The White House is calling on the public to report what it has dubbed “Fake News”—the latest escalation of President Donald Trump’s attacks on the media.
The White House recently launched what it is calling a “Media Bias Portal,” which lists journalists, news outlets, and articles that it has deemed biased against the Trump Administration. On Tuesday, the White House announced a tipline, encouraging Americans to “submit biased or undeniably false articles” in order to help “keep the Media Bias Portal updated.”
[time-brightcove not-tgx=”true”]
The portal, the White House said, is “a service to truth and transparency.”
“Its purpose is to combat the baseless lies, purposely omitted context, and outright left-wing lunacy of the Fake News Media—a tall task that demands the help of everyone who believes in facts and accuracy over Fake News,” it continued. “So-called ‘journalists’ have made it impossible to identify every false or misleading story, which is why help from the American people is essential. The days of the Fake News Media controlling the narrative with lies, fake anonymous sources, and willful bias are over.”
Here’s what to know.
What is the “Media Bias Portal”?
The portal includes an “Offender Hall of Shame”—a database of articles, news outlets, and reporters that the White House classifies with categories including “bias,” a “false claim,” a “lie,” “left-wing lunacy,” or “misrepresentation.”
The page also lists the “media offender of the week.” This week, the White House has singled out three news outlets: The Boston Globe, CBS News, and The Independent. It also targeted multiple journalists, including The Independent’s White House correspondent Andrew Feinberg and Washington Bureau Chief Eric Garcia.
The two journalists responded to being listed on the portal on their social media pages.
“The White House is providing a valuable service by curating this guide to top-notch, fact-based reporting,” Feinberg said in a post on X on Monday. He added that people can read The Independent’s reporting on its website or app.
“FWIW, all jokes about Trump putting me on a list aside, I can still do my job,” Garcia said in a post on X on Monday. “That’s very different from journalists in Saudi Arabia, Ukraine and Gaza. A few months ago, an Israeli strike killed Maryam Abu Daqqa, who wrote for my outlet. I’m blessed.”
The portal blasts the media’s coverage of Trump’s reaction to a video released by six Democratic lawmakers that urged members of the military and the intelligence community to refuse unlawful orders.
“The media misrepresented President Trump’s call for Members of Congress to be held accountable for inciting sedition by saying that he called for their ‘execution,’” the portal says. “The Democrats and Fake News Media subversively implied that President Trump had issued illegal orders to service members. Every order President Trump has issued has been lawful. It is dangerous for sitting Members of Congress to incite insubordination in the United States’ military, and President Trump called for them to be held accountable.”
None of the Democratic lawmakers in the video mentioned specific orders issued by the President; rather, the politicians said that members of the military and intelligence community “can refuse illegal orders.” Legal experts previously told TIME that there was nothing illegal about the message. The Uniform Code of Military Justice says that service members must “obey any lawful general order or regulation.” But service members are allowed to refuse unlawful orders.
The Trump Administration’s use of the military has sparked legal scrutiny this year. Judges have recently ruled that Trump broke the law when he deployed National Guard troops to Washington, D.C., and Los Angeles.
The President, though, labeled the lawmakers “seditious” and called for them to be arrested.
“SEDITIOUS BEHAVIOR, punishable by DEATH!” he posted on Truth Social. He also reposted several social media posts that condemned the lawmakers, including one from a user calling for them to be hanged (that post appears to have since been taken down).
Trump’s attacks on the media
Trump has a long history of firing attacks at the media—he popularized the term “fake news,” which he’s continued to use in his second term against mainstream media outlets that publish stories about him that he deems unfavorable. Trump has also filed several lawsuits against news outlets over the past few months, including CBS News, ABC News, and multiple parties associated with the Wall Street Journal. His complaints against CBS News and ABC News have been settled, while the suit against the Journal is still ongoing.
And the President has come under renewed fire for his attacks against the press—particularly female reporters—in recent weeks.
Last week, he called a New York Times journalist “a third rate reporter who is ugly, both inside and out,” after she co-wrote an article about how he has shown “signs of fatigue” since he took office again at the start of the year.
Earlier in November, when a Bloomberg News reporter asked Trump a question about the files in the late convicted sex offender Jeffrery Epstein’s case, the President replied, “Quiet, piggy.”
The post White House Escalates Trump Attacks on Press With ‘Media Offenders’ Website and Tipline: What to Know appeared first on TIME.
