Media Misinformation

Press Sec. Leaves Final AI One for Media

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Article in AlterNet by Sarah K. Burris, 8/12/26

Headline: “Karoline Leavitt torn apart after her exit note is flagged for being AI:

“. . .Status News reporter Natalie Korach caught a brief note at the end of Leavitt’s post: ‘Interesting flag at the bottom of this post: “Made with AI.” ‘

“Latika M. Bourke, of the Australian daily digital newspaper ‘The Nightly,’ also spotted the note, highlighting it with the large eyes emoji.

“CBS News night assignment editor Ryan Sprouse also noticed the AI note.

” ‘Karoline Leavitt is leaving the White House to lie elsewhere,’ cracked Mrs. Betty Bowers. . .”

Read the full article at:

https://www.alternet.org/karoline-leavitt-ai-2677695246/

Don’t Worry, They’re Only Journalists

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Article in Poynter by Tom Jones, 8/12/26

Headline:  “Opinion | Trump left Air Force One because of a threat. Journalists stayed aboard.

Subhead:  “Presidents have used decoys before. What’s different this time is that the press didn’t know.”

“. . .while journalists and some White House staff thought they were riding on the same plane as Trump, they were not.

“The New York Times’ Maggie Haberman, Eric Schmitt and Zolan Kanno-Youngs wrote, ‘Reporters on the older plane were not told that Mr. Trump had not flown with them from Turkey to an air base in Britain, making them unwitting participants in the ruse and leaving them, along with some White House staff members, to serve as unknowing decoys.’ ”

Read the full article at:

https://www.poynter.org/commentary/2026/trump-air-force-one-decoy-reporters-threat/

Rt. Media Burrito Rage!

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Article in Media Matters by Jack Winstanley, Gideon Taaffe & Hanne MacDonald, 8/11/26

Headline:  “Right-wing media’s affordability burrito brawl”

Subhead:  “After a post complaining about a $20 burrito went viral, some right-wing figures accused those dismissing concerns about affordability of “giving the finger to voters” and driving them ‘into the arms of the socialists’ ”

“Last week, Turning Point USA’s Andrew Kolvet’s post about a college student noting the high price of a burrito sparked a debate among conservative commentators over whether food affordability is a real issue for voters.

“While some dismissed concerns over an expensive burrito, advising those complaining to ‘cry me a river’ and cook food at home, other right-wing personalities noted such responses were equivalent to ‘giving the finger to voters’ and accused those commentators of “trying to gaslight us into being happy that it’s unaffordable.”

Read the full article at:

https://www.mediamatters.org/daily-wire/right-wing-media-figures-push-back-other-conservatives-mocking-concerns-about

Media Saying Difference?

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Article in The Guardian by Mehdi Hassan, 8/10/26

Headline:  “The media is infatuated with Gadi Eisenkot, the ‘anti-Netanyahu’. Why?”

Subhead:  “The challenger to Netanyahu is more of the same. His record makes that abundantly clear”

“Western media outlets cannot seem to get enough of Gadi Eisenkot.

“Israel’s former military chief and the leader of the newly formed Yashar party has been embraced by the international press as he and his party take the lead in the polls in the run-up to October’s elections.

“Will Israel embrace the ‘anti-Netanyahu’ who lost a son in Gaza?” asked the Times of London. . .”

Read the full article at:

https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2026/aug/10/media-gadi-eisenkot-anti-netanyahu

Media Lying About a Lie?

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Article in Daily Kos by whitroth, 7/31/26

Headline: “About Nicaragua and US media”

“Remember the big fuss a week or so ago about Ortega of Nicaragua saying “there would be no more elections”?

“It was all a lie. Literally. Every report that we saw LIED by editing out half the words.

An ex of mine found this link on bluesky. What Ortega actually said was ‘none who promoted a violent anti-government insurrection in 2018 will be allowed to stand for office.’

“Well, gee, that’s not exactly “no more elections. . .”

Read the full article at:

https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2026/7/31/800077977/community/about-nicaragua-and-us-media/

Local Owned Doesn’t Guarantee Local News

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Article in Poynter by Jennifer Nehrer, 7/29/26

Headline:  “A community can have local newspapers and still lack local news”

Subhead:  “California’s local news landscape — from a thriving weekly in Carmel to a one-reporter newsroom in Merced — shows why counting newspapers isn’t enough”

“. . .At first glance, California’s local news landscape seems to be thriving. Even the state’s least populous areas compare favorably to some of the United States’ largest regions by one common measure. . .”

“Matt Pearce, director of policy at Rebuild Local News, prefers to add a second statistic to present a fuller picture of who is bringing local news to California communities: the ‘Local Journalist Index,’ a tool that analyzes the number of ‘Local Journalist Equivalents’ in each U.S. county. . .”

Read the full article at:

https://www.poynter.org/reporting-editing/2026/how-to-measure-local-news/

Rt. Media Rebrand War?

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Article in Media Matters by John Knefel, 7/29/26

Headline:  “The growing MAGA media despondency over the Iran war quagmire”

Subhead:  “Benny Johnson once called to rebrand the Strait of Hormuz in the US’s image, but now he has acquiesced to Iranian control over the crucial waterway”

“As President Donald Trump’s war on Iran extends into its sixth month, some figures on the right are recalibrating their messaging from an original demand for maximalist victory to something much more modest.

“Although the war has created some fractures in right-wing media, at the outset of the conflict it had no shortage of boosters — either Iran hawks or MAGA hacks. Now, as the Iranian government has survived months of bombing and operationalized its previously unrealized control of the Strait of Hormuz, some of those pundits are scaling back their ambitions. . .”

Read the full article at:

https://www.mediamatters.org/us-iran-relations/growing-maga-media-despondency-over-iran-war-quagmire

Acquisition – True or False?

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Article in The Babylon Bee by Staff, 7/25/25/26

Headline:  “Elon Musk Acquires Total Ownership Of The Economist“

“AUSTIN, TX — Over the course of a ninety-minute transaction, Elon Musk became the sole and absolute owner of The Economist.

“Though Musk had no reported prior interest in the aging magazine, Musk acquired total ownership of the company during a sit-down with The Economist’s Zanny Beddoes.

” ‘Well, that didn’t quite go as planned,’ sighed Beddoes, handing over her employee badge to Musk. ‘Here you go, Elon. I’ll, uh, just see myself out.’

“Musk, for his part, offered Beddoes the option to stay on with the company, on the condition that she do actual journalism. Beddoes made several loud screeching sounds in response, apparently declining the offer. . .

Read the full article at:

https://babylonbee.com/news/elon-musk-acquires-total-ownership-of-the-economist

After Jail, go on Media Tour?

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Article in Media Matters by John Knefel, 7/10/26

Headline:  “Tina Peters’ right-wing media tour: Endless conspiracy theories about voter fraud and boasts about advising Trump on how to fix it”

Subhead:  “Peters’ complaints, including about ‘foreign agents,’ appear to be linked to a broader plot to subvert the midterms by manufacturing a pretext for Trump to declare a national emergency and seize control of voting systems”

“Following her release from prison last month, former Colorado election official Tina Peters has hit the ground running with more than 17 appearances in right-wing media. During her media tour, Peters has spread numerous conspiracy theories about supposed voter fraud and foreign interference in elections. . .”

Read the full article at:

https://www.mediamatters.org/voter-fraud-and-suppression/tina-peters-right-wing-media-tour-endless-conspiracy-theories-about

Examining a Newsroom

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Article in Columbia Journalism Revue by C.J Robinson, 7/9/26

Headline: “Inside Restoration News, a Political Nonprofit’s ‘Newsroom’ “

Subhead:  “How a media outlet funded by conservative donors is ‘waging a permanent campaign to defeat the radical left.’ “

“Restoration News, which covers topics ranging from abortion to diversity in the military to local school policies, calls itself the news source for the ‘America First movement.’ It is also a line item in a political operation. The site is directly funded by Restoration of America, a right-wing nonprofit . . .”

“Unlike other ‘pink slime’ sites that use AI or automation to produce stories, Restoration News employs human writers who make use of traditional journalistic methods. . .

“But they often fail to meet established journalistic standards.”

Read the full article at:

https://www.cjr.org/tow_center/inside-restoration-news-political-nonprofits-newsroom-conservative-donors-pink-slime-restore-military-pac-manning-bouferrache-honeybadgermom-truax.php