Mike Woodruff has been a pastor for over 40 years. During that time, an increasing number of people have been captured by conspiracy theories, overwhelmed with anxiety or seething in anger. 5 years ago, Mike embarked on a journey to understand what was happening.
He discovered the primary forces reshaping the news and the necessary practices for staying sane in a 24/7 news cycle. On The News will explain what’s happened since the Cronkite era and then offer a pathway for you to navigate this strange new world.
When other credentialed outlets and journalists spread lies about the Russia collusion hoax, or the Covington kids hoax, or ... The Federalist fearlessly reported the truth.
Corrupt corporate journalists published lies and regurgitated regime propaganda and were given awards. We published facts and the truth, and the U.S. federal government responded by waging a global war of illegal censorship against The Federalist. They profited from lies, while we were punished for reporting the truth.
Where were these self-styled First Amendment defenders when we were illegally censored and targeted for debunking Deep State lies and hoaxes? Many of them not only refused to defend us, but cheered the illegal censorship efforts against us. //
So you’ll have to forgive our skepticism of corporate media’s ostensible new love of press freedoms and the First Amendment. We actually read through the new Department of War media access guidelines, and we found zero new restrictions on the ability of journalists to report on or criticize the government. Many corporate journalists eager to grandstand will claim otherwise without evidence, but we will show you what the actual document says. //
Those are the actual facts. And as usually is the case, we are likely the first outlet to report them. We look forward to eagerly covering the Pentagon, both on-site and from a distance, with the same fearlessness and courage and devotion to the truth that we have exhibited since we were created. And if the new guidelines result in fewer professional con artists and media hoaxers roaming the halls looking for new lies to peddle, so be it.
Recently declassified documents indicate that people close to former FBI Director James Comey and Democratic Sen. Adam Schiff were connected to leaks of classified information to prominent reporters designed to portray Donald Trump and his allies as being in league with Russia.
Media Bias Chart: Through the Years
The Flagship version of the Media Bias Chart is updated twice a year.
MSNBC and CNN have been caught labeling the anti-ICE riots in Los Angeles "largely or mostly peaceful" and downplaying the chaos and violence a whopping 211 times since they started Friday, June 6.
According to a new study from the Media Research Center, analysts watched coverage on both networks from June 7- June 11, finding more than 200 examples in primetime of when reporters, guests, and or anchors labeled the rioters attacking law enforcement, burning cars, and blocking the freeways as "peaceful," or something similar.
Padilla and the dying media also keep saying he identified himself as a senator — don’t you know who he is? — so there was no reason to deem him a threat. This is also nonsense. You don’t identify yourself while in the middle of shoving your way toward a high-ranking government official, or anyone else for that matter.
And it’s absurd to assume that any of the security personnel would have recognized Padilla. He’s hardly a rock star, and it’s not their job to know what every member of Congress who decides to pop off in public looks like. True, he shouted that he’s a senator. So what? The public parks of L.A. are crawling with people who think they’re royalty.
The dying media want to portray Padilla like a victim of abuse because it feeds into their manufactured narrative that the Trump administration is hurting innocent people, even U.S. senators, in the process of enforcing immigration law. (As an update to the stupid incident, The New York Times ran the headline “Padilla’s scuffle stirs painful memories of a childhood spent proving his worth.”) It’s another lie.
Editor’s note: This is a lightly edited transcript of today’s video from Daily Signal Senior Contributor Victor Davis Hanson. Subscribe to our YouTube channel to see more of his videos.
Hello, this is Victor Davis Hanson for The Daily Signal. So much has been said about the media, the mainstream media, the legacy media. There’s not really much to add because we all know that it’s not really a disinterested media but it’s kind of a Pravda-like propaganda organ. I’ll give you a few examples.
More recently, when Cyril Ramaphosa came to the White House, the president of South Africa, did you see the word “ambush”? It was in every mainstream paper, every left-wing website, every radio—NPR, PBS, CBS, MSNBC. It’s like the Democratic operatives issue a Pravda-like order and then these mindless people just say, “Okay, today’s talking points are…”
He met President Donald Trump. He wasn’t really surprised that Trump was going to confront him because he bragged that he was gonna confront Trump. There was no secret place. It wasn’t a sudden, unexpected attack from a secret place—the definition of an ambush. Yet, it was ”ambush,” “ambush,” “ambush,” “ambush.”
And when some questions arose about the visit, it was just typical. The White House press secretary, Karoline Leavitt, fielded a question from an NBC journalist. She was very angry because Donald Trump mentioned to President Ramaphosa, “See this picture of a thousand graves.” She said, “Well, he was lying. There weren’t graves.” And the press secretary replied back, “They were commemorations.” Each one of those crosses represents a dead South African who was murdered by virtue of his race. And she said, “Yes, but it’s not…”
So what they were arguing about—NBC—was semantics that Trump had improperly—and he had improperly—confused “grave” with “cenotaph,” a cenotaph. That’s “kenos” in Greek, meaning “empty.”
So, these crosses were not on top of a dead person but they represented a dead person. But NBC was so fixated on embarrassing the president that they didn’t even want to discuss the fact that there were a thousand crosses and they did represent individual lives destroyed because of their race. But she just wanted to make the point that you could nullify all of that and excuse it by saying they were not graves but cenotaphs. And there you have it.
On Monday, Alex Marquardt, CNN Senior Intelligence Correspondent and frequent fill-in anchor at the network, announced that he was leaving his position. Speculation was immediately emerging that this was in connection to the defamation lawsuit brought against CNN, where a jury found the news network liable for defamation and ruled they had to pay tens of millions of dollars in damages. Now, indications are that Marquardt was in fact let go as a result of the suit.
CNN was sued by Navy veteran Zachary Young over a report on Young’s work as an extraction expert who facilitated the safe release of people from Afghanistan. CNN chose to frame Young’s work as illegal black market activities where he was extorting people to have them safely escape the nation as it fell into Taliban rule. The jury ruled CNN acted errantly and with malice in its false presentation, awarding Young with significant compensatory damages, with the network then negotiating undisclosed punitive compensation.
Marquardt was the reporter on those disputed reports, which ran on programs hosted by Jake Tapper, as well as others at the network.
Multiple press outlets, including Fox News, the Associated Press, CNN, the BBC, and other outlets, ran with a report early Sunday morning claiming Israeli forces randomly opened fire on civilians gathered to collect aid. Sourced by the "health officials" and "witnesses," the claim involved dozens being killed and "at least" 175 injured. //
At least 26 Palestinians were killed and at least 175 were wounded as they made their way to receive food in the Gaza Strip, according to health officials and witnesses.
Witnesses said Israeli forces fired on crowds around 1,000 yards away from an aid site run by the Israeli-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation. A Palestinian journalist told the BBC that thousands of Palestinians had gathered near the aid site near Gaza's southern city of Rafah when Israeli tanks approached and opened fire on the crowd... //
Eitan Fischberger @EFischberger
·
This is truly glorious:
The Gaza Humanitarian Foundation just released security footage from the distribution site in question during the precise minutes that the "massacre" allegedly took place.
As you can see — It didn't happen.
Eitan Fischberger @EFischberger
Update via @IsraelWarRoom:
The Gaza Humanitarian Foundation says that talk of a "massacre" at the aid sites are "untrue and fabricated" and that the aid was distributed without incident.
6:08 AM · Jun 1, 2025
The anti-gun group Moms Demand has now gone a step further, as seen at an event they staged in Kentucky in support of new proposed legislation for gun safety education. Though this rally was back in February, it has taken time for a realization to come over the state, and specifically the local media, and it is an indictment of all involved. Credit to The Citizen's Voice for detailing this development.
Calvin Polachek detailed how he endured a shooting at Dallas High School, in Luzerne County, Kentucky, back in 2017, a tragedy that took the lives of his brother, best friend, as well as nine others that day. //
In one fashion - and only one fashion - he is accurate; nothing has changed. This is because nothing had to change. His story is completely fraudulent. There was no shooting whatsoever at this school.
For this fraud to transpire is astounding. This hoaxer, Calvin, was allegedly never vetted, and his story, clearly, was never substantiated. The passing of blame has been almost comical, were this not so pernicious. //
This is clearly a case of confirmation bias, where a compliant press promoted a gun control storyline and had a sympathetic video clip and some choice quotes that perfectly aligned with the narrative. It was too good to check, and now more credibility has been set on fire as a result.
“'Joe Biden is not Richard Nixon, and the hiding and cover-up of his deterioration is not Watergate,’ Morgan said, quoting from the book. "I am not entirely sure I agree, Jake, with that conclusion.” //
“It is a scandal. It is without question – and maybe even worse than Watergate in some ways,” Tapper confessed. “Because Richard Nixon was in control of his faculties when he was not drinking.”
“This is an entirely separate scandal,” he added. “Maybe even worse … maybe even worse.” //
Here's the thing - Tapper is trying to convince people that the media simply missed the Biden story. That the daily videos and transcripts coming out showing Biden mumbling and bumbling about didn't cause a lightbulb to go off in their heads that 'Hey, maybe we should start digging a little more on this.'
How bad is everybody in your profession today that you missed the biggest White House deception in American political history, Jake?
Making this even more amusing is that Tapper, currently fancying himself an investigative journalist, only had to check old reels from his network to find that a Watergate reporter himself, Carl Bernstein, had sounded the alarm about Biden's cognitive decline - and revealed that it had been ongoing for almost two years before the presidential debate. //
There are only two conclusions to be drawn here - either Tapper and CNN contributed to a cover-up worse than Watergate, or they're staggeringly inept. //
AirdaleNavy_AX3
3 hours ago
Hiring people to put bugs in the DNC offices in the Watergate complex was rarely talked about during the entirety of the Watergate scandal. It was, and it always is, the cover-up that gets these scoundrels. And the country wouldn't have really known about the Watergate cover-up if Nixon aide Alexander Butterfield hadn't blurted out in a hearing that all the conversations in the Oval Office, including phone calls, were tape recorded. That's the match that lit the fire that brought Nixon down.
What Biden's aides, and their pet rocks in the feckless press, all conspired to do was outright Sedition and classic Insurrection. They sought to negate the will of the American people because these seditionists didn't like the chose the people made. If the Congress, the DOJ and the FBI don't take this seriously and find out who the culprits are and deal with them accordingly, the very foundations of our Republic are gone. //
Rufus McGee
3 hours ago edited
Authors: "Ultimately we decided that the scandal doesn't quite measure up to Watergate."
Also Authors: Because Democrats did it. //
Tolly
3 hours ago edited
I'll give you odds that Fake Yapper doesn't even understand what Watergate was. Otherwise he wouldn't conflate the two scandals.
Watergate was basically a champaign hustle, more attune to Russiagate, where an advantage in an election was sought. Coupgate was the actual overthrown of an elected administration hidden from the American people with the cooperation of the deep state, MSM, the executive departments, Congress to an extent, and probably to a degree some foreign agents.
Surfer Boy Tolly
3 hours ago
The difference was Coupgate was intended to preserve 'democracy' and Tapper agreed with it all the way. Hence the coverup. Also, Coupgate was covered up by the press (and Tapper) while Watergate was 'exposed' by the press. Compare the roles of Tapper vs. Woodward/Bernstein. //
"The NYT portrayed the Marubo people as a community unable to handle basic exposure to the internet, highlighting allegations that their youth had become consumed by pornography shortly after receiving access," the plaintiffs say.
the extent of the cover-up in the Biden-Harris White House and even how far back Biden family cover-ups of health issues goes, which is much further than previously known.
For instance, after Biden's son, Beau, was diagnosed with terminal brain cancer in the summer of 2013, the Biden family decided to keep it a secret, with the then-vice president "instructing his team to mislead the media about [Beau's] whereabouts." This included when Beau Biden, who was in his second term as Delaware Attorney General, would fly to other states to get treatments while using a different name. Physicians at the time also reportedly issued fraudulent "clean bill of health" reports about Beau Biden to the public. //
My biggest concern with all of this has to do with the state of the media in America today. And let me explain what I mean by that. I watched bits and pieces of the White House Correspondents' Association dinner this year, and I listened to speaker after speaker, all Washington reporters, all defend "freedom of the press." And I kept thinking, they wouldn't have to defend it if they didn't work so hard to undermine it every day.
The American people saw what I saw, what you saw, for years with respect to President Biden. And I'm sorry President Biden is sick, but we all saw the same thing for years. We saw a president who couldn't finish a sentence without taking a nap. We saw a president - an elderly man - who talked like he was from outer space. He walked like he was underwater; you could bake a Thanksgiving turkey in the time it took him to walk across the stage.
90 percent of the American media not only never reported that, but when [some] Democrats and many Republicans raised the issue, they pushed back. And this is just one more example of so many members of our media squandering the trust of the American people. There are other examples - the Steele Dossier, the Hunter Biden laptop. I mean, I could go on and on and on. But that, to me, is what makes me want to stick my head in an oven.
Today, the media's happy after Mr. Tapper's book's coming out, the media's happy to report it. But none of them have taken responsibility for not reporting what was so obvious to the American people. Hypocrisy never takes a vacation around here, I can tell you. //
Now, many in people in the media now are reporting on Mr. Tapper's book. But I haven't heard a single - other than Mr. Thompson - a single member of the Washington press corps stand up and say "boy, we blew that."
And that's what I mean by squandering the American people's trust. Why did they do that? I don't think they were in love with President Biden. I think they thought that anything that hurt President Biden would help the Republicans and would help President Trump, and it's this persistence in practicing advocacy journalism that is destroying freedom of the press and the First Amendment in America today.
There's either no self-awareness among many members of the media, or they're lying. Because it's so obvious. I'm not asking them to take my side on everything, I'm just asking them to be curious, to report what they see.
This is the status of our press corps today. They need to come out and refute the words of Donald Trump, at all costs – even if those refutations support inhuman activity, contradict their own reporting, and the cost is their own credibility.
It's bizarre that they're upset Trump was trying to use the meeting to help people. It completely blows the narrative they've been pushing about him. That's not generally something that "Hitler" is supposed to care about.
The media reaction was like the Borg, who all got the same talking points. In case you didn't know, the word of the week was "ambush," as our sister site Twitchy reported.
Western Lensman @WesternLensman
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Fake News Word of the Day: “Ambush!"
[Embedded video]
9:42 PM · May 21, 2025.
Did they suddenly think of the same word, get the talking points memo, or are they copying each other? Now I'm not quibbling with the fact that Trump did put him on the spot in a bold move. CNN commentator Scott Jennings called it a "boss move." But that's exactly the point: the choice of words, bold or boss move versus "ambush," which has more of a negative connotation. But they all settled on "ambush."
It isn't about reporting. It's always about the narrative. And the narrative always seems to be what will be anti-Trump. They're not concerned about people being killed. Maybe that's more important than Trump being polite. And if Ramaphosa wants things from the U.S., this is the time to bring up issues. That's what makes it such a bold move.
Somehow, bringing in the small group of 59 people was a big problem that needed this intense attack from some in the media. But the millions of illegal aliens that came in largely unvetted under Joe Biden weren't, that was cool. And they wonder why they have no credibility when people see things like this.
Elon Musk nailed their reaction, calling it "the legacy media puppet parade."
KAT7
an hour ago
Western Lensman's video compilation shows you the Mockingbird Media at work.
⬇
Operation Mockingbird, The CIA's Plan To Control The Media - All That's Interesting
Dec 1, 2024 Facts about Operation Mockingbird remain murky — including whether it ever ended — but the idea of news organizations working with intelligence agencies struck many citizens as deeply alarming. Operation Mockingbird was even invoked as recently as mid-2024 when then-presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr. claimed that the program is still being used.
Steve Gordon @stevemgordon67
·
Scarborough learns he was the target of a White House psyop. Hysterical.
TV News Now @TVNewsNow
WATCH: Jake Tapper tells MSNBC 'Morning Joe' hosts that Biden made targeted effort to convince Scarborough he was fit for office
Embedded video
11:58 PM · May 21, 2025 //
Then, too, tucked away in there is another juicy point: Tapper spoke about Democrats saying Kamala was not up to the job behind the scenes. But then, of course, the Democrats/media tried to sell us that she was.
Scott Jennings
@ScottJenningsKY
·
Follow
THEY BLAMED THE LIGHTING LMAO
Western Lensman
@WesternLensman
The Biden campaign spent millions to stage a fake town hall — and it was so bad, they couldn’t even use any of it for campaign commercials.
Some people blamed Biden being incoherent, some blamed the “lighting."
Jennings: "They spent millions of dollars to stage a town hall and then 'oh we didn’t get the lighting right??' Unbelievable." 😂
Embedded video
1:29 AM · May 21, 2025
"Some said this was because Joe Biden was incoherent, that he could not articulate his thoughts in a pithy, or even semi-normal way," Thompson explained. "Some people just said the lighting was bad. That was the two different points of view." Consider how bad that must be when they can't even get anything usable. And that's something they could control. What about all the day-to-day issues that he was supposed to be addressing that couldn't be controlled? Who was addressing them?
Two Notable Quotes
This is from Jake Tapper talking to Megyn Kelly.
Alex [Thompson] and I are here to say the conservative media was right and conservative media was correct and that there should be a lot of soul-searching, not just among me, but among the legacy media to begin with, all of us, for how this was covered or not covered sufficiently 100 percent.
On the same day Jake Tapper was saying this to Megyn Kelly, CBS News was carrying water for Joe Biden.
Dr. Gounder worked with Biden Chief of Staff Ron Klain and served on a Biden advisory board. She’s trying to claim that doctors would not check the PSA level of the sitting President of the United States because of his age.
In Chapter 3 of the book, Tapper and Thompson outline how the Biden family covered up Beau Biden’s cancer, even getting a doctor to release a “clean bill of health” statement to the media after determining Beau would not survive. But the media continues to carry water for the Biden Team.
Last night, on Leland Vittert’s must-watch show on NewsNation (307 on DirecTV / 207 on Dish / Also on YouTube TV, Hulu, Fubo, etc.), Leland interviewed Alex Thompson, Jake Tapper’s co-author of Original Sin.
Leland asked Alex Thompson if Biden’s inner circle ever expressed amazement at how much water the American political press was willing to carry for them. As a matter of fact, yes they did. This is the must-watch clip of the year so far and the other notable quote.
Just remarkable. Even the Biden Team was shocked at how much the American press was willing to lie on their behalf. Just remarkable.
That's true, but there were also signs of the decline.
"One of us didn't miss the biggest story of the century," Kelly said to him, and "one of us did." //
But that's the problem. The information was there to report, and he didn't press. Even if all he did was read RedState, he would have seen it day after day.
The big pause in the following clip, where he has no real answer for why he didn't follow up, says it all for how much the liberal media failed. //
Kelly walked through so many instances that he ignored. She called out how his network called the truthful videos about Biden "cheap fakes." That's when he made a truly surprising comment that "conservative media was right." //
He denied that he had anything to do with a "cover-up."
But he did admit there should be a lot of soul searching not just by him but also for a lot of legacy media. Yes, he can say that now, because what is said about Biden now no longer matters.
The question is what it says about them when it did matter.
Patricia Heaton
@PatriciaHeaton
·
Follow
It’s unfathomable how far @jaketapper and @cnn have fallen. Can you imagine Walter Cronkite constantly hawking a book?! And having all his colleagues join in?! Especially one about news they should have been reporting on all year?! Good job @jonstewart!
The Daily Show @TheDailyShow
.@jonstewart is getting whiplash watching CNN pivot from promoting Jake Tapper's "bombshell" book to lamenting Joe Biden's cancer diagnosis
Embedded video
11:56 PM · May 19, 2025
How weird it is that the news is selling you a book about news they should’ve told you was news a year ago — for free!