Tag: mainstream media

CNN’s Brian Stelter Thinks the Real Tragedy in Murder of Ukrainian Refugee Iryna Zarutska is the Racism of People Who Noticed it

Every time you think CNN can’t drop any lower, somehow, they manage to do it.

In the case of the brutal murder of Ukrainian refugee Iryna Zarutska, CNN’s Brian Stelter seems to think that the real tragedy in this situation is racism, specifically, the racism of Trump supporters for noticing this crime.

This is a new low for him, which is really saying something.

Transcript via Real Clear Politics:

BRIAN STELTER, CNN MEDIA ANALYST: Most murders in the U.S. never become national news. This one’s garnered attention for a couple of reasons. Number one, first and foremost, the recent release of that gruesome video.

Second, the energy from pro-Trump activists. They picked up on this video from local news and ran with it. It’s a little bit like the times when civil rights groups have raised attention about police-involved shootings.

In this case, it is Trump-aligned influencers who are posting up a storm about this case on social media. Really, over the weekend, Elon Musk, Charlie Kirk, other Trump-aligned figures succeeded in making this senseless death a symbol of big-city crime. We heard President Trump asked about it yesterday when he was heading home from New York City.

He didn’t seem to know much about it. He said he would get briefed. And then today, Trump did know all about it.

And that’s exactly what has happened here. This story has trickled up from local news to social media and now to the president’s attention. And it’s being used, as you said, Brianna, as a political symbol, with MAGA media calling for more forceful punishments and more incarceration.

I have to say, some of the replies to Musk, some of the comments around this story are baldly racist, stoking fear of African-Americans because this man attacked a white woman. The open racism on sites like X Today, it’s eye-popping. But there are also legitimate questions about this so-called career criminal, someone who had been a repeat offender.

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BBC Media Action: Britain’s overseas info warfare unit

Leaked documents reveal how a shadowy BBC unit is “embedding” staff in foreign media outlets to “contest the information space” and generate “behaviour change” in favor of London’s geopolitical objectives.

Though BBC Media Action (BBCMA) portrays itself as the “international charity” of the British state broadcaster, files show the group frequently carries out politically-charged projects overseas with government funding. Furthermore, the group consistently trades upon the BBC’s reputation and its intimate “links” with the British state broadcaster when pitching for contracts with donors, including the Foreign Office, which operates in tandem with MI6.

The leaks reveal that BBCMA’s work is explicitly “driven by a social and behaviour change communication approach.” The organization’s “project design” is informed by “psychology, social psychology, sociology, education and communication,” and consideration of “the specific factors that can be influenced by media and communication that could lead to changes in behaviours, social norms and systems” in foreign countries. Which is to say, BBCMA is concerned with psychological warfare, warping perceptions and driving action among target audiences.

“We recognise that different formats achieve different things when it comes to change… and consider audience needs, objectives and operational context when deciding which format to use,” BBCMA asserts in one file. In another, the organization crows, “people exposed to our programming are more likely to: have higher levels of knowledge on governance issues; to discuss politics more; to have higher internal efficacy (the feeling that they are able to do something); and participate frequently in politics.”

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Our Nation Failed Iryna

I try to play it down the middle and be a centrist most of the time—I really do. I can admit that it feels like conservatives have outrage over nearly everything nowadays, and it can feel excessive.

Every time conservatives blow up over something like Cracker Barrel making slight changes to its logo—an idea I’ll admit I’ve even written about—we risk becoming the very party that is outraged by everything. It’s the old adage in action: “when you point one finger forward, three point back at you.”

But even bearing that in mind, there are some situations that make me truly livid in a way a logo change at Cracker Barrel never could. What transpired over the last few days with the death of Iryna Zarutska, and the media’s astounding lack of coverage on it, is one such instance.

By now most people know the story. On August 22, 2025, 23-year-old Ukrainian refugee Iryna Zarutska was fatally stabbed on a Charlotte light rail train by 34-year-old Decarlos Brown Jr., a homeless man with a long criminal record including more than 10 arrests. She died at the scene, and the grotesque act was caught on surveillance video for the whole world to see.

Today, the story is more becoming about the media’s lack of coverage of the incident. No major mainstream media outlet reported on the horrific incident.

After a decade of lecturing the American public about injustice, an innocent woman dies as a direct result of progressive policy and all of a sudden, the “activists” in the media for some reason don’t have a single word to say about it.

The very party that is obsessed with immigration and the mainstream media machine that perpetuates their propaganda accordingly, somehow can’t muster up a coherent opinion about a migrant being senselessly murdered? Why could that be?

Where are all the “journalists” with the Ukrainian flags in their profiles? Where are all the women’s rights advocates screaming about how this is the patriarchy’s fault?

Where the f*ck is…well, everybody?

The fact that not a single major news outlet covered this gruesome murder—with the exception of Axios, which ran a piece that instead focused on surveillance cameras instead of the crime itself—is outrageous.

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Censorship Concerns Surge As China Yanks Video Of Xi–Putin Organ Transplant Discussion

China’s state-owned broadcaster has rescinded international wire agency access to a hot mic video of Chinese and Russian leaders discussing longevity and organ transplants, an effort that shows the Chinese regime’s fear of attention on the topic, critics say.

The open mic exchange between Russian President Vladimir Putin and Chinese leader Xi Jinping took place in Beijing on Sept. 3, as the two leaders walked together ahead of a military parade commemorating World War II.

Xi at the parade told Putin that “these days at 70 you are still a child,” prompting Putin to remark that continued organ transplants could allow one to live younger and even reach immortality. Xi in response said that it is predicted that there’s a chance of humans living to 150 years old.

The conversation became global news and sparked discussions about the Chinese regime’s state-sanctioned forced organ harvesting, a taboo topic in China. CCTV has since taken down the livestream video that captured the exchange and removed the moment from replays.

CCTV also sent a letter through its lawyer to Reuters—which licensed the video through CCTV and edited it into a four-minute clip—requesting the news agency to remove the footage on the grounds that the clips Reuters published exceeded the agreed-upon scope.

CCTV lawyer He Danning claimed Reuters’ “editorial treatment applied to this material has resulted in a clear misrepresentation of the facts and statements contained within the licensed feed.”

Reuters withdrew the video and issued a “kill” notice to its clients on Sept. 5. The agency said it had earlier distributed the clip to more than 1,000 media clients around the world, including major international news broadcasters and TV stations.

In a statement, Reuters said it was removing the content because it no longer has the legal permission to publish this copyrighted material.

“We stand by the accuracy of what we published. We have carefully reviewed the published footage, and we have found no reason to believe Reuters longstanding commitment to accurate, unbiased journalism has been compromised,” Reuters stated.

According to the London-based China Tribunal, forced organ harvesting has taken place in China for years “on a significant scale,” and practitioners of the Falun Gong spiritual group are the primary victims. It said that persecuted religious minorities including Uyghurs are also potential targets. Since 1999, millions of Falun Gong practitioners have been incarcerated in prisons, labor camps, and other facilities, with hundreds of thousands tortured and untold numbers persecuted to death, according to the Falun Dafa Information Center.

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Undersea Cable Cuts Kill Internet To Parts Of Asia, Mideast

Undersea internet cables in the Red Sea have been cut, disrupting internet access to parts of Asia and the Middle East. The cause of the cuts weren’t immediately clear, though China does have a shiny new deep-sea cable cutter (which we’re sure a bunch of countries have too). 

Associated Press (via NBC) seems to think (‘there has been concern’) that Houthi rebels from Yemen have been targeting the cables, which sounds absurd – though parts of the red sea are only as deep at 100m (330 ft). 

While the Houthis might not have submarines, undersea robots, or the ability to hit the deepest parts of the Red Sea, it’s possible to inflict damage on subsea cables without the backing of a major navy.

In March 2013, three divers were arrested by the Egyptian Navy off the coast of Alexandria after cutting the SeaMeWe-4 cable by detonating underwater explosives. Internet speeds reportedly fell around 60 percent after the incident. A motive wasn’t revealed and it’s unclear if they were charged and/or sentenced for the damage.

In 2007, it was reported that police had seized more than 500km of telecom cable taken by fishing vessels to sell for scrap – including an 11km segment identified as belonging to the SeaMeWe-3 cable. –Data Center Dynamics

So, who knows – but AP (deep state) spends considerable ink on the Houthis 

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The Betrayal of Palestinian Journalists

There are two types of war correspondents. The first type does not attend press conferences. They do not beg generals and politicians for interviews. They take risks to report from combat zones. They send back to their viewers or readers what they see, which is almost always diametrically opposed to official narratives. This first type, in every war, is a tiny minority.

Then there is the second type, the inchoate blob of self-identified war correspondents who play at war. Despite what they tell editors and the public, they have no intention of putting themselves in danger. They are pleased with the Israeli ban on foreign reporters into Gaza. They plead with officials for background briefings and press conferences. They collaborate with their government minders who impose restrictions and rules that keep them out of combat. They slavishly disseminate whatever they are fed by officials, much of which is a lie, and pretend it is news. They join little jaunts arranged by the military — dog and pony shows — where they get to dress up and play soldier and visit outposts where everything is controlled and choreographed.

The mortal enemy of these poseurs are the real war reporters, in this case, Palestinian journalists in Gaza. These reporters expose them as toadies and sycophants, discrediting nearly everything they disseminate. For this reason, the poseurs never pass up a chance to question the veracity and motives of those in the field. I watched these snakes do this repeatedly to my colleague Robert Fisk.

When war reporter Ben Anderson arrived at the hotel where journalists covering the war in Liberia were encamped — in his words getting “drunk” at bars “on expenses,” having affairs and exchanging “information rather than actually going out and getting information” — his image of war reporters took a huge hit.

“I thought, finally, I’m amongst my heroes,” Anderson recalls. “This is where I’ve wanted to be for years. And then me and the cameraman I was with — who knew the rebels very well — he took us out for about three weeks with the rebels. We came back to Monrovia. The guys in the hotel bar said, ‘Where have you been? We thought you’d gone home.’ We said, ‘We went out to cover the war. Isn’t that our job? Isn’t that what you’re supposed to do?’”

“The romantic view I had of foreign correspondents was suddenly destroyed in Liberia,” he went on. “I thought, actually, a lot of these guys are full of shit. They’re not even willing to leave the hotel, let alone leave the safety of the capital and actually do some reporting.”

You can see an interview I did with Anderson here.

This dividing line, which occurred in every war I covered, defines the reporting on the genocide in Gaza. It is not a divide of professionalism or culture. Palestinian reporters expose Israeli atrocities and implode Israeli lies. The rest of the press does not.

Palestinian journalists, targeted and assassinated by Israel, pay — as many great war correspondents do — with their lives, although in far greater numbers. Israel has murdered 245 journalists in Gaza by one count and more than 273 by another. The goal is to shroud the genocide in darkness. No war I covered comes close to these numbers of dead. Since Oct. 7, Israel has killed more journalists “than the U.S. Civil War, World Wars I and II, the Korean War, the Vietnam War (including the conflicts in Cambodia and Laos), the wars in Yugoslavia in the 1990s and 2000s, and the post-9/11 war in Afghanistan, combined.” Journalists in Palestine leave wills and recorded videos to be read or played at their death.

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Politico Is Doing Insurance Companies’ Bidding, And It’s Obvious Why

n February, I analyzed how Politico functions as a glorified patronage racket, whereby “reporters serve as a publicity rag for K Street and get paid handsomely for doing so.” Six months later, another such article serves as Example No. 8,579 (or thereabouts) of this swamp machine in action.

In this particular case, Politico published an advertisement — I mean, article — about a potential extension of Obamacare’s enhanced insurance subsidies, which expire at the end of the year. That story ignored sizable evidence of fraud associated with the subsidies, while including not a single quote from a critic or skeptic of such an extension. It looks like a not-too-subtle attempt from Politico to cheerlead for the insurance industry — i.e., its corporate subscribers.

Big Signs of Fraud

The article focused largely on Florida and highlighted that state’s sizable enrollment in Exchange coverage, particularly for households claiming very low incomes, which qualify for the biggest subsidies: 

Florida is one of 10 states that have not expanded Medicaid, so it’s more difficult for some low-income residents to qualify for the government health insurance program. The enhanced subsidies ensure that people who would be eligible under an expansion — those making just above the federal poverty level, with incomes between about $15,600 and $21,600 — can get Obamacare coverage, typically with no premiums. Two-thirds of the 4.6 million Floridians on Obamacare plans are in this gap…

But there’s one big fact Politico omitted: According to one study, while there are nearly 3.1 million Obamacare enrollees claiming income just above poverty in Florida, estimates derived from the Census Bureau suggest that only about 630,000 households actually have incomes in that range. (Disclosure: While I have done work for the Paragon Health Institute, which published the study in question, I had no involvement with this particular report and am writing this article on my own behalf.)

In other words, by one organization’s estimate, more than 2.4 million enrollees — over half of Florida’s total Exchange enrollment — are potentially fraudulent. These individuals may have overstated their income because households with income below the poverty level don’t qualify for subsidies at all, or conversely, they may have understated their income if they make two or three times the poverty level, so they can qualify for bigger subsidies. Alternatively, people could have been enrolled in “free” coverage without their knowledge by insurance brokers seeking commissions, an offense one Florida-based insurance executive pleaded guilty to this April.

Yet Politico mentioned none of this. It advertised the total enrollment in the Florida Exchange, and the billions of dollars in enhanced subsidies that went to Florida, without noting either the significant questions about enrollment discrepancies in Florida’s Exchange population or the fraud — totaling $133.9 million, according to the Justice Department — that one Florida-based individual has already admitted to.

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Liberal media accused of covering up Ukrainian girl’s brutal murder in Dem-led city as video explodes online 

Horrific footage of a career criminal stabbing a Ukrainian refugee from behind on a North Carolina train has prompted a national uproar – but you won’t find it on any liberal media websites. 

Recently surfaced surveillance footage shows the suspect, whom police have named as Decarlos Brown Jr., 35, killing Iryna Zarutska, 23, on board a South End light rail train in Charlotte on August 22. 

The crazed attacker can be seen lunging at Zarutska from behind, before the footage skips the graphic slaughter to show him carrying a knife dripping with blood as he walked through the train carriage and another passenger sprinted away.

Zarutska came to the US for safety after fleeing Russian President Vladimir Putin‘s ongoing invasion of her home country, and the shocking video of her final moments exploded online. 

People took to social media to share their sadness that she was not protected by the state of North Carolina or the liberal city of Charlotte, where Brown had allegedly been arrested more than 14 times previously but remained on the streets. 

However, the shocking story is notably absent from US liberal media sites, including The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, the Associated Press and CNN. 

The Daily Mail has contacted the outlets for clarification on the reasoning behind their editorial judgment. 

Democrat Mayor of Charlotte Vi Lyles suggested that some publishers chose not to share the footage ‘out of respect for Iryna’s family’ – but the police force she is in charge of made the video public first of all. 

The Daily Mail has contacted Lyles’s office for more information. 

In her statement, she said: ‘The video of the heartbreaking attack that took Iryna Zarutska’s life is now public. 

‘I want to thank our media partners and community members who have chosen not to repost or share the footage out of respect for Iryna’s family. 

‘This was a senseless and tragic loss. My prayers remain with her loved ones as they continue to grieve through an unimaginable time. 

‘Like so many of you, I’m heartbroken — and I’ve been thinking hard about what safety really looks like in our city. 

‘I remain committed to doing all we can to protect our residents and ensure Charlotte is a place where everyone feels safe.’

But people on social media lambasted the liberal media for the lack of coverage, with many speculating that the outlets did not want to write about the killing for racial reasons. 

Elon Musk highlighted the lack of coverage by re-sharing one post counting how many articles each outlet had written about the stabbing, with the comment: ‘Zero’.  

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More Coverage of Gaza Starvation Did Not Necessarily Mean Deeper Coverage

International human rights organizations have pleaded with governments to oppose Israel’s blockade of aid into Gaza for the better part of the past year. But it wasn’t until late July, when dramatic images of emaciated children circulated widely, that corporate media and establishment politicians finally took notice. After 21 months of relentless bombing and even more decades of occupation, the news cycle gave extended attention to Palestinian starvation (FAIR.org, 7/29/25).

Quantity, however, does not always equal quality. To see if the content of reporting on the engineered Gaza famine matches the seriousness of the situation, FAIR surveyed coverage from nine different news outlets (New York Times, ABC, NBC, CNN, PBS, BBC, NPR, Time and Politico) during the week after the initial proliferation of reportage (7/24–31/25) to assess how or whether they discussed the full scope of the crisis.

Apart from the acute, potentially fatal consequences of starvation, malnutrition comes with permanent, long-term side effects that could affect the population for generations. Though increased coverage pushed the immediate issue into the limelight, we found that media did not consistently report on the stakes and long-lasting impacts of starvation on Palestinians’ health.

The New York Times’ infamous addition of an “editor’s note,” explaining that a Gazan child depicted in a report as facing starvation should be re-interpreted as suffering from “pre-existing” conditions, highlighted the need for honest journalistic assessments of starvation’s impacts, as well as its causes.

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DHS Wrecks NYT for Puff Piece on Deported Murderer: ‘When Will They Finally Shed Light on Their Victims?’

The Department of Homeland Security criticized The New York Times this week for writing a “sob story” about the plight of a deported murderer, and asked when the newspaper would start covering the victims of such horrendous crimes.

“The New York Times ran a sob story of Orville Etoria, an illegal alien from Jamaica and a convicted MURDERER,” the DHS news release began. “In addition to murder, this serial criminal’s rap sheet includes criminal possession of a weapon, armed robbery, and forcible theft with a deadly weapon.”

“Following his criminal convictions, Etoria’s green card was revoked,” the statement continued. “Etoria was issued a final order of removal by an immigration judge in 2009. Sixteen years later, this dangerous individual is finally off our streets and out of the country thanks to President Trump and Secretary Noem. On July 17, he was deported.”

A DHS representative quoted in the release asked, “Why does the New York Times continue to peddle sob stories of criminal illegal aliens? When will they finally shed light on their victims?”

“Every single day President Trump and Secretary Noem fight for justice for American victims of illegal alien crime and nearly every single day the media ignores these victims and their families.”

The Times article published Tuesday, co-authored by reporters in Washington and South Africa, tried to paint Etoria as a model citizen who’d turned his life around. It claimed he pursued academic degrees while in prison and got a job at a shelter after being granted parole.

While serving a 25-year sentence for murder, Etoria was ordered deported by an immigration judge, the article reported. However, after his release in 2021, he was allowed to stay in the United States by the illegal immigrant-friendly Biden administration.

The article claimed Etoria had become a “target” of President Donald Trump’s crackdown on illegal immigration. The authors lamented how he wasn’t given access to an attorney after being deported to the southern African nation of Eswatini (a landlocked country formerly known as Swaziland).

It quoted Etoria’s aunt speaking about how “inhumane” his treatment was. Yet there were no quotes from the families of his victims. Why not?

The newspaper couldn’t completely ignore Etoria’s violent past, however, and was forced to finally list his litany of violent behavior. But most of it discussed was near the end of the piece.

In addition to “fatally shooting a man in the head in Brooklyn in 1996” and being convicted of murder, the article reported, Etoria “has a history of drug abuse, which he has blamed in part on head injuries he suffered as a child. He was also diagnosed with schizophrenia. Doctors noted that he has exhibited violent outbursts, hallucinations and paranoia, according to court records.”

If that wasn’t enough, he was reportedly “arrested in 1981 on charges of attempted murder, robbery and kidnapping,” according to the report.

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