Article in Media Matters by Staff, 1/26/26
Headline: “On The Weeknight, Angelo Carusone discusses conservative media reaction to ICE and how it drives Trump’s decision making”
“…It’s Trump and other decision makers that actually have the ability to control the levers of what ICE is doing here. And a big thing that they’re reacting to is how the media, the part that the media that they care about, the right-wing media is reacting to it. . .”
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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. . .”
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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. . .”
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Article in FAIR by Gregory Shupak, 1/20/26
Headline: “Labeling Kidnapping a ‘Capture,’ Media Legitimate Violation of International Law”
“Corporate media have deployed a lexicon of legitimation in their coverage of the deadly US invasion of Venezuela and the abduction of President Nicolás Maduro, along with his wife and fellow politician Cilia Flores. Major news outlets have routinely described these events using words like ‘capture’ (New York Times, 1/3/26) or ‘arrest’ (BBC, 1/3/26), which presents them as a matter of enforcing the law against fugitives or criminals, and carries the built-in but false assumption that the US had the right or even duty to conduct its operation in the first place.
“The ludicrous premise is that any time an arrest warrant is issued somewhere in the United States, the US has the right to do anything, anywhere in the world, in pursuit of the subject—including bombing another country, invading it, killing its citizens, and spiriting away its president and first lady. . .”
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https://fair.org/home/labeling-kidnapping-a-capture-media-legitimate-violation-of-international-law/
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. . .”
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Article in The New Republic by Hafiz Rashid, 1/14/26
Headline: “DHS Picks Fight With Reporter Who Exposed ICE’s Shoddy Hiring”
Subhead: “The Department of Homeland Security is pissed after Laura Jedeed revealed how she got a job offer from ICE in just six minutes.”
“The Department of Homeland Security attempted to discredit a journalist Wednesday and was quickly embarrassed.
“On Tuesday, Slate published a bombshell article by Laura Jedeed outlining how she had somehow slipped through ICE’s screening process to be offered a job by the agency despite failing to complete any of the required paperwork, including a background check. The next day, DHS tried to claim Jedeed’s article was ‘such a lazy lie.’. . .”
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https://newrepublic.com/post/205300/dhs-fight-reporter-exposed-ice-job-hiring
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Article in Democracy Now by Smy Goodman, 1/14/26
Headline: “Journalist Tests ICE Recruitment; Surprised to Find Herself Hired with No Background Check”
“ ‘They didn’t ask very many questions.’ Independent journalist and U.S. military veteran Laura Jedeed recounts how she was hired as a deportation officer by Immigration and Customs Enforcement after a six-minute interview at a job fair in Texas, despite never signing any paperwork, not having completed a background check, likely failing a drug test, and publicly sharing her opposition to the Trump administration and its anti-immigrant crackdown. . .”
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Article in Poynter by Amaris Castillo, 1/12/26
Headline: “Venezuelan journalists see gaps — and risks — in coverage of Nicolás Maduro’s capture”
Subhead: “Journalists say U.S. outlets often lack Venezuelan voices and the long-term context needed to explain what comes next”
“. . . For U.S. newsrooms, Maduro’s capture is a dramatic foreign policy story. For Venezuelan journalists, it’s far more complicated. As American outlets work to explain what comes next, many of the journalists with the deepest knowledge of Venezuela are hesitant to speak publicly, fearful of reprisal, skeptical or superficial coverage and unsure whether U.S. media can fully capture the country’s legal and political complexity. . .”
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https://www.poynter.org/reporting-editing/2026/venezuelan-coverage-nicolas-maduro-capture/
Article in The Guardian by Margaret Sullivan, 1/8/26
Headline: “Some US media are cheerleading Trump’s Venezuela raid. That’s not their job”
Subhead: “An almost admiring feeling pervaded the early coverage – and not just among right-leaning outlets”
“If you believe the early public opinion polls, Americans are uncertain about last weekend’s raid on Venezuela and the seizure of the country’s leader, Nicolás Maduro.
But many in the media seem to be trying to move that wavering needle to approval. That’s especially true on the right, of course, where Fox News is leading a full-on cheering squad.
Even the right-leaning podcaster Megyn Kelly, a former Fox host herself, said the cable network’s early coverage was like watching Russian propaganda.”
Read the full article at:
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2026/jan/08/us-media-trump-venezuela-raid
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Article in Media Matters by Sophie Lawton, 1/7/26
Headline: “Greenland, Colombia, Cuba, Mexico, Iran, and more: After Maduro’s capture, right-wing media encourage escalating US involvement around the globe”
“Following the U.S. capture of Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro, right-wing media figures are pushing for the Trump administration to next target other countries — including Colombia, Cuba, and Mexico — and even to take Greenland from Denmark, a NATO ally. . .”
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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. . .”
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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.’. . .”
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Article in Raw Story by David Edwards, 1/2/26
Headline: ” ‘What is wrong with journalism?’ MAGA doc slams reporters for believing Trump’s MRI claim”
“Pro-MAGA podcaster Dr. Drew Pinsky lashed out at reporters for believing President Donald Trump’s claim that he had an MRI procedure instead of being tested by CT scan equipment. . .”
” ‘He did not have an MRI. He did not have a CAT scan. He had a coronary calcium score, which is done with a CAT scan machine,” Pinsky said during his Friday broadcast. “They’re so effing ignorant! They don’t know how to ask the right questions!’. . .”
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https://www.rawstory.com/drew-pinsky-trump-mri/?utm_source=superhead
Article in Mediaite by Zoe Engels, 1/1/26
Headline: ” ‘Nothing Will Happen at CBS’: Megyn Kelly Declares Legacy Media ‘Dead”
“SiriusXM host Megyn Kelly pronounced the death of legacy media on Thursday, declaring ‘nothing will happen at CBS’ in a post on X.
“She seized the opportunity to slam the network in her reply to a post featuring incoming CBS Evening News anchor Tony Dokoupil instructing viewers to make him ‘earn’ their trust.
“ ‘Nothing will happen at CBS,’ Kelly wrote on X. ‘Nothing. Legacy media is dead and evening news has been totally irrelevant for a long time.’ . . .”
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