies than, Donald Trump. . .”

Read the full article at:

https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2025/12/3/2356718/-A-CALL-TO-ACTION-The-Trump-White-House-Launches-a-Media-Bias-Offender-Tipline-Let-s-Use-It?pm_campaign=front_page&pm_source=more_community&pm_medium=web

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Article in The Nation by Chris Lehman, 12/2/25

Headline:  “The White House Press Tracker Is a Parody of Media Criticism”

Subhead: “With his approval number plummeting, Trump turns to a familiar strategy: launch a culture war against journalists.”

“As President Donald Trump’s approval numbers continue to plummet—he’s now clocked his first-ever majority of male poll respondents giving a thumbs-down—he’s reached for the pet crusade of all right-wing demagogues losing public favor: a culture war against the press. Over the Thanksgiving holiday weekend, the Trump White House debuted its media bias tracker—a laundry list of alleged press outrages committed against the righteous, truth-telling MAGAfied executive branch. . .”

Read the full article at:

https://www.thenation.com/article/politics/white-house-press-tracker-media-trump/

Lie to Get Viewers Back?

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Article in The Guardian by Jeremy Barr, 12/2/25

Headline:  “Murdochs blessed Fox News plan to air 2020 election fraud claims, Smartmatic alleges”

Subhead:  “In key hearing in defamation case, Fox counters that network simply covered allegations by Trump associates”

“Rupert and Lachlan Murdoch authorized a plan for Fox News to embrace Donald Trump’s false claims of election fraud in 2020 in a bid to win back viewers angry with the network, a lawyer for the voting technology company Smartmatic argued on Tuesday.

“ ‘The conservative viewers, their bread and butter, abandoned them,’ J Erik Connolly told the New York state supreme court judge David B Cohen. ‘So what do they do? They return back to what they know best: they return back to disinformation, pro-Trump propaganda and xenophobia. The election story and the election fraud claims was the perfect vehicle for them to get back onto their core messaging’. . .”

Read the full article at:

https://www.theguardian.com/media/2025/dec/02/rupert-lachlan-murdoch-fox-2020-election

Fake News on “Media Offenders” Website?

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Article in Irish Star by Hannah Broughton, 11/30/25

Headline:  “Trump humiliated as he is forced to take down anti-media website hours after launch”

Subhead:  “In a whirlwind of irony, Trump’s latest venture to expose ‘media bias’ backfired spectacularly, leaving the White House scrambling to correct its own missteps”

https://www.irishstar.com/news/us-news/trump-humiliated-forced-take-down-36329415

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Article in Daily Beast by Jack Revell, 11/30/25

Headline:  “White House Forced to Correct Childish Anti-Media Site”

https://www.thedailybeast.com/white-house-forced-to-correct-childish-anti-media-site/

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Article in Huffington Post by Bryan Grenoble, 12/1/25

Headline:  “White House Media Attack Falls Apart After It Calls Fox ‘Woke’ “

Subhead: “Fox News said its inclusion on a White House webpage of ‘Media Offenders’ was a case of mistaken identity.”

https://www.huffpost.com/entry/white-house-media-hall-of-shame-fox-woke_n_692db994e4b0c8c3c7ce6e19?origin=home-latest-news-unit

Sometimes The Press Fails

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Article in FAIR by Janine Jackson, 11/26/25

Headline:  “Press Remembers Oldest Survivor of Tulsa Massacre—But Not Press’s Role in Massacre”

“. . .As Joe Torres (Free Press, 5/27/21), co-author of News for All the People: The Epic Story of Race and the American Media, recounted, the local white-owned press didn’t just fuel the massacre; it also helped cover it up. The other main local paper, the Tulsa World, provided the white narrative of the massacre in its headline (6/1/1921) the next day: ‘Two Whites Dead in Race Riot.’. . .”

Read the full article at:

https://fair.org/home/press-remembers-oldest-survivor-of-tulsa-massacre-but-not-presss-role-in-massacre/

Fake Media War?

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Article in Media Maters by Zachary Pleat, 11/24/25

Headline:  “Right-wing media praise Trump’s made-up excuses for war against Venezuela”

Subhead:  “Trump massively inflated threat from Venezuelan “narco-terrorists” smuggling fentanyl into the US”

“President Donald Trump and right-wing media have been quick to cite fentanyl interdiction as the supposed justification for the administration’s likely illegal strikes against vessels in the Caribbean Sea and Pacific Ocean, which they have blamed on so-called “narco-terrorists” tied to the regime of President Nicolas Maduro of Venezuela. But reporting has shown the Trump administration’s excuses are built on lies. . .”

Read the full article at:

https://www.mediamatters.org/national-security/right-wing-media-praise-trumps-made-excuses-war-against-venezuela