Tag: journalists

CBS News Contributor Killed by Israel Just Weeks After His Wedding

Three journalists, including a CBS News contributor, were killed in an Israeli strike outside a camp for displaced people in Gaza on Wednesday.

Abdel Raouf Shaat – a contributor to CBS News and Agence France-Presse – was killed along with Mohamed Qishta and Anas Ghneim after their car was hit by an Israeli strike while leaving a camp for displaced people.

According to reports, the three journalists were recording footage of the camp while on assignment for the media arm of an Egyptian relief committee.

After leaving the camp, their car was struck by the Israeli military just a mile away.

In a statement, the Israel Defense Forces accused the journalists, without providing evidence, of operating “a drone affiliated with Hamas.”

“IDF troops identified several suspects who operated a drone affiliated with Hamas in central Gaza, in a manner that posed a threat to their safety,” the IDF claimed. “Following the identification and due to the threat that the drone posed to the troops, the IDF precisely struck the suspects who activated the drone.”

In its own statement, AFP mourned the loss of its contributor and demanded a full investigation into his killing.

“We are in mourning for the loss of our colleague Abdul Raouf Shaat who was a regular contributor to AFP’s production for nearly two years,” said AFP, adding that Shaat was “much loved” and remembered “as a kind-hearted colleague, with a gentle sense of humor and as a deeply committed journalist.”

The news organization continued, “AFP demands a full and transparent investigation into his death […] Far too many local journalists have been killed in Gaza over the past two years while foreign journalists remain unable to enter the territory freely.”

CBS News president Tom Cibrowski also informed staff of the news in a call on Wednesday morning, revealing that the journalist had just gotten married a few weeks prior.

While not on assignment for CBS News at the time of his death, the news organization stated that Shaat “filed regularly for CBS News from the city of Khan Yunis during the war in Gaza, even sending video from the back of an ambulance on one occasion when he was wounded.”

CBS News is owned by David Ellison – a close associate of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu – and led by pro-Israel commentator Bari Weiss, who has visited Israel more than 15 times.

At least 258 journalists and media workers have been killed since the beginning of the war in Gaza in 2023, according to the International Federation of Journalists.

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Minneapolis Police ‘Victim Blame’ Nick Sortor After He is Robbed: Tell Him HE is the Problem and Needs to Leave the Area

The Gateway Pundit reported that independent journalist Nick Sortor was robbed of a $1,000 camera by an apparent Somali woman while filming in Minneapolis, Minnesota, on Sunday. Police in Minneapolis responded by telling Sorter HE is the problem and needed to leave.

Sortor shared a video from the incident showing a masked woman ripping the camera out of his hand while he is behind the wheel of his vehicle.

A man then approached him, screaming, “That’s what the f*ck you wanted, right? That’s what the f*ck you wanted, right?”

Sorter jumped out of the car and chased the robber to a waiting vehicle, and they sped off with him holding onto the door handle. He shared that he was then dragged down the street after his hand got stuck in the car’s door handle.

Sortor spoke with the Minneapolis Police, who responded to the robbery by saying, “We have a ton of calls stacked that we have to answer. I don’t have a timeframe for you.”

“My point is, you guys need to not be in this area. I mean, I can’t tell you you have to leave, but if we’re getting calls of you guys harassing people…”

Sortor and his companion clarify that they are driving around, reporting on the situation, noting, “Driving around is not harassing anybody.”

“No one’s being harassed.”

The officer continued, “100% that’s fine, I’m just saying if it rises to that level, because they’re saying you guys are.”

Sortor cut in, “We’re journalists. Some people are trying to intimidate us out of here for doing our First Amendment freedom.”

The officer responded, “I know. But we don’t need this stuff to keep happening. The hostility obviously not going to go away.”

“We just want our stuff back,” Sortor stated.

The police then went through the process of a police report and the steps to an arrest, but added, “But you guys need to do us a favor and stay out of this area.”

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Conservative Journalist Nick Sortor Detained in Minneapolis After Driving Through Rioters Who Were Threatening to Kill Him

Conservative journalist Nick Sortor has been detained in Minneapolis after he was forced to drive through a mob of violent anti-ICE protesters, who surrounded his vehicle, smashed his windows, and threatened to kill him and his colleague, Cam Higby.

Sortor has been on the ground in Minneapolis covering ICE activity and the protesters that follow them.

Earlier on Sunday, Sortor was attacked by the mob rioting outside an ICE facility. Law enforcement had to deploy tear gas and pepper balls to stop it.

Later, while attempting to drive his vehicle, Sortor and Higby were surrounded by protesters who pushed trash into his windows, dumped it on the hood, and even spat on the vehicle.

“Thank GOD federal agents were nearby, or this could’ve gotten ugly,” Sortor reported.

As the evening went on and they attempted to leave, rioters surrounded their vehicle, began smashing windows with frozen waterbottles, spray painting it, and threatening to kill them.

Sortor, clearly fearing for his life, drove them out of harms way — through the rioters.

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Leftist Agitators Stalk and Threaten to Kill Journalist Covering Minneapolis Unrest

Independent journalist Cam Higby was reportedly stalked and threatened while covering the escalating protests in Minneapolis, Minnesota.

“I was just stalked for over a mile, with a person trying to agitate crowds against me, eventually leading to me being assaulted,” Higby posted to X. “I called 911 before an angry mob formed. Officers did not respond. [The] dispatcher was impatient with me on the phone WHILE I was being assaulted.”

“The stalker openly said that it would be ‘self defense’ if one of the people he riled up harmed or killed me,” Higby continued. “One threatened to hit me with his car.”

Higby released video of his confrontation with the alleged stalker in which the individual suggests that attacking or killing Higby for his reporting is justifiable.

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The First Amendment Allows You to Report Things the Government Doesn’t Want Reported

The House Oversight Committee has subpoenaed journalist Seth Harp (Washington Post, 1/8/26) over his posting on X a photo and publicly available biographical information about the US colonel who apparently leads the Army’s Delta Force unit, which played a key role in the abduction of Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro.

Committee member Rep. Anna Paulina Luna (R–Fla.) called for Harp’s criminal prosecution, accusing him of “leaking classified information” and “doxing” the colonel. In a statement to the Washington Post, she said:

The First Amendment does not give anyone a license to expose elite military personnel, compromise operations or assist our adversaries under the guise of reporting.

Actually, the First Amendment does give you a license to do all of those things. None of them are covered by the extremely limited exceptions to the freedom of the press recognized by the US Constitution.

And allowing these is not the unfortunate consequence of unbridled free expression; these are liberties that are core to maintaining a semblance of democracy. Do you want to be ruled by secret military commanders? Do you want it to be illegal to report on your country’s use of military force? Do you want to live in a country where journalists are in prison for “assisting our adversaries”?

Unfortunately, though, the House Oversight Committee apparently does want all of those things.

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Leftist Minneapolis Livestreamer Andrew Mercado Threatens Nick Shirley and Other Right-Wing Journalists, Says Their Security ‘Will Have to Earn Their Paycheck’

Leftist livestreamer and “citizen journalist” Andrew Mercado made direct threats against Nick Shirley, Cam Higby, and other right-wing journalists during his live broadcast in Minneapolis on Wednesday.

Mercado is on the ground covering the escalating tension in the city over the shooting of a woman who attempted to run down an ICE officer earlier in the day.

The leftist activist has nearly 90,000 YouTube followers.

Mercado’s Facebook profile reads, “Editor-In-Chief at Mercado Media. YouTube Partner. Meta Partner. US Army Veteran. Minnesotan.”

During his stream from Wednesday’s protest, Mercado is seen walking among a group of activists while ranting about his plans to target “right-wing propagandists.”

“I’m going to harass the f-ck out of right-wing propagandists… tracking where they’re at and then just literally following them with a feed… They’ll have security but that’s fine,” the activist streamer stated.

Mercado continued, “Security will have to earn their paycheck that day… We have to follow Nick Shirleys and Cam Higby around… They need to not be able to move without the entire country knowing where they are at.”

The portion of his livestream was clipped and posted to X, where it now has over 100,000 views.

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Pakistan sentences journalists, YouTubers and ex-military officers to life over inciting violence

A court in Pakistan’s capital sentenced seven people, including three journalists, two YouTubers and two retired army officers, to life imprisonment on Friday, after convicting them of inciting violence during riots in 2023 and spreading hatred against state institutions.

An anti-terrorism court judge, Tahir Abbas Sipra, announced the verdict in Islamabad after completing trials held in absentia.

None of the accused were present in court. They have been living abroad after leaving the country in recent years to avoid arrest.

Those convicted include former editor Shaheen Sehbai; two other journalists, Sabir Shakir and Moeed Pirzada; YouTubers Wajahat Saeed Khan and Haider Raza Mehdi; and retired army officers Adil Raja and Akbar Hussain.

According to the court order, the charges against the men stemmed from the violent unrest that erupted in May 2023 following the arrest of former Prime Minister Imran Khan in a graft case.

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The Legacy Media’s Long Knives Are Out for Nick Shirley

You knew this would happen. An independent journalist scoops the legacy media, and they go after him. It’s happened before, and it will happen again. Nick Shirley has made CNNCBSABCNBCNYT and all of the other leftist media look bad, and now they will try to make sure he pays.

Our own Eric Florack captured the essence of what Shirley accomplished just a few days ago: 

This is most likely the single biggest story ever covered by an independent journalist. In one video alone, Nick Shirley has exposed over $100 million in fraud. I suspect he’s merely scratched the surface on the story.
 
Keep in mind, this is right in the backyard of the big paper in Minneapolis, the Minnesota Star Tribune, a paper with far more in the way of resources to lean on than Mr. Shirley could ever hope to field. They can’t be bothered. Or perhaps they’re shielding us from something. As you can imagine (and I suspect some viewers can see) the video has had over 100 million views so far. You can imagine why. Nobody, including the Tribune, is covering the story well enough.

Eric is right. The legacy media couldn’t be bothered, that is, until Shirley’s discoveries spurred on more investigations in Minnesota and elsewhere, and a pattern has emerged. There is a ton of corruption in the Somali-American communities, and we’re paying for it, as PJ Media’s Victoria Taft revealed: 

In the state of Washington, one internet sleuth began going through the grants and found 539 Somali daycare centers. Some of these centers are in people’s homes. Many of these taxpayer-subsidized centers do not list an address.

So, how does the legacy media respond to all of this? Does it wake up and start covering the alleged fraud and corruption, or does it go after the journalistic whistleblower?   

Actually, those were just rhetorical questions. I know you know what they did. 

Here’s CNN confronting not the alleged scammers, but Shirley himself. 

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Palestine was the deadliest place to be a journalist in 2025: Media union

Palestine was the deadliest place to work as a journalist in 2025, with the Middle East as a whole the most dangerous region for media professionals, according to a global journalist union.

The International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) said the region accounted for 74 deaths last year – more than half of the 128 journalists and media workers killed – in a new report released on Wednesday.

The Middle East was followed by Africa with 18 deaths, Asia Pacific (15), the Americas (11) and Europe (10), according to the report. The vast majority of those killed were men, but the list included 10 women.

“128 journalists killed in a single year is not just a statistic; it is a global crisis. These deaths are a brutal reminder that journalists are being targeted with impunity, simply for doing their job,” IFJ General Secretary Anthony Bellanger said.

Palestinian journalists were the biggest cohort of victims: 56 Palestinian media professionals were killed in 2025. Yemen followed, with 13 deaths, Ukraine, with eight, and Sudan, with six, according to the IFJ.

The Paris-based media union cited Israel’s killing of Al Jazeera journalist Anas al-Sharif as the most “emblematic” of the 56 journalists murdered in Palestine last year covering Israel’s genocidal war on Gaza. Al-Sharif, 28, was killed on August 10 alongside several colleagues when Israeli forces struck a media tent outside Gaza City’s al-Shifa Hospital.

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Washington State Attorney General Nick Brown Appears to Threaten Journalists for Investigating Somali Fraud

As allegations of fraud in the form of Somali daycare centers is exploding, now across the country and not just in Minnesota, people on the left are rushing to defend the fraudsters.

In Washington State, Attorney General Nick Brown, put out a statement on Twitter/X that sounds like a threat to any independent journalists who might look into it.

Brown wrote:

My office has received outreach from members of the Somali community after reports of home-based daycare providers being harassed and accused of fraud with little to no fact-checking.

We are in touch with the state Department of Children, Youth, and Families regarding the claims being pushed online and the harassment reported by daycare providers.

Showing up on someone’s porch, threatening, or harassing them isn’t an investigation. Neither is filming minors who may be in the home. This is unsafe and potentially dangerous behavior. I encourage anyone experiencing threats or harassment to either contact local law enforcement or our office’s Hate Crimes & Bias Incident Hotline at 1-855-225-1010 or http://atg.wa.gov/report-hate.

If you think fraud is happening, there are appropriate measures to report and investigate. Go to DCYF’s website to learn more. And where fraud is substantiated and verified by law enforcement and regulatory agencies, people should be held accountable.

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