The White House has launched a “Media Offender of the Week” website that it says will track what it designates as misleading news coverage. The site also features a “Hall of Shame” highlighting major media outlets, including CNN, MS Now (formerly known as MSNBC), The Washington Post and CBS News, posing accusations of biased or false reporting.
“The Trump @WhiteHouse is holding the Fake News accountable like never before,” press secretary Karoline Leavitt wrote on X as she announced the tracker on Friday.
Download the SAN app today to stay up-to-date with Unbiased. Straight Facts™.
Point phone camera here
The move is the latest tactic in President Donald Trump’s ongoing fight against mainstream news outlets he has repeatedly referred to as “fake news.” The launch also comes as Trump remains under scrutiny for his treatment of female journalists after telling a Bloomberg reporter, “Quiet. Quiet, piggy,” after she tried to ask a question about the Jeffrey Epstein files earlier this month.
Follows Trump’s controversial remarks to reporters
Last week, Trump called CBS News White House correspondent Nancy Cordes a “stupid person” after she asked a question about why he blamed the Biden administration for the shooting of two U.S. National Guard members in Washington, D.C. She noted that the Department of Justice had found that the suspect, along with other Afghans who fled after the fall of Kabul in 2021, had been thoroughly vetted before entering the U.S.
“Because they let him in. Are you stupid? Are you a stupid person?” Trump responded. “Because they came in on a plane, along with thousands of other people that shouldn’t be here, and you’re just asking questions because you’re a stupid person.”
He also lashed out at Katie Rogers, a New York Times correspondent who co-authored a critical piece on Trump’s physical stamina in his second term. In a Truth Social post, Trump called Rogers a “third-rate reporter” and “ugly, both inside and out.”
Concerns among free speech advocates and journalists
The tracker is raising concerns among those who argue that it is just the latest attack on freedom of the press by the Trump administration, and have panned it as a political “stunt.”
“People understand the obvious conflict inherent in a presidential administration appointing itself as the arbiter of media bias, and I expect that after the initial wave of publicity, few Americans will be paying attention to this latest stunt,” Seth Stern, director of advocacy at the Freedom of the Press Foundation, told The Washington Post. “The gimmick is wearing thin,” he added.
Some prominent media personalities have said the latest effort adds to the damage already done to the media industry through Trump’s lawsuit against several news outlets.
“I think Donald Trump has cracked the code on how to hurt the press in this country with these lawsuits that have been settled,” former CNN anchor Jim Acosta told MS Now on Saturday. “It’s done terrible damage to the industry, I think, by and large when he puts that kind of stuff up on the White House website.”
A spokesperson for The Post responded to the targeted effort by the Trump administration, saying that it “is proud of its accurate and rigorous journalism.”
What’s on the website?
The website has a number of sections that categorize news coverage under sections such as “Bias, “Lie,” “Malpractice” and “Left-wing lunacy.”
This week’s focus is on coverage of the president’s response to a video featuring six Democratic members of Congress, including Sen. Mark Kelly of Arizona, who called on service members to refuse illegal orders from the Trump administration. The president responded to the video on Truth Social, writing that the message from Democrats was “SEDITIOUS BEHAVIOR, punishable by DEATH!” and shared a comment stating “HANG THEM.”
The Pentagon recently announced it may recall Kelly, a retired Navy captain, to active duty to face a court martial related to the video.
The White House contends on its new website that some news outlets misrepresented Trump’s posts as calling for the deaths of the six Democrats. The Trump administration argues that instead the president had been calling for accountability for what he considered to be a message that encouraged insubordination among members of the military, while claiming “President Trump has never issued an illegal order.”
The tracker calls out a number of “repeat offenders,” which include The New York Times, The Associated Press, Politico, Axios, The HIll and ABC News.
The Wall Street Journal is featured on the website’s “leaderboard” as Trump’s $10 billion defamation lawsuit against the media outlet plays out over a July article that reported Trump sent a “bawdy” letter and drawing to Epstein for his 50th birthday in 2003. The president claims that the report is “fake, malicious and defamatory.” The Journal has defended its reporting.
CBS News listed despite recent praise from Trump
CBS News is significantly featured despite the president’s recent complimentary remarks about new leadership at the network and its parent company, including owner David Ellison and Bari Weiss, the new editor-in-chief for the news outlet.
Trump described Weiss as a “great person” and commended the changes she’s made at CBS News. His remarks came in a recent “60 Minutes” interview, marking his first interview with the network after he received a $16 million settlement over the editing of an interview with former Vice President Kamala Harris during the 2024 presidential race.
