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As today’s newsletter details, formerly trustworthy news outlets are cozying up to the Trump administration and eagerly pushing inaccurate right-wing narratives.
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The devolution of CBS News
A network once revered for fact-based reporting is embracing right-wing pseudo-journalism
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From the pioneering broadcasts of Edward R. Murrow to Walter Cronkite’s trusted voice and Ed Bradley’s impactful reporting, CBS News earned a reputation as one of America’s most trusted news sources. Its flagship program, 60 Minutes, became synonymous with fearless, truth-telling journalism.
More recently, however, things have taken a turn.
In July, CBS News’ parent company, Paramount, paid $16 million to settle a frivolous lawsuit filed by President Trump. In September, CBS News hired a Trump loyalist to serve as its new ombudsman, charged with reviewing news coverage for “bias.”
The most dramatic move came Monday, when Paramount announced that it would hire former New York Times opinion columnist and anti-woke crusader Bari Weiss to be the new editor-in-chief of CBS News. She has no experience in broadcast news. Weiss departed the New York Times in 2020, writing in her resignation letter that the publication had become too left-wing and that she faced harassment for having “centrist” views.
In 2021, Weiss founded The Free Press, a publication that is purportedly committed to “honesty, doggedness, and fierce independence.” In a 2023 column, Weiss suggested the progressive movement “demonizes hard work, merit, family, and the dignity of the individual.” In 2024, Weiss claimed that the “political left… makes war on our common history, our common identity as Americans, and fundamentally, on the goodness of the American project.”
Along with hiring Weiss, Paramount purchased The Free Press for a reported $150 million.
In her initial note to CBS News staff, Weiss said that she was committed to producing journalism that was “fair,” “factual,” and “tell[s] the truth plainly.” A Popular Information review of The Free Press’ work, however, reveals that the publication repeatedly distorted the truth to conform to its right-wing ideological agenda.
Falsely accusing UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer of covering up child sex trafficking
In a January 2025 article published by The Free Press, writer Dominic Green accuses UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer of participating in a cover-up of the “grooming and serial rape of thousands of English girls.” The accusation, as Green notes, was popularized by Elon Musk on X. Musk alleged that Starmer ignored the crimes because the perpetrators were Muslim. This fits into The Free Press’ preferred narrative that “political correctness” has run amok.
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The Free Press article praises Musk for highlighting the issue and echoes his allegations. Green suggests that Starmer, who was director of the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) from 2008 to 2013, sought to minimize the issue because the “majority of their crimes were committed in cities with a Labour Party–controlled council and a Labour Party MP who needed Muslim votes.”
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Green accuses Starmer of “complicity,” saying that as CPS director, he “failed” to bring “major cases to court.” As a result, England is “shamed before the world.” Underneath a picture of Starmer, The Free Press writes that he has “come under fire for his role in an alleged cover-up of a serial rape scandal.”
While the crimes against English girls are real, the allegations against Starmer levied in The Free Press are baseless. As CPS director, Starmer did not cover up the crimes against English girls — he successfully prosecuted them.
Three days before The Free Press article was published, the Financial Times reported that Starmer “began the prosecutions of the Rochdale grooming gang during his final year in post, shortly after the scandal in the Greater Manchester town became the first to come to light.” Further, “Starmer launched an overhaul of the way the CPS investigates sexual abuse to ensure more perpetrators are brought to justice. The reforms also paved the way for historic cases to be reviewed.”
Starmer’s work is praised in a 2013 parliamentary report, highlighted by The Banter, produced by a Conservative government:
We would also like to commend the work of the Director for Public Prosecuti