Jagged little shill

You will be extremely unsurprised to learn that Bari Weiss was deeply involved in the decision to launder administration propaganda to justify shooting an unthreatening soccer mom three times in the face:

Some CBS News employees expressed concern after the network cited two anonymous “US officials” on Wednesday to report that the ICE officer who fatally shot Renee Nicole Good in Minneapolis “suffered internal bleeding to the torso” after the incident.

CBS initially published the account about officer Jonathan Ross on X, formerly Twitter. About 30 minutes later, the network followed up with another post, containing a link to an article by two correspondents that similarly cited “two US officials briefed on his medical condition”.

The report, which was not extensively covered by other news organizations, drew an immediate response on social media from critics who questioned the network’s sourcing – and whether it aligned with the Trump administration’s preferred focus.

But there was also internal skepticism at the network about the report, according to emails viewed by the Guardian. It was met with “huge internal concern” by some, one CBS News staffer said. Others viewed the conversations as standard editorial discussions.

Before the original report was published, a medical producer at the network suggested in an email to colleagues that “it would be helpful to ask what type of treatment he received”, and whether the officer received surgery or any other type of procedure.

In another email, an executive expressed skepticism about the broad nature of the medical diagnosis, and what it actually entailed. “I’m no doctor, but internal bleeding is a very broad term and can range in severity,” wrote CBS News senior vice-president David Reiter.

“A bruise is internal bleeding. But it can also be something serious,” Reiter continued. “We do know that the ICE agent walked away from the incident – we have that on camera.” (The network’s story noted that “videos from the scene showed Ross walking away after the incident”.)

The network’s top editor, Bari Weiss, expressed a high level of interest in the story on an editorial call Wednesday morning, according to staffers who listened.

“There was big internal dissension about the ‘internal bleeding’ report here last night,” the CBS News staffer, who was not authorized to speak publicly, said . “It was viewed as a thinly-veiled, anonymous leak by [the Trump administration] to someone who’d carry it online.”

Still no sign of the vastly better-reported CECOT story she spiked, by way. But stories that Stephen Miller would prefer not be told are held to a very different standard.

For some actual journalism, I strongly recommend this video analysis [gift link] of the Good murder by the Times, which clearly shows that 1)Ross clearly did not suffer any serious injury and 2)to the extent he was in any danger it was because of his own unnecessary actions.