Major news outlets under fire for 'tiptoeing' around Trump admin lies after Pretti killing

[BumRushDaShow]

Source: Raw Story

January 26, 2026 7:43PM ET


Two prominent critics warned on Monday that the US corporate media is not being aggressive enough in calling out the Trump administration’s lies about Alex Pretti, the Minneapolis resident who was slain by federal immigration agents over the weekend.

Writing on her Substack page, former New York Times public editor Margaret Sullivan expressed concern that many mainstream media publications were taking a wait-and-see approach in the wake of Pretti’s shooting, even as the Trump administration, Fox News, and other right-wing media websites were pumping out false claims about Pretti brandishing a weapon at federal officials and being a “domestic terrorist.”

Sullivan did praise many outlets, including the Times, the Washington Post, and CNN, for doing detailed and accurate breakdowns of videos showing Pretti’s fatal encounter with federal agents. However, she was dismayed that these outlets frequently hedged their language by saying that video evidence of the Pretti killing merely “appears to” contradict the administration’s claims.

“If the analyses do indeed ‘directly contradict’ the government’s claims, then say so—without fear or favor, as the motto goes,” Sullivan emphasized. “With what amounts to civil war raging in the United States, we desperately need clear, fearless truth-telling that doesn’t pull its punches and doesn’t hand a megaphone to lies and propaganda in the name of supposed fairness.” Former CNN anchor Jim Acosta similarly criticized US media outlets for being too timid in contradicting the administration’s lies about the Pretti killing.

Read more: https://www.rawstory.com/alex-pretti/

[UpInArms]

1. I hate the "appears to contradict " crap

The video PROVES they are LYING

[BumRushDaShow]

2. I think some of them do that so they don't get sued for defamation

or for some similar reason.

[UpInArms]

4. It is still bullshit

I am tired of being told not to believe my lying eyes

Thanks for being here, BRDS, I am just at my wits end

[BumRushDaShow]

8. Oh I know

because when it comes to their reporting of anyone on the left, they are as definitive as can be! No hedging or wishy-washy stuff.

[ificandream]

27. Yes, that's exactly it. They don't want to get sued.

Here's a link for all to read:

Why Do Journalists Use Words Like 'Claimed' and 'Alleged'?

By Ashley Ravid | Last updated on August 24, 2020

Have you ever read a news article about an "alleged" crime or event and wondered why it sounds like even the writer of the piece wasn't sure what happened? This isn't just because journalists are hurrying to be the first to break a story: It's actually to prevent a libel lawsuit.

[dlk]

30. Too many bullies misuse the courts as a weapon

They know they are wrong and their intent is to cause financial harm, anyway.

[twodogsbarking]

3. Looks like my fifty years of saying this is finally getting a following.

[raccoon]

5. As they damned well should be.

[bronxiteforever]

6. The billionaires own the media and the media's job

is to spew whatever is in the owner’s interests.
Thank the lord for DU and the underground independent media.

[dlk]

7. Too many news outlets take a mealy-mouthed approach to their reporting

Their weak and spineless approach is more about protecting ad dollars than accurately and fearlessly reporting the facts.

They are selling out our democracy every single day.

[ificandream]

28. It's about protecting their butts from a libel suit.

See the link I posted above.

[dlk]

31. Yes

I posted a comment in response.

[dalton99a]

9. Kick

[mdbl]

10. I guess they think there are still enough people without internet access to get away with it.

How stupid. The major news outlets have been digging their own graves for the past 15 months. Except, of course Fux Noooze which always seems to have a clutch of weirdos glued to their cable channel.

[Clouds Passing]

13. Faux watchers are bizarrre. They have it tuned in 24/7 and louder than loud.

They must need a new TV every six months.

[Gaytano70]

11. NBC too.

They showed frame by frame evidence to contradict the lying bullshit the regime has been spewing. Good on them. Go further!

[JPK]

21. When I watch broadcast news

Last edited Tue Jan 27, 2026, 04:20 PM - Edit history (1)

I watch NBC or ABC. I used to watch See BS until they fired Dan Rather, a real journalist who's career began in reporting from the jungles in the Viet Nam war and with Walter Cronkite at the helm of their broadcast. Fuck this Weiss person and her handlers. What is "news bias"? You are either reporting the facts or not and See BS is falling into the Fox News black hole of lies and bullshit.

[GusBob]

12. Fear and favor both hey

They have been covering for the lies going on 10 years now

[Mr.Bee]

14. 'federal immigration agents'

TRUMPSTOPO!

[enigmania]

15. I never imagined, back when I read the Times

daily, and watched Walter Cronkite, that the 4th estate would fail us so completely.

[BumRushDaShow]

20. We've been through that before

The Spanish American War and the Yellow Press

IOW, "yellow journalism" (a term my mom used often ).

[Ol Janx Spirit]

16. With the First Amendment, the Constitution envisions a "fourth estate" in specifically granting...

...freedom of "the press." This power was intended to wield political influence and help--with the assistance of the freedom of speech, religion, assembly, and the right to petition--be a check on the government by "we the people."

The media has decided over the last 250 years that its job is not to wield this power of influence, but to merely report the "news."

This is in large part the fault of journalism becoming a profession taught in schools that demanded journalists not allow themselves to be "part of the story." This ethos created the bothsideserism we find in the MSM today. Journalists are taught to speak through interviewing others; and to always get the "other side" of a story.

There are ways in which this has served us well, but it has gutted the concept of a fourth estate intended to keep the government in check.

So now a fifth estate is emerging: bloggers, independent journalists, and citizens with phone cameras. This fifth estate isn't tiptoeing around anything, but it is also subject to the blustery winds of easy to create and disseminate disinformation.

The question is: will any of it now be able to keep this government in check?

Even the founders envisioned a US government that would outright lie to the American people, but did they envision a population that would accept it with a shrug? Probably not.

[mountain grammy]

17. "it appears to be" "democrats say" "as she claims"

all the bullshit words that cover for their cowardly reporting.. it doesn't "appear" it is! It's not what someone "claims" it's the TRUTH!!

[Wednesdays]

18. File this under "No shit, Sherlock." nt

[Old Crank]

19. Just found out???

They have been tip toeing around Trump for 10 plus years

[ShazzieB]

25. True, but I think it's gotten worse since Schlump took office again ... or at least it feels worse.

The last year has been even more insane than anyone imagined, even those of us who knew it was going to be terrible. His behavior has steadily become more and outrageoous due to his slide into dementia. As a result, the disparity between what some of the news outlets are showing us and what we can see with our own eyes has become more wildly glaring than ever.

Now ICE has committed 2 cold blooded murders in Minneapolis in a few weeks time, murders that were filmed by multiple people from multiple angles. Those videos show the truth of what actually happened, which is an order of magnitude different from the lies the feds are spewing. People who were already upset about the completely unnecessary deaths of 2 innocent human beings are now being forced to witness their characters being assassinated by the same federal agency that was responsible for the shootings and is blocking local and state authorities from properly investigating the deaths.

The cognitive dissonance that has resulted from all of the above has reached a point that has become well nigh unbearable for all but the most loyal Trump humpers. As a result, whether the media is lying any more than they used to or not, things FEEL a lot different.

[Kid Berwyn]

22. "Tiptoe" is one way of putting it.

Willing accomplices to murder is another, like the treason.

[Miguelito Loveless]

23. The government is flat out lying, something the press refuses to say

[BattleRow]

24. Spinocchio presstitutes...

[johnnyplankton]

26. Rachel Called them out last night too

In her humorous, charming/biting way. I wonder how her own parent network is covering this shit...I don't watch mainstream media.

[Aussie105]

29. Par for the course.

No one medium wants to be the first to shout something like 'The stock market is crashing!' or 'Trump is destroying the country!'

But when one or two pluck up the courage to do so, others will follow.

Watch out for weasel words, allowing media to backtrack on what they said in case it backfires on them.
eg
'Some people say' . . .
'Unnamed source report' . . .
'At first glance is seems' . . .