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BumRushDaShow

(166,608 posts)
Tue Jan 27, 2026, 07:31 AM 8 hrs ago

Major news outlets under fire for 'tiptoeing' around Trump admin lies after Pretti killing

Source: Raw Story

January 26, 2026 7:43PM ET


Two prominent critics warned on Monday that the US corporate media is not being aggressive enough in calling out the Trump administration’s lies about Alex Pretti, the Minneapolis resident who was slain by federal immigration agents over the weekend.

Writing on her Substack page, former New York Times public editor Margaret Sullivan expressed concern that many mainstream media publications were taking a wait-and-see approach in the wake of Pretti’s shooting, even as the Trump administration, Fox News, and other right-wing media websites were pumping out false claims about Pretti brandishing a weapon at federal officials and being a “domestic terrorist.”

Sullivan did praise many outlets, including the Times, the Washington Post, and CNN, for doing detailed and accurate breakdowns of videos showing Pretti’s fatal encounter with federal agents. However, she was dismayed that these outlets frequently hedged their language by saying that video evidence of the Pretti killing merely “appears to” contradict the administration’s claims.

“If the analyses do indeed ‘directly contradict’ the government’s claims, then say so—without fear or favor, as the motto goes,” Sullivan emphasized. “With what amounts to civil war raging in the United States, we desperately need clear, fearless truth-telling that doesn’t pull its punches and doesn’t hand a megaphone to lies and propaganda in the name of supposed fairness.” Former CNN anchor Jim Acosta similarly criticized US media outlets for being too timid in contradicting the administration’s lies about the Pretti killing.

Read more: https://www.rawstory.com/alex-pretti/

24 replies = new reply since forum marked as read
Highlight: NoneDon't highlight anything 5 newestHighlight 5 most recent replies
Major news outlets under fire for 'tiptoeing' around Trump admin lies after Pretti killing (Original Post) BumRushDaShow 8 hrs ago OP
I hate the "appears to contradict " crap UpInArms 7 hrs ago #1
I think some of them do that so they don't get sued for defamation BumRushDaShow 7 hrs ago #2
It is still bullshit UpInArms 7 hrs ago #4
Oh I know BumRushDaShow 6 hrs ago #8
Looks like my fifty years of saying this is finally getting a following. twodogsbarking 7 hrs ago #3
As they damned well should be. raccoon 7 hrs ago #5
The billionaires own the media and the media's job bronxiteforever 7 hrs ago #6
Too many news outlets take a mealy-mouthed approach to their reporting dlk 7 hrs ago #7
Kick dalton99a 6 hrs ago #9
I guess they think there are still enough people without internet access to get away with it. mdbl 6 hrs ago #10
Faux watchers are bizarrre. They have it tuned in 24/7 and louder than loud. Clouds Passing 5 hrs ago #13
NBC too. Gaytano70 6 hrs ago #11
When I watch broadcast new JPK 5 hrs ago #21
Fear and favor both hey GusBob 6 hrs ago #12
'federal immigration agents' Mr.Bee 5 hrs ago #14
I never imagined, back when I read the Times enigmania 5 hrs ago #15
We've been through that before BumRushDaShow 5 hrs ago #20
With the First Amendment, the Constitution envisions a "fourth estate" in specifically granting... Ol Janx Spirit 5 hrs ago #16
"it appears to be" "democrats say" "as she claims" mountain grammy 5 hrs ago #17
File this under "No shit, Sherlock." nt Wednesdays 5 hrs ago #18
Just found out??? Old Crank 5 hrs ago #19
"Tiptoe" is one way of putting it. Kid Berwyn 4 hrs ago #22
The government is flat out lying, something the press refuses to say Miguelito Loveless 4 hrs ago #23
Spinocchio presstitutes... BattleRow 1 hr ago #24

BumRushDaShow

(166,608 posts)
2. I think some of them do that so they don't get sued for defamation
Tue Jan 27, 2026, 07:54 AM
7 hrs ago

or for some similar reason.

UpInArms

(54,264 posts)
4. It is still bullshit
Tue Jan 27, 2026, 08:08 AM
7 hrs ago

I am tired of being told not to believe my lying eyes

Thanks for being here, BRDS, I am just at my wits end

BumRushDaShow

(166,608 posts)
8. Oh I know
Tue Jan 27, 2026, 08:35 AM
6 hrs ago

because when it comes to their reporting of anyone on the left, they are as definitive as can be! No hedging or wishy-washy stuff.

bronxiteforever

(11,172 posts)
6. The billionaires own the media and the media's job
Tue Jan 27, 2026, 08:23 AM
7 hrs ago

is to spew whatever is in the owner’s interests.
Thank the lord for DU and the underground independent media.

dlk

(13,154 posts)
7. Too many news outlets take a mealy-mouthed approach to their reporting
Tue Jan 27, 2026, 08:28 AM
7 hrs ago

Their weak and spineless approach is more about protecting ad dollars than accurately and fearlessly reporting the facts.

They are selling out our democracy every single day.

mdbl

(8,179 posts)
10. I guess they think there are still enough people without internet access to get away with it.
Tue Jan 27, 2026, 09:18 AM
6 hrs ago

How stupid. The major news outlets have been digging their own graves for the past 15 months. Except, of course Fux Noooze which always seems to have a clutch of weirdos glued to their cable channel.

Clouds Passing

(7,295 posts)
13. Faux watchers are bizarrre. They have it tuned in 24/7 and louder than loud.
Tue Jan 27, 2026, 09:39 AM
5 hrs ago

They must need a new TV every six months.

Gaytano70

(1,224 posts)
11. NBC too.
Tue Jan 27, 2026, 09:18 AM
6 hrs ago

They showed frame by frame evidence to contradict the lying bullshit the regime has been spewing. Good on them. Go further!

JPK

(946 posts)
21. When I watch broadcast new
Tue Jan 27, 2026, 10:29 AM
5 hrs ago

I watch NBC or ABC. I used to watch See BS until they fired Dan Rather, a real journalist who's career began in reporting from the jungles in the Viet Nam war and with Walter Cronkite at the helm of their broadcast. Fuck this Weiss person and her handlers. What is "news bias"? You are either reporting the facts or not and See BS is falling into the Fox New black hole of lies and bullshit.

enigmania

(406 posts)
15. I never imagined, back when I read the Times
Tue Jan 27, 2026, 09:51 AM
5 hrs ago

daily, and watched Walter Cronkite, that the 4th estate would fail us so completely.

Ol Janx Spirit

(787 posts)
16. With the First Amendment, the Constitution envisions a "fourth estate" in specifically granting...
Tue Jan 27, 2026, 10:06 AM
5 hrs ago

...freedom of "the press." This power was intended to wield political influence and help--with the assistance of the freedom of speech, religion, assembly, and the right to petition--be a check on the government by "we the people."

The media has decided over the last 250 years that its job is not to wield this power of influence, but to merely report the "news."

This is in large part the fault of journalism becoming a profession taught in schools that demanded journalists not allow themselves to be "part of the story." This ethos created the bothsideserism we find in the MSM today. Journalists are taught to speak through interviewing others; and to always get the "other side" of a story.

There are ways in which this has served us well, but it has gutted the concept of a fourth estate intended to keep the government in check.

So now a fifth estate is emerging: bloggers, independent journalists, and citizens with phone cameras. This fifth estate isn't tiptoeing around anything, but it is also subject to the blustery winds of easy to create and disseminate disinformation.

The question is: will any of it now be able to keep this government in check?

Even the founders envisioned a US government that would outright lie to the American people, but did they envision a population that would accept it with a shrug? Probably not.

mountain grammy

(28,764 posts)
17. "it appears to be" "democrats say" "as she claims"
Tue Jan 27, 2026, 10:12 AM
5 hrs ago

all the bullshit words that cover for their cowardly reporting.. it doesn't "appear" it is! It's not what someone "claims" it's the TRUTH!!

Kid Berwyn

(23,442 posts)
22. "Tiptoe" is one way of putting it.
Tue Jan 27, 2026, 10:48 AM
4 hrs ago

Willing accomplices to murder is another, like the treason.

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