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Journalistic Deceit: An Example Of Why You Can't Trust The News Media.

January 27, 2026 - Reading time: 5 minutes

I was looking at the website for channel 45 news, a local ABC affiliate in Winston Salem NC, when I saw a story in the "Trending" column headlined "Iranian news outlet reports over 36,000 killed in protests, marking historic bloodshed". I've been following reports on the protests since they began, and the number of deaths from the protests has generally been counted in the low thousands, not tens of thousands. So I read further in the story to learn what ABC 45 knew that others didn't.

screenshot of ABC 45 article on Iran

The story said "Iranian news site, Iran International, reported on Sunday that over 36,000 people have been killed during the height of the protests that took place earlier this month". There was no explanation of who Iran International is, but at first I assumed it's a news agency within Iran. But if so, why were they reporting ten times more deaths than the Iranian government? I did some digging and found that Iran International is owned by Volant Media, a company based in the United Kingdom. Volant Media doesn't reveal their ownership. But according to Wikipedia, it is "reportedly linked to Saudi Arabia, [and] it (Iran International) is aimed at Iranians and people interested in Iranian news, culture, politics, society and sports. Iran International has been heavily criticized by the Iranian government for actively encouraging Iranians into anti-government protests and riots by spreading fake news and propaganda and has been described as a tool of Mossad by Barak Ravid. During the Mahsa Amini protests on 9 November 2022, the Iranian Minister of Intelligence Ismail Khatib announced that Iran International had been declared a terrorist organization by the Islamic Republic of Iran, accused of inciting riots protesting the government."

"According to Middle East Eye, Iran International is a media platform for the Iranian opposition. The channel is known for raising the profile of Reza Pahlavi, the last heir apparent to the former Iranian throne, by constant coverage and repeatedly interviewing him."

Reza Pahlavi is the eldest son of Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, the last shah of Iran who eventually became a bribed puppet of the CIA.

It seems apparent that Iran International is essentially a propaganda agency posing as a legitimate news source. And I suspect if its true ownership could be discovered, we'd see funding from America's CIA, the United Kingdom's MI6, and Israel's Mossad.

We should question why ABC 45, owned by Sinclair Broadcasting, would use a source as obviously biased as Iran International. But they aren't alone. Zionist slop-site 'Breitbart' is also quoting them.

screenshot of Breitbart article claiming Iran has killed 36,000 protesters

Yes, the same number of victims is repeated by Breitbart, and the source of that number is Iran International. Initially, Breitbart also reported that Khamenei had fled to a fortified bunker, but they've since removed that part of the story. But another news site still makes the claim: The Times of Israel.

screenshot of a Times of Israel article claiming Ali Khamenei has gone into hiding

They write: "Iran’s Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei has gone into hiding in a Tehran bunker, according to the opposition-affiliated Iran International news site". The news site 'India Today' also made the claim, and also gave credit to Iran International as their source. So in one day we have at least four news sites (and probably hundreds more if you count all the stations owned by Sinclair) that published unverified information portraying the leaders of Iran as horrible murderers.

The point of my post isn't to take sides either for or against Iran. The point is that what at first appears to be a legitimate news article on a local television station's website is in reality a biased story from a sketchy source that seems to have an agenda. And this same source is also being used by other news sites around the world.

The average reader doesn't have the time to find out where their news is coming from. Most find sites they like and then trust they're being told the truth.

But as I've revealed here, when you scratch beneath the surface you often find that what you thought was journalism is actually manipulation.

They Live. They Lie.

December 11, 2024 - Reading time: ~1 minute

meme parodying MSNBC

MSNBC: telling you what to think since 1996. Shameless propaganda for the indoctrinated and gullible left, brought to you by the Democratic Party and the entrenched deep state.

Do Wealthy Donors Influence How The Associated Press Reports The News?

November 20, 2024 - Reading time: 7 minutes

two boys reading a newspaper

The Associated Press is one of the largest news agencies in the world, writing stories that are republished or recited by hundreds of newspapers, magazines, and television news programs. Much of the news coverage you read or watch every day was created by the AP. You may not even realize the story you're reading or watching came from the AP unless you happen to notice the letters "AP" at the top of the column, or you notice that TV news hosts on different stations are saying exactly the same thing on the same day. Since news outlets can't afford to keep large staffs of reporters on their payrolls anymore, they rely on the Associated Press to take up the slack. That shouldn't be a problem if the reporting is accurate and impartial.

Their website states "We were founded as an independent news cooperative, whose members are U.S. newspapers and broadcasters, steadfast in our mission to inform the world. To this day, AP remains independent, beholden only to the facts."

Does the AP meet that standard? Are they really independent and impartial? Do they accurately report the facts?

I took a look at the AP's website and saw news stories that definitely appeared to be pushing the political elite's agendas. There's an entire page filled with dozens of reports on climate change, but no stories from any of the thousands of scientists who dispute the official narrative that climate change is caused by human activity. If you get your news from the Associated Press, you probably have no idea that there isn't a consensus among scientists on climate change. No alternative viewpoints seem to be allowed. On their health page, there are several articles suggesting you get flu and COVID vaccines, but there's no mention of the potential risks of doing so. I saw no stories about vaccine injuries. There are no stories questioning the pseudoscience of virology. But there IS a story that defends ultraprocessed foods. And the AP's site has an entire section devoted to questionable "fact checking" on subjects including election fraud, Haitians eating pets, and FEMA's hurricane response in North Carolina. Granted, many of their articles seem to be well researched and impartial, but that's to be expected on a site that is essentially controlled opposition: sprinkle some truth onto a pile of propaganda and the public will believe it all.

So I don't buy their claim of being "beholden only to the facts". But who are they beholden to? Perhaps to their many financial supporters:

Associated Press financial supporters

Let's take a look at some of them. The list is in alphabetical order with one glaring exception: the Gates Foundation is at the top of the list. In late 2023, the Gates Foundation gave the AP $1,829,815. It's probably safe to assume that Bill Gates has a lot of influence at the Associated Press. Gates is notorious for pushing vaccines, the COVID psyop, fake meat, digital ID's, the climate change agenda, and censorship. While the AP may say it is independent, the senior editors are almost certain to keep Gates' interests in mind when deciding which topics to cover and how they're reported. Even if there isn't an official policy to please Gates, it would be career suicide to piss him off.

Who else funds the Associated Press? For the sake of brevity, I'll only mention the funding sources that have a clear focus on an agenda that could influence the AP's work. Some, such as the Carnegie Corporation of New York, award hundreds of grants every year for a wide range of projects and most of them look reasonably harmless. Others have a much narrower range and thus are more likely to exert influence on the media for favorable coverage of those projects.

For example, the Charles Stewart Mott Foundation awards a significant number of grants to environmental issues, particularly climate change and renewable energy.

The Climate and Land Use Alliance "advances land use policies and finance that help countries achieve ambitious climate targets".

The Hearthland Foundation is focused on equity and justice, which are buzzwords of the radical left.

The Hollyhock Foundation has climate change as one of its priorities.

The KR Foundation's primary goal is "to address the root causes of climate change and environmental degradation". They fund projects that promote the elimination of fossil fuels, cars, and the consumption of meat.

The Nathan Cummings Foundation websites states "We believe the dual crises named in our mission (inequality and climate change) cannot be addressed without first addressing their root causes and oppressive manifestations. That’s why we are focused on the long-term and interconnected goal of advancing racial, economic, and environmental justice (REEJ)".

The Outrider Foundation "supports multimedia storytelling about nuclear threats and climate change". Its advisory board includes the infamous Michael E. Mann.

The Patrick J. McGovern Foundation pushes artificial intelligence and other digital technologies to solve "the world’s most pressing challenges, from the COVID-19 pandemic to climate change to health inequities".

Pivotal Philanthropies Foundation refers to Pivotal Ventures, a company founded by Melinda Gates that advances left-leaning ideologies, with diversity being their main focus.

Quadrivium has five main focus areas: democracy, technology & society, scientific understanding, climate change, and ocean health. How connected are they to the Associated Press? Their website brags, "We helped to stand up a climate desk at the Associated Press (AP). AP’s member cooperative business model helps the largest and smallest news organizations reach populations across a wide range of geographies and cultural and economic backgrounds with climate change stories that matter in their communities. Importantly, these stories improve public understanding of the existential threats we face as well as the many solutions available and underway." Quadrivium also helped set up an organization called 'SciLine', which among other things provides vaccine propaganda to news reporters. SciLine fails to mention any adverse reactions (such as death) from vaccines, choosing instead to repeat the standard "safe and effective" talking points of the medical industrial complex.

With the Associated Press accepting so much money from foundations with clear-cut agendas, especially climate change, its difficult to accept that the AP is impartial in its reporting. Reporters and editors are bound to self-censor even if there isn't a written policy to do so. News and research that runs counter to what the foundations pay for likely never sees the light of day.

Public ignorance is the inevitable result.

the mainstream media is a propaganda mill