| | Hey, | Last week was rough for the mainstream press. Here are four separate incidents across two major networks, all in five days. I want to walk you through what we found, because most of it got buried or was never corrected. | CNN claimed full editorial control over its Iran reporting. Its own correspondent said otherwise. CNN correspondent Frederik Pleitgen, who is reporting on the ground in Iran, described being assigned a regime handler who controlled where he could go. He was barred from certain locations and had to notify IRGC officials before approaching strike sites. Whatever you want to call that arrangement, it's not editorial independence. Which gets us to the next story… | CNN staff attended a party at the Iranian Embassy. (Not a press event, a party.) CNN's London bureau chief and chief global affairs correspondent showed up to a celebration marking the founding of the Islamic Republic. This was the same day a human rights group reported the regime had killed at least 7,000 of its own citizens. They didn't bring cameras, recording equipment, or press credentials. Neither person published anything afterward. CNN said they were there for "journalistic purposes," but journalists who show up to events for journalistic purposes tend to bring cameras and write stories. They did neither. | CNN quietly updated a story claiming the White House had no war plan for Iran. The original piece, citing anonymous sources, said Trump's national security team hadn't accounted for Iran closing the Strait of Hormuz. The White House pushed back, pointing out the Pentagon has had plans for that scenario for decades. CNN then quietly added a clarification. Most people who saw the original will never see the update. | Next…let's not forget about NBC. They ran a segment from inside a Cuban hospital blaming the crisis entirely on the US energy embargo. They never even used the words Castro, communism, dictatorship, or regime in their reporting. The hospital they filmed looked nothing like the facilities ordinary Cubans actually use — photos that surfaced afterward showed people waiting on the ground for care, crumbling buildings, shortages of doctors and basic supplies. It was a carefully curated tour pretending to be authentic journalism. | And of course, social media algorithms boosted a hoax. On X, a clip of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu went viral with a caption making it look like he mocked Jesus. He didn't. He was summarizing a passage from Will Durant's The Lessons of History — an argument that in geopolitics, good doesn't automatically triumph over evil, and that strength is required to protect it. Millions saw the distorted version. The real story was barely seen. As we know, people are trying to demonize support for Israel and turn American Christians against it. | Here's what all of this adds up to: | Tens and tens of millions of Americans get their news from CNN, NBC, and social media. That means tens of millions of people are being actively misled about some of the most important global events of our lifetimes. They want to tank the Trump administration's efforts against Iran — a regime that has been exporting terror across the Middle East for decades. A regime that funds Hezbollah, Hamas, and the Houthis. A regime that kills its own people and throws parties about it. | I've been reading a biography about Napoleon lately. One line stuck with me: | "When war is waged against a single power there must be but one army, acting on one line and led by one chief." |
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| America doesn't work like that. Our leaders answer to us, and public opinion can override foreign policy. That's a blessing — it's what makes this country what it is. But it's also a feature that can be exploited. The media knows it. Foreign governments know it. The media is working to erode support for confronting Iran because they want Trump to lose. Foreign actors are doing it because they want to save the regime. | Both have the same playbook: turn the American public against the effort, and the effort dies. Can you imagine if Biden had finally had the guts to take on Iran? What would CNN and NBC be saying then? You already know the answer. | This is why Brandon and I do what we do. Monday through Friday, we go through the news, pull transcripts, cross-reference sources, and figure out what actually happened versus what mainstream outlets — and our adversaries — want you to believe. It takes hours. And it's the whole reason Upward News exists. | I want to ask for your support. | You're on the free list, which means you're getting a portion of what we publish — but about 40% of our most important work doesn't make it to your inbox. The full investigations, the hoax tracking, the pieces that take a whole day to put together — those go to paying members. That's how we keep the lights on. No corporate money. Just our readers. | We're offering 15% off right now. If you've been reading for a while and you find what we do valuable, I'd really appreciate you joining. It's just me and Brandon, and every membership matters more than people realize. |
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| | About 95% of our paying members stick with us. Whether it's because of the extra reporting or because they believe in supporting independent journalism, they find it worth it. We think you will too. | | Thanks for being here. | — Ariel |
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