The Worst Information Outlet of the Week – Who Dominated in Dysfunctional Protection?
As the new year unfurls and we ease back into our usual cycle, the news has fired out of the gate, and as a result, the press is already into its dysfunctional overdrive. So with that, we get ourselves into overcaffeinated mode to play catch-up!
In just over a week, we have captured an authoritarian dictator, have a taxpayer fraud scheme stretching across the country into the untold billions of dollars, and then a shooting involving an ICE agent has every journalist firing off their outrage. There is a ton of stuff! So let’s tug on our brand new set of hip waders for the 2026 onslaught and wade through the swamp of news outlets this past week.
THE CONTENDERS
National Public Radio – Amusingly, the radio network had a segment where it was bothered that President Trump referred to Nicolás Maduro as a dictator; this is the same network that was comfortable with Democrats calling Trump a dictator. The outlet saw the evidence of fraud in Minnesota exposed by Nick Shirley, and it promptly investigated – Nick Shirley. Then, with its report criticising Nick’s journalism, NPR was forced to admit to numerous errors in its journalism. Media analyst Eric Deggans sees ominous fortunes ahead for all media…because of Trump.
Washington Post – The paper got the media complex abuzz with a report that Trump would not support Maria Corina Machado as the leader of Venezuela because of his resentment of her winning the Nobel Peace Prize. This, according to “two people close to the White House.” (Was it a bartender and waitress from the tavern down the block?!) WaPo delivered what it declared to be a definitive summation of the ICE shooting in Minneapolis. Then, after stating the agent had not been struck by the SUV, it had to revise things when a new video emerged showing he was struck — which the paper works to avoid admitting.
New York Times – The Times gave its own Zapruder-style analysis of the various videos of the Minneapolis ICE shooting. The paper said President Trump averred there was widespread childcare fraud in several states “without evidence”; it then affirmed there was fraud, within the very same sentence. The paper evaded covering the Mamdani official Cea Weaver and her history of communist comments, merely saying she was “facing criticism,” but not detailing her comments.
MS NOW – Jacob Soboroff tries to say Renee Good was just an innocent bystander and got caught up in ICE operations. When the new ICE agent video was released, Brandy Zadrozny was upset, wondering why the agent had been recording. During a protest of ICE in Minneapolis, Katie Tur threw to a reporter with a field interview of a demonstrator, in a Black Lives Matter hoodie, condemning ICE, and being critical of the president – and a graphic came up declaring this was a “Trump supporter.” Jen Psaki praised “citizen journalists” recording the ICE shooting, but had nothing to say about the new video showing the agent being struck by Good’s vehicle.
THE WINNER
PBS NEWS
The network announced that the defunding of public broadcasting last summer means it needed to cut its show PBS News Weekend, signing off for the last time.
Due to federal budget cuts, PBS News had to make the difficult decision to rework our staffing and programming.
This Sunday, our PBS News Weekend team will sign off the air. pic.twitter.com/pAREL6iUBV
— PBS News (@NewsHour) January 9, 2026
The network proceeded to provide examples of why ending things was a good idea.
On the first night after the shooting by an ICE agent, the news broadcast was deeply partisan, and attacks on the administration were prominent. During another night, they featured protests in Minneapolis, and the show platformed those saying ICE is a threat to democracy.
In a separate report on the shooting, concerning that new video of the confrontation, PBS stated the ICE agent had been “knocked backward,” and yet somehow he was “not hit.”
In coverage of the first anniversary of the Los Angeles wildfires, while some problems were highlighted, not a single Democrat politician leading things in the state was mentioned.
In a perplexing dose of deflection, the network brought on MS NOW correspondent Jacob Soboroff (who placed high on this year’s “Townhall 50” list of worst journalists in 2025), to sell his new book on the L.A. wildfires, casting blame on Trump – who was not in office when the flames erupted.
They gave a Toronto professor the platform to say January 6 ushered in “a phase of fascism” with this new administration.
David Brooks weighed in with his wise assessment of the Minnesota controversy: After saying he was not going to render judgment, he followed by saying, “Once people with guns and with power began acting like thugs, well, then things are going to spiral.”
Editor’s Note: The mainstream media continues to deflect, gaslight, spin, and lie about President Trump, his administration, and conservatives.
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