Some of the country&#8217;s biggest liberal foundations are behind a plan to inject climate hysteria into newsrooms across the country by encouraging journalists in all fields to employ left-wing tactics and talking points when reporting on climate change.
The Climate Blueprint for Media Transformation was born out of a 2023 climate conference sponsored by the Solutions Journalism Network and Covering Climate Now. The Solutions Journalism Network is funded by a who&#8217;s-who of left-wing foundations, including the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative, the Ford Foundation, the Bill &amp; Melinda Gates Foundation, and the Hewlett Foundation. The Gates Foundation has been instrumental in the <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/whos-really-behind-the-war-on-meat-how-bill-gates-is-quietly-transforming-americas-food-industry-from-within">war on meat</a>, while the Hewlett Foundation has a track record of working to influence <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/the-associated-press-once-viewed-as-neutral-works-with-pro-left-foundations">reporters</a>.
Their influence can be seen in the Climate Blueprint, a 14-part guide for how journalists should cover climate change. Each section of the document is written by a different journalist or activist, and covers subjects ranging from &#8220;Community Engagement&#8221; to &#8220;Climate Justice.&#8221;
<a href="https://climateblueprint.org/">The Climate Blueprint</a> opens with a section called &#8220;The Everything Story,&#8221; in which Covering Climate Now deputy director Andrew McCormick <a href="https://climateblueprint.org/article/the-everything-story/">encourages</a> journalists to &#8220;take bold action&#8221; and make stories on &#8220;every beat,&#8221; including crime and sports, about climate change.
Covering Climate Now co-founder Kyle Pope echoed his colleague&#8217;s advice in the Columbia Journalism Review <a href="https://www.cjr.org/covering_climate_now/questions-climate-journalism-climate-blueprint-media-transformation.php" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Monday,</a> complaining that the Kardashian family received more coverage than rising ocean temperatures. Pope also claimed that climate change has begun to be covered only “very recently,&#8221; and urged journalists to step up and “tell the most important story on Earth.”
In the Blueprint&#8217;s <a href="https://climateblueprint.org/article/community-engagement/">section</a>, on &#8220;Community Engagement,&#8221; &#8220;India Currents&#8221; audience engagement editor Prachi Singh says that &#8220;reporters need to shift from chasing deadlines to meaningfully connecting&#8221; with &#8220;women, people of color, Indigenous peoples, the LGBTQIA+ community,&#8221; and other groups Singh says are more affected by the &#8220;climate crisis.&#8221;
Investigative reporter Amy Westervelt <a href="https://climateblueprint.org/article/myths-and-disinformation/">explicitly urges</a> journalists to paint anyone involved with the fossil fuel industry as a villain, urging reporters to find universities that take money from energy companies and build relationships with &#8220;one professor who doesn’t particularly like the arrangement,&#8221; presumably to have him criticize his employer.
On the flip side, Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Jennifer Oldham <a href="https://climateblueprint.org/article/the-movement-is-the-story/">encourages</a> reporters to &#8220;put in the time to gain activists’ trust,&#8221; noting that &#8220;validation is paramount&#8221; and offering tips for reporters to &#8220;best cover climate campaigns in order to give them the weight they deserve.&#8221;
One such tip: &#8220;Be intentional with your language.&#8221;
&#8220;Do you call an event a &#8216;demonstration; or a &#8216;riot&#8217;?&#8221; Oldham asks. &#8220;Words matter. Calling an encounter a &#8216;violent clash with police&#8217; criminalizes demonstrators without offering a comparable criticism of law enforcement’s actions.&#8221;
The Climate Blueprint may call for reporters to go all-in on the climate crisis. But it also notes that doing so could be traumatic for journalists.
“Leadership at the publication has taken thoughtful steps to lighten the workload in summer, when heat-driven extreme weather — from wildfires to hurricanes — worsens,” Yessenia Funes, &#8220;a New York-based queer Latina journalist,&#8221; writes in the <a href="https://climateblueprint.org/article/mental-health-and-climate-trauma/">Blueprint</a>. “By getting ahead on stories during the lull of winter and spring, the team isn’t overwhelmed by the onslaught of tragedy after summer tragedy.”
“Ultimately, climate and environmental reporters can’t carry this burden alone,” Funes adds. “It is incumbent on the industry to take the time to build resources professionals urgently need — including access to high-quality health care and flexible work schedules that give journalists the time they need to pause and reflect on the stories they’re responsible for sharing and the emotions they’re silently carrying.”
The push to inject more hysteria into reporting comes amid mounting evidence that the warnings about the climate crisis have been overblown. The Washington Post this month <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/climate-environment/2024/09/19/earth-temperature-global-warming-planet/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">published</a> a chart showing the Earth’s current mean surface temperature is actually around the lowest it has been in the past 485 million years.
This year also marks the deadline for the Pentagon&#8217;s 2004 <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2004/feb/22/usnews.theobserver" target="_blank" rel="noopener">predictions</a> in a report to President George W. Bush that in 20 years, climate change would wreak havoc on the world, turning Great Britain &#8220;Siberian&#8221; and leading to nuclear conflict, drought, and famine.
None of those predictions have come to pass.

Climate Protest

Bill Gates and Other Liberal Mega-Donors Fund Plan To Inject Climate Hysteria Into Newsrooms

Major Liberal Groups Funding Project To Inject More Climate Change Hysteria Into Journalism

Climate Change

Journalism

Media Bias

U.S.

The Kamala Harris campaign reportedly blocked reporters from speaking to voters at an event on Monday featuring Democratic governors Gretchen Whitmer of Michigan and Josh Shapiro of Pennsylvania.
“Harris campaign is blocking reporters from talking to voters outside the press pen here at Whitmer/Shapiro event in Montgomery County, Pennsylvania,” AP reporter Steve Peoples noted on X.
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Harris campaign is blocking reporters from talking to voters outside the press pen here at Whitmer/Shapiro event in Montgomery County, Pennsylvania.
&mdash; Steve Peoples (@sppeoples) <a href="https://twitter.com/sppeoples/status/1818007645825155288?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">July 29, 2024</a></blockquote>
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“I can attest this is true. Happened to me here too. Lame,” Washington Post reporter Maeve Reston, who went clothes-shopping with Harris during the presidential campaign in 2019, confirmed.
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I can attest this is true. Happened to me here too. Lame. <a href="https://t.co/98iTQA8n5f">https://t.co/98iTQA8n5f</a>
&mdash; Maeve Reston (@MaeveReston) <a href="https://twitter.com/MaeveReston/status/1818018452227150089?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">July 29, 2024</a></blockquote>
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In 2019, Reston gleefully tweeted, “We kind of forced @kamalaharris to try on this awesome oversized rainbow sequin jacket &#8230; She snapped it up. @alivitali perfectly named it as ‘the Mardi Gras Jacket.’”
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We kind of forced <a href="https://twitter.com/KamalaHarris?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@kamalaharris</a> to try on this awesome oversized rainbow sequin jacket &#8230; She snapped it up. <a href="https://twitter.com/alivitali?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@alivitali</a> perfectly named it as “the Mardi Gras Jacket” #2020 <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/SouthCarolina?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#SouthCarolina</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/CampaignFashionReport?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#CampaignFashionReport</a> <a href="https://t.co/2G0NFRkKL6">pic.twitter.com/2G0NFRkKL6</a>
&mdash; Maeve Reston (@MaeveReston) <a href="https://twitter.com/MaeveReston/status/1096806779030290433?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">February 16, 2019</a></blockquote>
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“Cuz that’s what unbiased media does; go shopping with presidential candidates,” one social media user <a href="https://twitter.com/colonelpowpow/status/1096843293873397760" target="_blank" rel="noopener">noted</a>.
Harris has had her own issues with the First Amendment; when she was California Attorney General, followed by Xavier Becerra, she enforced a policy implemented by Democratic Governor Jerry Brown to demand nonprofit organizations disclose their donors to the state attorney general. “Under Harris and Becerra, the California attorney general’s office was callous with the security of this sensitive information. The trial (Americans for Prosperity Foundation v. Becerra) disclosed extensive evidence that the California AG’s office &#8216;systematically failed to maintain the confidentiality&#8217; of donor lists,” National Review <a href="https://www.nationalreview.com/2021/03/guess-who-just-admitted-harris-and-becerra-violated-the-first-amendment/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">reported</a>.
Harris has a reputation as a woman who is difficult to work for. “Those who have worked for her over the past decade report that she was a tyrannical boss who terrified her employees, cursed, discouraged direct eye contact and made employees stand at attention when she entered a room,” The Washington Times <a href="https://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2024/jul/29/kamala-harris-employees-flee-in-droves-ex-staff-ci/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">pointed out</a>, adding, “In a new report by the watchdog group Open the Books, researchers quantified her human resources problem. They discovered a 92% staff turnover through payroll records.”
“Taxpayers can draw their own conclusions about Harris’ management or leadership style, but what we found corroborates comments from former staffers that the vice president is difficult to work for,” OpenTheBooks CEO Adam Andrzejewski said.
Harris is not only difficult to work for but also often inarticulate. As The Economist <a href="https://www.economist.com/united-states/2024/07/22/kamala-harris-lacks-charisma-and-time?utm_medium=cpc.adword.pd&amp;utm_source=google&amp;ppccampaignID=18200423674&amp;ppcadID=149194366064&amp;ppcgclID=CjwKCAjwnqK1BhBvEiwAi7o0X9L3P2y6PxPeu-71bTP9g_zaRJ1PG3_sObHcSSdEbCTgULvSKhNzIhoCORQQAvD_BwE&amp;gad_source=1&amp;gbraid=0AAAAADf4AbYAG2ySsDZtLC9OArNLfrv7d&amp;gclid=CjwKCAjwnqK1BhBvEiwAi7o0X9L3P2y6PxPeu-71bTP9g_zaRJ1PG3_sObHcSSdEbCTgULvSKhNzIhoCORQQAvD_BwE&amp;gclsrc=aw.ds" target="_blank" rel="noopener">acknowledged</a>, “Ms. Harris struggles as an extemporaneous speaker, one of the core competencies of political life. Even maths (sic) teachers might understand why she is mocked for her enthusiastic riffs about Venn diagrams.”

Vice President Kamala Harris Delivers A Keynote At The American Federation of Teachers’ 88th National Convention In Houston

Harris Campaign Blocks Reporters From Speaking To Voters

Elections

Kamala Harris

Politics

Reporters

Voters

Daily Wire reporter Megan Basham was presented with the 2024 Boniface Award from the Association of Classical Christian Schools (ACCS) last weekend for her “fearless and faithful journalism.” 
Basham, a regular fixture on The Daily Wire’s “Morning Wire” podcast, was honored with the award just weeks before her explosive new book “<a href="https://www.amazon.com/Shepherds-Sale-Evangelical-Leaders-Leftist-ebook/dp/B0CRQGNLMY">Shepherds for Sale: How Evangelical Leaders Traded the Truth for a Leftist Agenda</a>” gets released on July 30. The book is already the #1 New Release in the “Christian Ministry” category on Amazon.  
The Daily Wire reporter received the Boniface Award at the 2024 Repairing the Ruins conference in Atlanta.
“Few things are more encouraging than the work of the Association of Classical Christian Schools, which is engaged in the best kind of troublemaking. The same kind of troublemaking Nehemiah was engaged in—rebuilding a culture that honors the transcendent, permanent things. And to be the recipient of the same award as Rosaria Butterfield, Voddie Baucham, Al Mohler, ADF President Michael Farris, and Doug Wilson is an honor I hardly feel deserving of, but am incredibly grateful for,” Basham wrote on X.  
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Few things are more encouraging than the work of the Association of Classical Christian Schools, which is engaged in the best kind of troublemaking. The same kind of troublemaking Nehemiah was engaged in—rebuilding a culture that honors the transcendent, permanent things. And to… <a href="https://t.co/CO0uuRwstw">https://t.co/CO0uuRwstw</a>
— Megan Basham (@megbasham) <a href="https://twitter.com/megbasham/status/1804345464667443687?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">June 22, 2024</a></blockquote>
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The ACCS is “the primary public advocate for classical Christian education.” The organization presents the Boniface Award to “a public figure who has stood faithfully for Christian truth, beauty, and goodness with grace.” 
“Like St. Boniface, recipients chose to publicly speak or act on a matter that could cost them personally. The award is presented at our annual ACCS conference, Repairing the Ruins, in June of each year,” ACCS says on its <a href="https://classicalchristian.org/the-boniface-award/">website</a>. “To be nominated, the recipient will have, on one or more specific occasions, taken a stand for the Christian viewpoint, even in the face of negative public opinion. And, the recipient engaged in this action without bitterness and in a godly and grace-filled way.”
Basham has made a name for herself among Evangelicals for exposing the Left-ward drift among pastors and leaders in traditionally conservative Christian circles, such as the Southern Baptist Convention. From her <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/christianity-today-staff-made-extensive-campaign-donations-between-2015-and-2022-all-went-to-democrats">reporting</a> on Christianity Today’s staff donating extensively to Democrats to <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/how-church-leaders-aligned-with-fauci-to-discredit-experts-opposed-to-covid-mandates">revealing</a> how church leaders aligned themselves with Dr. Anthony Fauci during the COVID pandemic, conservative Christians have come to trust Basham’s straightforward writing.
Basham’s newest book focuses on how powerful leftists have influenced the American church. “Shepherds for Sale” is <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Shepherds-Sale-Evangelical-Leaders-Leftist-ebook/dp/B0CRQGNLMY">available for pre-order</a> now on Amazon.

Megan Basham

Daily Wire Reporter Megan Basham Wins Christian Award For ‘Fearless And Faithful’ Journalism

Christianity

The Daily Wire

Independent journalist James O&#8217;Keefe teased a upcoming report on Sunday, warning that he had undercover video exposing Disney.
O&#8217;Keefe made the announcement at a Turning Point USA event, warning people everywhere that they should be careful lest they find themselves the subject of one of his undercover videos and promising to release what he referred to as &#8220;The Disney Tapes&#8221; sometime in the next week.
&#8220;The Disney Tapes,&#8221; he captioned the video clip. &#8220;6.20.24. Stay tuned.&#8221;
WATCH:
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The Disney Tapes.
6.20.24
Stay tuned 👀 <a href="https://t.co/nI965MYu4i">pic.twitter.com/nI965MYu4i</a>
— James O&#8217;Keefe (@JamesOKeefeIII) <a href="https://twitter.com/JamesOKeefeIII/status/1802422850424332555?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">June 16, 2024</a></blockquote>
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&#8220;The next time someone is stealing, scamming, defrauding, or simply lying, they might be sitting across from someone that works for me,&#8221; O&#8217;Keefe warned. &#8220;And stay tuned, because next week, we&#8217;re going after Disney.&#8221;
The crowd cheered and got to their feet, and after a few seconds, began to chant, &#8220;USA! USA!&#8221;
&#8220;That&#8217;s right, USA,&#8221; O&#8217;Keefe replied.
Disney previously landed in the hot seat after Christopher Rufo went public with internal videos exposing the company&#8217;s &#8220;<a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/not-at-all-secret-gay-agenda-disney-employees-break-down-adding-queerness-to-shows-and-degenderizing-theme-parks" target="_blank" rel="noopener">not at all secret gay agenda</a>&#8221; and intentional efforts to infuse young children&#8217;s content with LGBTQ themes and characters.
&#8220;Our leadership over there has been so welcoming to like, my like, not-at-all secret gay agenda,&#8221; Disney executive producer Latoya Raveanu said in reference to the team that worked on &#8220;The Proud Family&#8221; animated children&#8217;s series.
&#8220;I felt like &#8230; maybe it was that way in the past, but I guess, like, something must have happened,&#8221; she added, in response to critics who allege the company was not-so-LGBT-friendly. &#8220;They’re turning it around, and then all that momentum that I felt, that sense of ‘I don’t have to be afraid, let’s have these two characters kiss in the background … wherever I could, I was basically adding queerness to the show, if you see anything queer in the show, ‘The Proud Family,’ nobody would stop me and nobody was trying to stop me.&#8221;

American Conservative Union Holds Annual CPAC Conference In Orlando

James O’Keefe Teases New Undercover Report: ‘The Disney Tapes’

James O'Keefe Teases New Undercover Report: 'The Disney Tapes'

Disney

James O'Keefe

Three of the four Israeli hostages who were rescued of Saturday were found in the home of a Gaza-based journalist who had previously written for Al Jazeera.
The hostages, who were captured by Hamas terrorists during the brutal and unprovoked attacks of October 7, were <a href="https://nypost.com/2024/06/09/world-news/gaza-journalist-held-3-hostages-in-his-home-with-his-family-israeli-military-says/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">discovered</a> inside the home of Abdallah Aljamal. Aljamal had written for Al Jazeera as recently as 2019 — although the outlet has said that he was never an employee — and had since been writing for The Palestine Chronicle and serving as spokesman for Gaza&#8217;s Hamas-controlled labor ministry.
An initial report from Ramy Abdu — founder and chairman of the Euro-Mediterranean Human Rights Monitor — claimed that Israeli soldiers had raided Aljamal&#8217;s home and killed him along with several members of his family.
Israel has confirmed that Aljamal was killed in the Saturday special forces raid that rescued hostages Almog Meir Jan, 21, Andri Kozlov, 27, and Shlomi Ziv, 41 — but made no mention of his family.
&#8220;This is further proof that the Hamas terrorist organization uses the civilian population as a human shield,&#8221; the Israel Defense Forces said in a statement after special forces rescued the hostages from Aljamal&#8217;s home in Nuseirat — which was located near a refugee camp.
The fourth hostage who was rescued during Saturday&#8217;s operations was 26-year-old Noa Argamani, who recounted several instances during her eight months in captivity when she believed she was going to die.
When she first arrived in Gaza, after being snatched off the street at the Nova music festival, she said that she expected to be lynched. Sometime later, she recounted seeing a missile land in the house where she was being held.
&#8220;I saw the missile enter the house; I was sure I was going to die,&#8221; she said. &#8220;I thought that was it, but I stayed alive.&#8221;
Finally, the raid that ultimately resulted in her rescue was so chaotic that, for a time, she believed she might not survive it.

ISRAEL-PALESTINIAN-CONFLICT-HOSTAGES

Israel Says Hostages Were Held In Home Of Journalist Who Wrote For Al Jazeera

Al Jazeera

Hamas

Hostages

Israel

Qatar

The revered <a href="https://journalism.columbia.edu/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Columbia Journalism School</a> issues this year&#8217;s <a href="https://www.pulitzer.org/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Pulitzer Prizes</a> on its New York campus this week, with an unaddressed problem next door in its own hallowed “Pulitzer Hall.” Prominently displayed inside the lobby, Columbia Journalism School has allowed a memorial shrine to fallen Gazan “journalists” who were anything but that.
As I <a href="https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-13371267/columbia-protest-palestine-israel-journalism-todd-bensman.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">reported in The Daily Mail</a> five days before the school’s 108th award ceremony, at least 15 of the journalists worked for U.S. Treasury Department-designated terrorist entity, “Al Aqsa TV,” Hamas’ primary propaganda arm. President Barack Obama <a href="https://home.treasury.gov/news/press-releases/tg594" target="_blank" rel="noopener">designated Al Aqsa TV in 2010</a> after it pressed children to become suicide bombers and learn to use the AK-47, loudly praised terrorist bombings in Israel, and routinely <a href="https://www.adl.org/resources/news/al-aqsa-tv" target="_blank" rel="noopener">urged civilian slaughters</a>. The U.S. State Department declared the station’s owner, Hamas, a Foreign Terrorist Organization in 1997, <a href="https://www.consilium.europa.eu/en/policies/fight-against-terrorism/terrorist-list/#hamas" target="_blank" rel="noopener">as have dozens</a> of Western nations.
That’s not even the worst of it.
In 2016, Obama’s State Department designated the <a href="https://2009-2017.state.gov/r/pa/prs/ps/2016/09/262004.htm" target="_blank" rel="noopener">station’s director</a>, Hamas interior minister Fathi Ahmad Mohammad Hammad, as a Specially Designated Global Terrorist. Hammad served as a senior military commander who supervised military tunnel construction under Gaza, where Hamas is hiding 130 Israeli hostages its terrorists seized during the October 7 attack; and “coordinated terrorist cells,” U.S. government documents state.
Six more on the journalism school’s walls worked for the Hamas-owned Al Aqsa Voice Radio, a sibling of the TV station whose broadcasters have called on Gazans to <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/middle_east/hamas-radio-station-in-gaza-reports-on-the-sunny-side-of-islamist-movements-rule/2014/09/28/cf533106-c8b2-47ab-9c6f-1f1acc075ca3_story.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">act as human shields</a> for Hamas offices and routinely encourage civilian murder.
Eleven more <a href="https://www.algemeiner.com/2024/02/26/who-are-the-killed-gazan-journalists-affiliated-with-palestinian-terror-groups/">are accused by Israel</a> of working for propaganda outlets controlled by three other groups the United States has legally declared outlawed terrorist organizations, including the ultra-violent rocket-launching Palestinian Islamic Jihad.
As it prepared to hand out Pulitzer Prizes, the journalism school ignored my emailed questions. But journalism groups, including the main one who drafted the tribute list upon which the school memorial is predicated — the Committee to Protect Journalists — trotted out an old, largely unchallenged argument for promulgating its list: they’re still journalists if they self-identified as journalists and weren’t pulling triggers. 
That line of justification occupies extreme fringes of mainstream academia counterterrorism, military, and law enforcement thinking worldwide, notably in the United States. The U.S. homeland security establishment regards the pen and camera of terrorist propagandists as deadly as fingers on triggers — and would kill or prosecute half of those on Columbia Journalism School’s wall if given a chance. 
Indeed, the U.S. Homeland Security and presidents on both sides of the aisle regard propagandists for designated terrorist groups like ISIS and Al Qaeda as dangerous enough to assassinate abroad with Hellfire missiles. Inside the United States, the establishment prosecutes and imprisons propagandists like those on Columbia Journalism School’s walls whenever possible. American journalism institutions are so far out of step with the rest of the civilized world that an argument can be made that their political stunts aid and abet the murder of real people. 
<h4>The line of argument journalism groups use to defend their tribute lists</h4>
The binary “if-not-combatant-then-hero” argument is hardly new. It last flew in 2013, overcoming Jewish and pro-Israel groups that <a href="https://www.middleeastmonitor.com/20140204-us-newseum-withholds-tribute-to-palestinian-journalists-under-pressure-from-the-pro-israel-lobby/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">bitterly complained</a> when the now-defunct Newseum in Washington D.C. included two Al-Aqsa TV cameramen on a highly prominent KIA memorial list projected on a 74-foot First Amendment tablet facing Pennsylvania Avenue. They’d been killed in an outbreak of violence between Hamas and Israel.
Dozens of journalism groups, including the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ), vigorously argued that the two cameramen weren’t carrying weapons or conducting surveillance when Israel bombed their vehicle, which they’d marked as TV press. The Newseum initially pulled the names but then <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/worldviews/wp/2013/05/13/should-the-newseum-consider-cameramen-for-hamas-run-tv-to-be-journalists/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">bought into the narrative</a> that these two cameramen weren’t carrying weapons and therefore <a href="https://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4378438,00.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">belonged back in</a> the tribute.
Now the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) is pushing the same narrative for its new 2024 tribute list upon which the journalism school’s Pulitzer Hall memorial is based.
“CPJ does not support journalists engaged in breaking the law,” the group told me in an email containing a recycled earlier statement about its tribute list. “In the cases we have documented, multiple sources have found no evidence to date that these journalists were engaged in militant activity.”
On that basis alone, the argument follows, they were legitimate journalists who died in noble public service. More than <a href="https://cpj.org/2024/03/news-outlets-express-solidarity-with-journalists-in-gaza/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">100 news organizations</a> have joined the committee in signing a letter in February attesting to worthiness of its tribute on the sole grounds that none were throwing bombs. 
It&#8217;s time to debunk the intellectual defense these journalism groups rely on to recast terrorist propagandists as noble journalists who died in public service. 
<h4>Propaganda Kills</h4>
Because they hold that propaganda kills just as surely as bullets and bombs, the United States and its Western allies have mounted <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/national-security/in-a-propaganda-war-us-tried-to-play-by-the-enemys-rules/2015/05/08/6eb6b732-e52f-11e4-81ea-0649268f729e_story.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">relentless counter-propaganda campaigns</a> against terrorist radio, television, and online media outlets just like those run by Hamas and the Palestine Islamic Jihad out of Gaza. The key feature of this campaign are assassination hunts overseas for ISIS and al-Qaeda propagandists in the long-settled academic science, rooted in <a href="https://academic.oup.com/joc/article-abstract/74/1/63/7275800?redirectedFrom=fulltext" target="_blank" rel="noopener">consistent academic studies</a>, that nonviolent propaganda for terrorist groups <a href="https://www.buffalo.edu/news/releases/2023/09/hahn-terrorist-propaganda.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">tightly correlates</a> with attack frequency and human casualties worldwide.
“The continued presence of terrorist content on the web is a grave risk to citizens and to society at large,” the <a href="https://home-affairs.ec.europa.eu/policies/internal-security/counter-terrorism-and-radicalisation/prevention-radicalisation/terrorist-content-online_en" target="_blank" rel="noopener">European Commission concluded</a> in one typical policy paper proposing the find and remove such content. “Terrorists misuse the internet to spread their messages to intimidate, radicalize, recruit and facilitate carrying out terrorist attacks.”
One of the more prominent hunts ended with an August 30, 2016 precision airstrike by U.S.-led coalition forces that killed ISIS propaganda leader and spokesman Abu Muhammad al-Adnani, whose grisly propaganda empire in slick monthly magazines Dabiq, Rumiya and radio and TV stations was credited with drawing thousands of recruits to Syria and inspiring murderous attacks around the globe.
Foreign Policy magazine, among many other creditable sources, quoted active-duty <a href="https://foreignpolicy.com/2016/08/31/going-after-the-isis-propaganda-mastermind/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">government professionals and diplomats</a> who credited his media work and messaging with inspiring followers to kill. U.S.-led coalition forces <a href="https://www.defense.gov/News/Releases/Release/Article/930843/statement-by-pentagon-press-secretary-peter-cook-on-precision-airstrike-targeti/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">finally killed Adnani</a> on August 30, 2016 in a precision airstrike near Al Bab, Syria.
That was hardly the first or last U.S. killing of a terrorist propagandist overseas, including American ones. In September 2011, President Obama controversially ordered a Hellfire missile strike that killed U.S. born al-Qaeda propagandist Anwar al-Awlaki in Yemen, saying his body of work <a href="https://warontherocks.com/2016/01/killing-anwar-targeting-jihadi-propagandists-is-only-part-of-the-solution/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">killed people</a> and “<a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/national-security/legal-memo-backing-drone-strike-is-released/2014/06/23/1f48dd16-faec-11e3-8176-f2c941cf35f1_story.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">posed an imminent threat of violence or death to other Americans</a>” even if he himself did not shoot the guns or detonate the bombs.
Al-Awlaki’s <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/national-security/al-qaeda-figure-seen-as-key-inspiration-for-san-bernardino-attacker/2015/12/18/f0e00d80-a5a0-11e5-9c4e-be37f66848bb_story.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">lectures and other propaganda</a> were seen as the chief inspiration for the bloody 2015 terror attack that killed 15 people in San Bernardino, California; Hassan Nidal’s deadly 2010 attack at Fort Hood, Texas; the Faisal Shahzad attack on Times Square; the Boston bombing and dozens of others around the world that killed hundreds of innocents.
In April 2015, the CIA fired Hellfire missiles in Pakistan that <a href="https://www.nbcnews.com/news/world/american-al-qaeda-leader-adam-gadahn-dead-drone-strke-state-n346891" target="_blank" rel="noopener">killed U.S.-born Adam Gadahn</a>, known as “Azzam the American” another notorious propagandist for al Qaeda whose work was considered so dangerous the U.S. government put out a $1 million reward for his arrest on treason charges in California.
In March 2017, another <a href="https://www.cbsnews.com/news/isis-propaganda-chief-killed-strike-iraq-syria-border/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">U.S. airstrike killed</a> ISIS propaganda chief Ibrahim al Ansari in Iraq for inciting vehicle, knife and arson attacks against American citizens.
In the Israel-Gaza theater, the U.S. and Europe have left assassination operations to Israel, which is plenty enough capable of taking out these propagandists and often does so just like the Americans and European allies.
<h4>Hard Time For Terrorist Propaganda</h4>
In December 2019, a U.S. federal judge sentenced Texas-born Dallas resident Said Azzam Mohamad Rahim to a hefty 30-year prison sentence for terrorism. But Rahim didn’t earn that punishment for killing anyone himself.
He’s in prison for spreading a “warped ideology on social media” and for “promoting violence against innocent people, including Americans,” a Department of Justice <a href="https://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/dallas-man-sentenced-30-years-terrorism-charges" target="_blank" rel="noopener">press release stated</a>. For years from his home in North Texas, Rahim moderated a “State of the Islamic Caliphate” social media channel on Zello dedicated to recruiting ISIS fighters and where he touted acts of terror.
“Kill and do not consult anyone,” he said in on 2016 message. “Kill, by any means. Smash his head on the wall. Spit in his face. Burn, I mean anything, anything. Poison anything!”
Even if America’s institutions of journalism refuse to see it, Rahim’s prosecution and 30-year sentence are but one of many emblematic examples of how the entire United States security establishment views the provision of propaganda on behalf of a designated terror organization.
So profoundly fearful of non-violent activities was Congress and the White House after 9/11 that it expanded and enhanced “<a href="https://crsreports.congress.gov/product/pdf/RS/RS22222/4" target="_blank" rel="noopener">material support for terrorism</a>” statutes that carry harsh sentences that include life in prison. One of the key provisions of these laws targets anyone who knows full well that they “work “under that terrorist organization’s direction or control” and that it has been designated as a terror organization.
These criminal “material support” statutes have been used to send U.S.-based jihadists to prison hundreds of times for more than two decades, often for spreading propaganda on behalf of designated terrorist groups or doing anything at all to support their murderous missions.
The U.S. justice system has brooked no mercy for Hamas operatives inside the United States who merely raised money for Hamas. The DOJ in 2002 broke up and prosecuted the largest Hamas fundraising operation in U.S. history, the Holy Land Foundation, <a href="https://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/federal-judge-hands-downs-sentences-holy-land-foundation-case" target="_blank" rel="noopener">dishing out</a> prison sentences ranging to 65 years for the so-called “Holy Land five” who were prosecuted in Dallas.
What does this history mean in today’s context? It means that heralded U.S. journalism institutions like Columbia Journalism School – most especially those inside the United States – should never get away unchallenged with fringe justifications for lionizing propagandists for designated terrorist groups in KIA lists and memorials.
That’s because their involvement in enabling tribute memorials qualify, on their own as twisted propaganda that helps those terrorist organizations keep killing people when the rest of the civilized world believes that is morally wrong and legally prosecutable.
* * *
Todd Bensman is a two-time <a href="https://www.toddbensman.com/awards/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">National Press Club award winner</a>, graduate of the University of Missouri School of Journalism, and 23-year veteran newspaper reporter.

Cloumbia Schooll

Debunking The Argument For Columbia Journalism School’s Terrorist Propagandist Memorial

Debunking The Argument For Columbia Journalism School’s Fallen Terrorist Propagandist Memorial

Columbia University

Gaza

Middle East

Pulitzer Prize

Terrorists

Metropolitan Police in the <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/u-k" target="_blank" rel="noopener">U.K.</a> said on Tuesday that the suspects behind the assassination attempt of an exiled Iranian journalist fled the country shortly after the attack.
Pouria Zeraati, the host Iran International&#8217;s “Last Word,” was <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/exiled-iranian-journalist-stabbed-outside-home-case-being-investigated-as-terrorism" target="_blank" rel="noopener">stabbed</a> by a group as he walked out of his home last week. He was hospitalized for a couple of days before being released.
The Met’s Counter Terrorism Command was leading the investigation into the attack given the specific threats that other journalists at the Persian-language news organization have received that have originated from Iranian intelligence officials.
&#8220;Detectives investigating a stabbing in Wimbledon, south London, believe three suspects were involved and have since recovered a vehicle linked to the attack,&#8221; the statement said. &#8220;Detectives have established the victim was approached by two men in a residential street and attacked. The suspects fled the scene in a vehicle driven by a third male.&#8221;
Investigators located the vehicle that was used to help the attackers escape and it is now being examined by forensic experts, police said.
&#8220;The investigation team has established that after abandoning the vehicle, the suspects travelled directly to Heathrow Airport and left the UK within a few hours of the attack,&#8221; the statement added.
Police did not mention the destination to which the suspects flew.
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“We have established that after abandoning the vehicle, the suspects travelled to Heathrow Airport and have left the UK,&#8221; said Commander Dominic Murphy, Head of the Met’s Counter Terrorism Command. &#8220;We are now working with international partners to establish further details.&#8221;
Murphy said that police had still not made an official determination of why they believe that the victim was attacked and they are leaving all possibilities on the table.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="500" data-dnt="true">
BREAKING 
London’s Metropolitan Police have announced that the men who stabbed Iran International journalist <a href="https://twitter.com/pouriazeraati?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@pouriazeraati</a> abandoned their vehicle shortly after the attack and quickly traveled to Heathrow and left the UK within a few hours of the attack.
The Metropolitan… <a href="https://t.co/srEN5Rvk0f">pic.twitter.com/srEN5Rvk0f</a>
&mdash; Yashar Ali 🐘 (@yashar) <a href="https://twitter.com/yashar/status/1775246516418220063?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">April 2, 2024</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
The attack comes after Iran has repeatedly threatened journalists at the television station, including offering a criminal $200,000 to assassinate Iran International journalists Sima Sabet and Fardad Farahzad.
Iranian spies planned to target Iran International’s studios in London with a car bomb, the report said. However, they ditched their plan after leaders in the IRGC decided that a knife attack at the targets&#8217; homes would be more effective because the studios had “many security guards.”
Matt Jukes, head of Counter Terrorism Policing in Britain, said in a “60 Minutes” interview last year that Iran uses proxies to carry out assassination attempts because they are typically “not being tracked by intelligence or security agencies.”
He said that the U.K. had foiled 15 Iranian kidnapping and assassination attempts in the last year.
“I have been involved in national security policing for over 20 years,” he said. “What we’ve seen in the last 18 months is a real acceleration.”

Shooting in West Kensington

British Police Give Update On Assassination Attempt On Exiled Iranian Journalist

assassination

Crime

Iran

U.K.

World

A former Iran International host was encouraged by <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/u-k" target="_blank" rel="noopener">British</a> terrorism officials this week to leave her home for her own safety after a former colleague of hers survived an assassination attempt.
Iran International <a href="https://www.iranintl.com/en/202403293508" target="_blank" rel="noopener">said</a> that Pouria Zeraati, the host of its “Last Word” show, was stabbed by a group as he walked out of his home. He was rushed to the hospital with injuries, but is listed in “stable condition,” the report said.
The attack comes after Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), which is a designated Foreign Terrorist Organization, has repeatedly threatened exiled Iranian dissidents for speaking out against the oppressive regime.
Sima Sabet, who used to work for BBC and had a show on Iran International, said following the attack that the Metropolitan Police&#8217;s Counter-Terrorism Unit &#8220;urged me to immediately leave my residence following a knife attack on @pouriazeraati, and stay elsewhere until further notice.&#8221;
She <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/iran-offered-200000-to-assassinate-british-news-anchors-report" target="_blank" rel="noopener">highlighted</a> how the IRGC tried to pay a criminal $200,000 last year to assassinate her and another one of her colleagues at the network.
&#8220;Last year, the Revolutionary Guards attempted to assassinate me and my former colleague @FardadFarahzad,&#8221; she said. &#8220;They had detailed information about our residences and movements. A Western security service provided @itvnews with audio and video files in which a Quds Force commander ordered an individual to kill me and Farahzad with knife. Their plan to assassinate us was exposed and failed. Nonetheless, yesterday Pouria Zeraati was attacked with a knife in London.&#8221;
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&#8220;Though the Counter-Terrorism Police&#8217;s investigation is ongoing, and we are awaiting the outcome, this attack is a serious warning and an extremely troubling act for all journalists and opponents of the Islamic Republic in Britain and other Western countries,&#8221; she continued. &#8220;The Counter Terrorism Police have been in constant contact with me over the past few months, for which I am grateful. However, I must emphatically mention that the British government has not taken sufficient, meaningful, decisive, and effective political action against the terrorism of the Iranian government.&#8221;
She expressed anger at the British government for failing to protect her and other exiled Iranians who are now British citizens.
&#8220;London is our home,&#8221; she said. &#8220;Britain must be a safe place for journalists across all media, and unsafe for extremists and terrorists receiving orders from Tehran. Our voice will not be silenced by threat and terrorism. Journalism is not a crime; state terrorism is. Stop it.&#8221;
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="500" data-dnt="true">
The Metropolitan Police&#39;s Counter-Terrorism Unit <a href="https://twitter.com/metpoliceuk?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@metpoliceuk</a> last night urged me to immediately leave my residence following a knife attack on <a href="https://twitter.com/pouriazeraati?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@pouriazeraati</a> , and stay elsewhere until further notice.
Last year, the Revolutionary Guards attempted to assassinate me and my… <a href="https://t.co/3fFvFnqJs5">pic.twitter.com/3fFvFnqJs5</a>
&mdash; Sima Sabet | سیما ثابت (@Sima_Sabet) <a href="https://twitter.com/Sima_Sabet/status/1774043076341719104?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">March 30, 2024</a></blockquote>
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Sima Sabet

British Terrorism Officials Encourage Exiled Iranian Journalist To Flee Her Home After Colleague Attacked

Terrorism

Podcast giant <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/joe-rogan" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Joe Rogan</a> mocked journalists at The New York Times this week for being out-of-touch with average Americans, calling them far-Left activists masquerading as journalists.
Rogan made the remarks while talking about how The New York Times was creating Instagram videos featuring its reporters talking about the topics they cover at the newspaper.
&#8220;They don&#8217;t understand what they&#8217;re doing,&#8221; Rogan said. &#8220;This is exactly who we thought was writing these things. It&#8217;s like this very effeminate guy and this woman that it&#8217;s like, the kind of woman that seems like she f***ing [would talk down to you at a party].&#8221;
&#8220;The type of people that would, you know, these, like, these ultra-liberal out-of-touch people and these people are talking about, one of the guys was talking about Donald Trump&#8217;s words being taken out of context that it would be a &#8216;bloodbath&#8217; because he was talking about the auto industry and the economy,&#8221; he continued.
Rogan then played the video of the &#8220;effeminate guy&#8221; who was talking about Trump&#8217;s rhetoric and tried to claim that Trump&#8217;s words took on a new meaning because of the January 6, 2021, riot at the U.S. Capitol.
&#8220;So this is The New York Times,&#8221; Rogan said. &#8220;This is these hard-nosed reporters with a cup of coffee that are like f***ing chasing down leads and they&#8217;re pulling their hair out and they&#8217;re meeting people in back alleyways.&#8221;
&#8220;This is Woodward and Bernstein, this is Watergate,&#8221; he mocked. &#8220;Like no, but I mean, they&#8217;re, they&#8217;re essentially like ultra hard-Left activists that are masquerading as journalists and everything has their opinion on it.&#8221;
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WATCH:
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="500" data-dnt="true">
WATCH: Joe Rogan on The New York Times: &quot;They&#39;re they&#39;re essentially like ultra hard left activists that are masquerading as journalists!&quot; <a href="https://t.co/A9ZxMry710">pic.twitter.com/A9ZxMry710</a>
&mdash; Steve Guest (@SteveGuest) <a href="https://twitter.com/SteveGuest/status/1773436768701841862?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">March 28, 2024</a></blockquote>
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Joe Rogan Questions Everything – Season 1

Joe Rogan Torches ‘Effeminate’ NYT Reporters: ‘Ultra Hard-Left Activists That Are Masquerading As Journalists’

Joe Rogan Torches 'Effeminate' NYT Reporters: 'Ultra Hard-Left Activists That Are Masquerading As Journalists'

Joe Rogan

Media

New York Times

A federal judge tapped by former President Barack Obama ruled on Thursday to hold veteran investigative journalist <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/journalism" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Catherine Herridge</a> in civil contempt for refusing to reveal who her source was for a series of reports about a Chinese scientist working at an American university who was under FBI criminal investigation.
U.S. District Judge Christopher Cooper imposed a fine of $800 per day — nearly $300,000 per year — until Herridge reveals who her source was for the stories that she wrote while at Fox News.
“Herridge and many of her colleagues in the journalism community may disagree with that decision and prefer that a different balance be struck, but she is not permitted to flout a federal court’s order with impunity,” Cooper wrote.
Cooper said that Herridge, who is widely respected for being impartial and pursuing stories that many in the mainstream media ignore, must reveal how she learned about the federal investigation, which centered around learning whether the Chinese scientist lied about her military service and if her school&#8217;s student database could be accessed by the Chinese.
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The Chinese national sued the federal government claiming that it gave Herridge information that violated their privacy, &#8220;including snippets of an FBI document summarizing an interview conducted during the investigation, personal photographs, and information taken from her immigration and naturalization forms and from an internal FBI PowerPoint presentation,&#8221; the Associated Press reported.
Fox News blasted the ruling in a statement late on Thursday: “Holding a journalist in contempt for protecting a confidential source has a deeply chilling effect on journalism. Fox News Media remains committed to protecting the rights of a free press and freedom of speech and believes this decision should be appealed.”
Related: <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/cbs-seized-confidential-files-from-fired-reporter-who-was-pursuing-hunter-biden-story-reports" target="_blank" rel="noopener">CBS Seized Confidential Files From Fired Reporter Who Was Pursuing Hunter Biden Story</a>

Paramount’s White House Correspondents’ Association Dinner After Party

Obama Judge Holds Journalist Catherine Herridge In Contempt For Not Revealing Source

Barack Obama

CBS News

Courts

Much of the staff at Sports Illustrated, including possibly all of its writers, received layoff notices on Friday, according to the union representing the workers at the publication. The layoffs come less than two months after the magazine was caught publishing AI-generated stories, authors, and photos.  
The Sports Illustrated Union <a href="https://twitter.com/si_union/status/1748390846058176659" target="_blank" rel="noopener">wrote</a> that on Friday “workers of Sports Illustrated were notified that The Arena Group is planning to lay off a significant number, possibly all, of the Guild-represented workers at SI.” The pending layoffs come after Authentic Brands Group (ABG) revoked The Arena Group’s license “to publish at SI,” the union’s statement added. 
ABG has owned Sports Illustrated since 2019 and sold the publishing rights to The Arena Group, but The Arena Group missed a payment for those rights recently, which resulted in ABG pulling the publishing license, The Washington Post <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/sports/2024/01/19/sports-illustrated-layoffs/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">reported</a>. 
“As a result of this license revocation, we will be laying off staff that work on the SI brand,” a note to staff reportedly read. The note added that some of the staff would be laid off immediately while others would work until the end of the 90-day notice period. 
“This is another difficult day in what has been a difficult four years for Sports Illustrated under Arena Group (previously The Maven) stewardship,&#8221; the union said in a statement. &#8220;We are calling on ABG to ensure the continued publication of SI and allow it to serve our audience in the way it has for nearly 70 years.”
A <a href="https://futurism.com/sports-illustrated-ai-generated-writers" target="_blank" rel="noopener">report</a> by Futurism in November <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/sports-illustrated-created-articles-using-ai-generated-authors-magazine-says-content-came-from-third-party" target="_blank" rel="noopener">revealed</a> that Sports Illustrated appeared to have been publishing AI-generated content attributed to fake authors — complete with bogus biographies and headshots. When asked about the content by Futurism, Sports Illustrated allegedly deleted the AI-created writers and profiles along with the content generated by AI. Sports Illustrated CEO Ross Levinsohn was then <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/sports-illustrated-publisher-fires-ceo-after-outlet-allegedly-published-ai-generated-stories-with-fake-authors">fired</a> by The Arena Group in December. 
The magazine has been one of the most successful sports publications since it was first published in 1954. Sports Illustrated is known for the iconic photos that have graced its covers and for its annual swimsuit issue which was first published in 1964. The magazine faced backlash in 2021 after <a href="https://swimsuit.si.com/swimnews/meet-your-cover-model-2021-leyna-bloom" target="_blank" rel="noopener">putting</a> a man who identifies as a woman on the cover of its swimsuit edition, touting model Leyna Bloom as the &#8220;first trans person of color to appear on our pages.&#8221; Last year, Sports Illustrated <a href="https://www.si.com/extra-mustard/2023/05/15/kim-petras-featured-2023-si-swimsuit-cover-model" target="_blank" rel="noopener">featured</a> a transgender model again on its swimsuit edition cover, lauding Kim Petras as &#8220;an icon in the LGBTQ+ community.&#8221; 
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The first issue of Sports Illustrated featured Milwaukee Braves star Eddie Mathews batting at home plate with New York Giants catcher Wes Westrum behind him. The cover of the latest issue showed Michigan’s college football national championship victory over Washington earlier this month.

Sports Illustrated Lays Off Its Remaining Staff Photographers

Sports Illustrated Laying Off ‘Significant Number’ Of Workers, ‘Possibly All’ Writers

Sports Illustrated Laying Off 'Significant Number' Of Workers, 'Possibly All' Writers 

Sports

Sports Illustrated

A year ago, Sports Illustrated uploaded a video to their various social media channels. It shows Steph Curry, the Golden State Warriors point guard and NBA champion, making five full-court shots in a row, in just about thirty seconds. In case you&#8217;re not familiar with basketball, this is an athletic feat that&#8217;s about as close to statistically impossible as you can get. But Sports Illustrated played it straight. The outlet <a href="https://twitter.com/SInow/status/1599554509373468672" target="_blank" rel="noopener">wrote</a> on their Twitter account, &#8220;Just finished a shoot with Steph Curry — this dude just can’t miss.”
<iframe loading="lazy" title="Steph Curry Makes 5 Full Court Shots In A Row (Different Angle)" width="500" height="281" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/xt5vzE0QCvk?feature=oembed" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" referrerpolicy="strict-origin-when-cross-origin" allowfullscreen></iframe>
Watching it, there&#8217;s no obvious way to tell it&#8217;s fake. Even if you watch it a few times, it seems real. You see him shoot the basketball, the camera follows the ball, and it goes in the hoop. Looks basically legit. But of course none of it was legit. And Sports Illustrated knew that, because the creator of the clip — who they tagged in one of their posts — is known for manipulating videos like this. The whole thing was just a bid for some attention on social media.
No one really followed up on this whole episode. There was no ensuing conversation about ethics in sports journalism. When Sports Illustrated ultimately <a href="https://www.si.com/nba/warriors/news/steph-curry-confirms-viral-shooting-video-is-fake" target="_blank" rel="noopener">admitted</a> that it was a sham, no one cared. On one level, that&#8217;s not particularly surprising, since Sports Illustrated is a shadow of what it once was. Other than the annual swimsuit edition, which presumably now features trans and plus sized models, there&#8217;s no longer anything to distinguish the magazine from any number of other low quality sports blogs you can find on the Internet. That&#8217;s been true for quite some time.
What&#8217;s interesting about this episode, though, is what happened afterwards. 
Sports Illustrated didn&#8217;t stop lying to its audience. They didn&#8217;t decide to renew their commitment to serious sports journalism, to the extent that &#8220;serious sports journalism&#8221; isn&#8217;t an oxymoron. Instead, Sports Illustrated chose to start faking a lot more than just videos.
A website called &#8220;Futurism&#8221; just published an investigative <a href="https://futurism.com/sports-illustrated-ai-generated-writers">report</a> into the scam that Sports Illustrated has been running. Apparently, the company has been using artificial intelligence to draft entire articles. But more than that, they have been using AI to create fake authors, as well, complete with fake biographies. The outlet never disclosed any of this to its readers.
<h4><a href="https://www.dailywire.com/episode/231128me" target="_blank" rel="noopener">WATCH: The Matt Walsh Show</a></h4>
Here for example is their <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20221205082417/https://www.si.com/review/author/drewortiz/">biography</a> of one Drew Ortiz, who appears to be a white male with brown hair and blue eyes. This is straight from Sports Illustrated&#8217;s website: &#8220;Drew has spent much of his life outdoors, and is excited to guide you through his never-ending list of the best products to keep you from falling to the perils of nature. &#8230; Nowadays, there is rarely a weekend that goes by where Drew isn&#8217;t out camping, hiking, or just back on his parents&#8217; farm.&#8221; 
Obviously, most of the biographies you&#8217;ll read online are stilted and fake. But even by that low standard, Drew Ortiz&#8217;s bio is a little suspect. What does it mean to &#8220;keep you from falling to the perils of nature,&#8221; exactly? That sounds a little morbid. And once you find out that AI was responsible for it, the “perils of nature” line starts to seem more than a little bit creepy. But you&#8217;re not supposed to dwell on Drew&#8217;s biography. Instead, you&#8217;re supposed to click on his articles, because that&#8217;s how Sports Illustrated makes money.
Once you do that — once you click the AI-generated clickbait — here&#8217;s what you&#8217;ll find. <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20221004090814/https://www.si.com/review/full-size-volleyball/">One</a> of Ortiz&#8217;s articles, which was originally published last year, is entitled, &#8220;Play Like A Pro With The Best Full-Size Volleyballs.&#8221; The point of this article is to advertise a series of volleyballs, so that Sports Illustrated can get a kickback when people click on the links and buy a volleyball. This is pretty standard in digital media, as you may have noticed. The &#8220;Drew Ortiz&#8221; artificial intelligence, for its part, was tasked with writing a paragraph to introduce all these affiliate links.
Here&#8217;s what Drew came up with: 
<blockquote>Volleyball is one of the most popular sports in the world, and for good reason. It’s fast-paced, has a high skill ceiling, and is generally an exciting sport to both play and watch. Even people who don’t watch sports can easily understand the intensity and skill required to play volleyball whenever they watch clips. There’s a reason why it’s been such a mainstay in modern sports to this day. Volleyball can be a little tricky to get into, especially without an actual ball to practice with.</blockquote>
Now, up until that last line, you can see why someone might be fooled into thinking that Drew Ortiz is a real person. He comes across as an earnest guy trying to explain why he loves volleyball, in as many words as possible. But towards the end, Drew enters the uncanny valley. &#8220;Volleyball can be a little tricky to get into,&#8221; Drew writes, &#8220;especially without an actual ball to practice with.&#8221;
Well, that&#8217;s an understatement, Drew. It&#8217;s a bit like saying water polo is hard to get into without water, or cooking is hard to do without food. It&#8217;s the kind of thing no human being would ever say. So needless to say, the AI known as Drew Ortiz wasn&#8217;t exactly producing the most compelling copy. We can assume that very few people bought volleyballs on Drew&#8217;s professional recommendation.
That could be why, sometime this summer, Sports Illustrated quietly <a href="https://archive.is/D9DV2">replaced</a> Ortiz with another AI. This time, the name for the AI changed from Drew Ortiz to &#8220;Sora Tanaka.&#8221; Who is Sora Tanaka? Let&#8217;s see. According to her biography on Sports Illustrated&#8217;s website:
<blockquote>Sora has always been a fitness guru, and loves to try different foods and drinks. She is fond of varying her workouts and believes everyone should participate in some form of physical or mental activity at least three times per week!</blockquote>
I&#8217;ll read that last part again: &#8220;She &#8230; believes everyone should participate in some sort of physical or mental activity at least three times per week!&#8221; Talk about the soft bigotry of low expectations. We can infer from this that AI doesn&#8217;t exactly have a high opinion of humans, if this is the bar it’s setting for us. Just use your body or your mind three times a week. Let’s start there, AI is saying to the human race. I’d like to say that the robots are underestimating us here, but I don’t think they are.
At this point, it&#8217;s important to mention that Sports Illustrated didn&#8217;t just have AI generate articles, and fake biographies for fake writers. AI also created fake headshots for these writers. They generated images out of thin air. Both Tanaka and Ortiz had AI-produced headshots. We know that because the headshots were available for sale, on an online marketplace that sells AI headsets. Eventually, after they were confronted by Futurism, Sports Illustrated took all of these articles and headshots down, scrubbing all of it from their website. 
In a statement, the company blamed a contractor for all of this. They denied that the articles were written by AI, although they didn&#8217;t deny that the headshots were AI-generated. They also claimed that editors carefully review all content that&#8217;s uploaded. 
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That&#8217;s a claim that several other websites have made in the past. CNET, for example, insisted that while it was using AI to draft articles, editors were carefully fact-checking every detail prior to publication. How did that work out? A few months ago, CNET published an <a href="https://www.cnet.com/personal-finance/banking/advice/what-is-compound-interest/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">article</a> claiming that a $10,000 deposit in a savings account, earning a 3% APY, would return $10,300 in profit after the first year. That&#8217;s off by about $10,000. CNET later appended a correction to the article. Somehow that one slipped by the fact-checkers.
Bankrate, one of CNET&#8217;s sister sites, has had the same problem. They claim that their editors carefully review AI-generated articles, but these articles are full of mistakes. Including mathematical mistakes, which is the one thing you’d think AI would always get right. 
So what do we make of all this? 
It&#8217;s easy to mock outlets like CNET and Bankrate and Sports Illustrated, which no one reads anymore. But it&#8217;s not hard to see where this is all heading. We&#8217;re rapidly and willfully moving towards a dystopian world where AI does everything and most human effort and labor has become redundant. Everyone can see this coming, and knows it&#8217;s bad, but it seems like none of our leaders have the fortitude to do anything about it. AI replacing Sports Illustrated writers is the least of our concerns in this regard. What happens when AI starts replacing, oh I don&#8217;t know, truck drivers and ride-share drivers? These are jobs that a significant portion of the American middle class depend on in order to survive. What happens when Waymo and Cruise and Tesla manage to perfect their self-driving AIs?
We&#8217;re not there yet, of course. It&#8217;ll likely be several more years until AI is capable of doing any of that. And it&#8217;s still possible we&#8217;ll eventually elect leaders in time, who will do something to prevent the potential destruction of millions of jobs in this country.
In the meantime, it&#8217;s important to look closely at the jobs that AI *is* capable of replacing, and what that says about these jobs and our culture at large. 
It&#8217;s hard to deny that &#8220;journalism&#8221; — and sports journalism in particular — has become so vacuous and pointless that it can easily be replaced by robots and most readers don&#8217;t even notice. It&#8217;s generally not a good thing to replace human jobs with AI, but in the media, so many of the humans doing the jobs are already barely human as it is. So it feels like a bit of a lateral move.
This isn&#8217;t just happening at Sports Illustrated and CNET and Bankrate. It&#8217;s happening at all the various tiers of garbage journalism, including gaming journalism. The website Kotaku now <a href="https://twitter.com/xpatriciah/status/1725928585737666947" target="_blank" rel="noopener">features</a> a few AI-written articles. Microsoft Start — which is the homepage that Microsoft presents to users of its Internet browser — recently featured an <a href="https://futurism.com/msn-ai-brandon-hunter-useless" target="_blank" rel="noopener">obituary</a> with this headline: &#8220;Brandon Hunter Useless At 42.&#8221; This is a former NBA player who died suddenly, and that&#8217;s the headline the AI went with. He&#8217;s not dead — he&#8217;s, “useless.” Which is sort of true in a literal sense, I suppose. But that’s not how humans typically look at it. Microsoft, maybe the biggest tech company on the planet, promoted that story. And here&#8217;s the amazing thing: It didn&#8217;t cause any kind of stir. You probably hadn’t even heard about it.
That&#8217;s because we&#8217;re used to this. We take it for granted that whatever garbage we read was either written by a poorly programmed AI, or it was written by some liberal arts graduate with no life skills. Either way, we don&#8217;t take it seriously, it&#8217;s just noise. The bar is so low that it&#8217;s impossible to be outraged by poor quality journalism anymore.
Indeed, it&#8217;s hard to be outraged by the quality of pretty much anything produced for mass consumption at this point. Take popular music, for example. A few days ago, an AI &#8220;singer-songwriter&#8221; using the name Anna Indiana went viral on social media. Here&#8217;s how Anna introduced itself, followed by some of Anna&#8217;s singing:
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="500" data-dnt="true">
Hello world! I’m Anna Indiana and I’m an AI singer-songwriter. Here’s my first song, Betrayed by this Town. Everything from the key, tempo, chord progression, melody notes, rhythm, lyrics, and my image and singing, is auto-generated using AI. I hope you like it 💕 <a href="https://t.co/0Cf42iyxHI">pic.twitter.com/0Cf42iyxHI</a>
&mdash; Anna Indiana (@AnnaIndianaAI) <a href="https://twitter.com/AnnaIndianaAI/status/1728089499429642432?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">November 24, 2023</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
Now, needless to say, kill it with fire. The song is bad and bland and creepily lifeless. It’s also quite ominous. AI’s idea of a fun pop ballad is a lamentation about the pointlessness and futility of existence, followed by a call for us to “tear it all down.” The robots are, once again, not trying to hide their disdain for the human species. But then again, the mainstream music industry also hates the human species, and also has been, for decades, churning out its own bad and bland and creepily lifeless content.
To be fair, I should note that on social media, a lot of people gave negative reviews to that particular performance. But there are plenty of examples of soulless AI singers that have gotten a lot of praise recently. Here&#8217;s AI Johnny Cash singing a Taylor Swift song, for example. This was everywhere on social media a few weeks ago:
https://twitter.com/buccocapital/status/1719482652577644722?s=20
AI Johnny Cash got rave reviews, for the most part. People didn&#8217;t care that they were hearing the voice of a dead country music legend singing some of the most vapid lyrics imaginable. They embraced it. Some of them even said they preferred it to Johnny Cash&#8217;s original work.
This why we can be certain that eventually nearly all of the content we consume on the internet, and nearly every movie and show we watch, and song we listen to, will all be generated by AI. The technology is getting more advanced, while at the same time the humans who produce most of this content are getting dumber and more vacuous. Humans and AI are essentially meeting in the middle, where the two become indistinguishable. Now, I don’t think that AI will ever be able to write a book like &#8220;The Lord of the Rings&#8221; or make a movie like &#8220;The Godfather&#8221; or compose an original song to match Beethoven, but that’s not the kind of art that we consume these days. We watch Marvel movies and read short blurbs on the Internet and listen to canned pop music, and AI will certainly be able to produce all of that. And since we, as a culture, don’t value beauty and originality and depth anymore, we will eventually accept the AI content and consume it just as vigorously. All we want is the content, after all. We don’t really care where it comes from, or what it is, or who produced it, or what produced it. This is what makes AI dangerous. Not that it will become sentient and enslave mankind or whatever. But that it will become indistinguishable from humans, because humans have become indistinguishable from it.
It all kind of reminds me of the last few page of George Orwell’s book, “Animal Farm,” which was obviously meant to be an allegory about communism not artificial intelligence. Still, I think about that very last line: &#8220;The creatures outside looked from pig to man, and from man to pig, and from pig to man again. But already it was impossible to say which was which.&#8221;
All you need to do is replace the word &#8220;pig&#8221; with &#8220;AI,&#8221; and you&#8217;ve got a modern allegory. Which is incredible, if you think about it. Just a few decades ago, it would have been crazy for Sports Illustrated to publish computer-generated slop, and pass it off as journalism, it never would have worked. But this past year, it went on for months, and no one even noticed, until a website called &#8220;Futurism&#8221; just happened to catch on.
Men are becoming indistinguishable from pigs, to use Orwell&#8217;s phrase. And with each passing day — with each refinement to the algorithm — it becomes more and more difficult to say which is which.

Robotic hand pressing a keyboard on a laptop 3D rendering

Media Outlets Use AI To Create Fake Writers Who Are Almost As Creepy And Soulless As Real Journalists

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