Here at Twitchy we cover media hackery on a regular basis, but that effort has been ramped up ever since the start of Operation Epic Fury in Iran, which has sent "journalism" into fake news overdrive.
This story from ABC News this week caught the attention of the Trump White House press office both for what it says and was it doesn't say. This is intended to cause some alarm:
BREAKING: The FBI has warned police departments in California that Iran wants to retaliate for American attacks by launching offensive drones against the West Coast, according to an alert reviewed by @ABC News.
— ABC News (@ABC) March 11, 2026
Read more: https://t.co/LNR2dkGK8T pic.twitter.com/gMwi9Xbtyc
White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt blasted that report and also mentioned something that was clearly intentionally omitted from the story:
This post and story should be immediately retracted by ABC News for providing false information to intentionally alarm the American people.
— Karoline Leavitt (@PressSec) March 12, 2026
They wrote this based on one email that was sent to local law enforcement in California about a single, unverified tip. The email even… https://t.co/jKey9ahsNk
— Karoline Leavitt (@PressSec) March 12, 2026
Yes indeed, ABC News didn't think the "unverified" part was important enough to include in the story:
They wrote this based on one email that was sent to local law enforcement in California about a single, unverified tip. The email even states the tip was based on *unverified* intelligence. Yet ABC News left out this critical fact in their story! WHY?
TO BE CLEAR: No such threat from Iran to our homeland exists, and it never did.
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Then again, these are the same "journalists" who manufacture outrage and fear regularly based on anonymous sources or a "person knowledgeable with the situation," so we're not surprised.
I, for one, am shocked - SHOCKED, I say - that a "news" organization would sensationalize a story like this. https://t.co/jWfw8nQmMu
— RBe (@RBPundit) March 12, 2026
This type of 'reporting' is just flat out irresponsible. The media doesn't care about the facts; they care about taking info out of context to generate clicks and scare the American people. https://t.co/sWJVvL5NJ7
— Abigail Jackson 🇺🇸 (@abigailmarone) March 12, 2026
But the Democrats got some talking points out of that story, so in the world of modern "journalism" it served its purpose.
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