Media Exposed with Adam Weiss - May 3, 2026

Summary

Podcast Summary: Media Exposed with Adam Weiss

Podcast: Real America’s Voice
Episode Airdate: May 3, 2026
Host: Adam Weiss
Notable Guests: Raquel De Bono, John Arundell, Jim Norton, Justine Brooke Murray

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Episode Overview

This episode of Media Exposed dives into the chaos and fallout of a third recent assassination attempt against President Donald Trump during the White House Correspondents’ Dinner. Host Adam Weiss and his guests analyze security failures, discuss media priorities and narrative framing, critique controversial comments from late-night host Jimmy Kimmel, and dissect the negative tone in media coverage of ongoing U.S. war efforts. The episode also features firsthand accounts from attendees and sharp debate on the boundaries of political comedy.

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Key Discussion Points and Insights

1. Security Lapses at the White House Correspondents’ Dinner

• Incident Recap:
  A heavily-armed suspect managed to breach the hotel lobby and approach high-profile guests, sparking chaos and confusion ([02:27], [12:43]).
• Media Focus Criticism:
  Weiss criticizes the press for concentrating on "the social scene" rather than glaring security issues (04:13).
• Atmosphere Described:
  Both Weiss and guest Raquel De Bono give their firsthand impressions of underwhelming security, chaotic entry lines, and cavalier bag checks ([04:48]–[10:37]).

  “It’s more difficult to get into a bar in New York City on a Thursday night than it was to get into the White House correspondents’ dinner. And that is truly problematic.”
  — Raquel De Bono (06:37)

• Contrast with Trump Events:
  The lack of precautions was compared to the typically rigorous screening at Trump rallies ([09:44]).

2. Tense Reactions and Fallout After the Attempt

• Scene Inside the Dinner:
  Described as "out of a movie" with attendees diving under tables and Secret Service scrambling ([12:43], [14:45]).
• Viral Moments:
  Photos of high-profile male attendees shielding their families went viral, which Weiss frames as a positive image of masculinity ([12:43]).
• Presidential Response:
  Trump expressed composure during the post-incident press conference ([17:39]):

  "It was pretty loud noise and it was from quite far away. He hadn’t breached the area at all. They really got him."
  — President Donald Trump (17:39)

3. Media Narrative and Divided Reaction

• Disputed Legitimacy:
  Competing narratives emerged about whether the incident was legitimate or staged ([13:12]).
• Tone-Deaf Interview:
  Host highlights a clash between CNN's Brian Stelter and Trump spokesperson Caroline Levitt, critiquing the question’s timing and appropriateness ([06:56]–[08:03]).

  “The woman is just about to, you know, go on maternity leave. He’s about to give her a heart attack... and it’s just constant jabs from the left.”
  — Raquel De Bono (08:03)

• Comparison with Past Incidents:
  John Arundell draws parallels with the Reagan attempt at the same venue ([18:26]).

4. Controversy Over Jimmy Kimmel’s Joke and Media Defense

• FCC Investigation:
  Following Kimmel’s monologue making light of the first lady’s potential widowhood after a Trump assassination attempt, the FCC launches a review of ABC programming ([24:43]).
• Debate on Comedy Boundaries:
  Guest Jim Norton defends free speech, arguing the FCC should stay out of content policing ([26:59], [29:02]):

  “I have no problem with a comedian or a guy trying to be funny making fun of anybody in any way they see fit.”
  — Jim Norton (27:20)

• First Lady’s Response:
  Melania Trump’s strong condemnation of Kimmel’s remarks is quoted at length ([30:22]):

  “Kimmel’s hateful and violent rhetoric is intended to divide our country... His words are corrosive and deepens the political sickness within America.”
  — Melania Trump tweet (31:05)

• Media Double Standard:
  Both Weiss and Norton discuss the perceived hypocrisy in media outrage depending on political alignment ([28:14], [32:36]).

5. Ongoing War and Media Coverage Bias

• Media Negativity:
  Weiss critiques the near-unanimous negative framing (88%) of war coverage, focusing on economic pain and divisiveness at the expense of strategic context ([37:00]–[43:42]).
• Coverage Omission:
  Mainstream outlets accused of ignoring positive developments and some major stories, such as alleged fraud in social services ([37:00], [45:23]).
• Analyst Justine Brooke Murray’s Perspective:
  Critiques media’s “Trump derangement syndrome” and claims press bias fuels divisiveness and even violence ([39:35]–[41:10]).

  “They called our speech violence... They created those terms to shut us up and also in turn to justify violence against anybody who disagrees with them.”
  — Justine Brooke Murray (39:35)

• Alternative Journalism Highlighted:
  Young independent reporter Nick Shirley is credited for exposing fraud that mainstream outlets ignored ([45:23]).

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Notable Quotes and Memorable Moments

• On Security:

  “You could have walked in any of those rooms and shot the place up. Thank God he came an hour later, you know?”
  — Adam Weiss ([09:07])

• On Media Priorities:

  "Major networks accused of ignoring key stories... The bigger picture is trust in media continues to be tested with claims of negative framing on one hand and omission on the other."
  — Adam Weiss ([37:00])

• On Press Conduct:

  “I’m not a rapist. I didn’t rape anybody.”
  — President Donald Trump responding to Nora Donnell referencing the would-be assassin’s manifesto ([19:28])

• On Late-Night Comedy Double-Standards:

  “If you believe in free expression... that kind of has to go across the board whether we like the guy making the joke and regardless of how we feel about the target of the joke.”
  — Jim Norton ([27:20])

• On Social Contagion and Political Violence:

  “If you tell someone over and over again in class... that person was getting picked on... that’s what the media’s done to Trump.”
  — Adam Weiss ([37:00])

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Timestamps for Critical Segments

• [02:27] Recap of the dinner-night security scare
• [04:48]–[10:37] Weiss & De Bono discuss lax security and chaotic entry
• [06:56]–[08:03] Brian Stelter’s controversial interview with L Levitt
• [12:43] Inside-the-room reactions to the shooting threat
• [17:39] President Trump’s calm post-incident press conference
• [19:28] Trump’s intense exchange with Norah O’Donnell
• [24:43]–[32:36] Debate on Jimmy Kimmel, FCC and the boundaries of comedy
• [37:00]–[43:42] Analysis of negative war coverage and media trust
• [45:23] Highlight of independent journalism’s impact on policy/action

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Flow and Tone

The episode maintains an urgent, combative, and sometimes incredulous tone, marked by firsthand storytelling, grievances with mainstream media, and passionate defenses of free speech. Guests range from political insiders and media watchdogs to comedians, providing both gravitas and moments of levity. The approach is unapologetically opinionated, often blending vivid anecdotes with sharp critique.

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For New Listeners

If you missed this episode, it offers detailed firsthand accounts of a major security breach at one of D.C.’s most exclusive events, a behind-the-scenes look at media priorities, a lively debate over the limits of political comedy in light of real-world violence, and a critical examination of the tone and omissions in U.S. war coverage. It concludes by celebrating independent journalism for exposing overlooked stories and calling for broadening perspectives—and heightened vigilance—both in newsrooms and among political elites.

Transcript

[Adam Wise]

This is an iHeart podcast. Guaranteed Human.

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[Adam Wise]

Welcome to Media Exposed. This week we're going to take a look at another assassination attempt against the President of the United States. I was there for the pre parties. I'm going to tell you what security was like. What's it like being in those rooms. Who did I meet? The lackluster press corps. The graciousness of the President. Most going to talk about Jimmy Kimmel. This man will never stop cease to amaze all of us. His, his filthy behavior. I mean I don't know how someone keeps a job like that. We're going to just dissect what he said about the first lady and the reaction for the president and the first lady. Want to take a look at the war still going on. How's the media coverage been holding up on the war that's only been in effect for two months considering we have wars that could last decades. That and more coming up on Media Exposed.

[Carol Levitt]

Do you dare to follow me down?

[Donald Trump]

What they do say is fake news.

[Carol Levitt]

Head into the unknown.

[Adam Wise]

That's how devious the media has become. They're full force activists now. They colluded.

[Carol Levitt]

Trump folks were in on it down

[Adam Wise]

the Ravi sways elections, sways policy. We need to expose them. Republicans trash the country.

[Carol Levitt]

Where it stops no one knows we're going through.

[Adam Wise]

I've been doing this since I was 18. I've had hit jobs done against me. I've been attacked by media reporters. Am I afraid no truth will prevail. Fake news media, we're here to call you out

[Carol Levitt]

into the unknown.

[Podcast Host/Announcer]

Media Exposed with Adam Wise starts now.

[Adam Wise]

Welcome back to Media Exposed. White House correspondence dinner last weekend. What a security scare. Armed suspect breaches the hotel perimeter, reaches the hotel lobby breaches the downstairs. A man carrying multiple weapons who was staying on the premises including a shotgun was stopped by Secret Service near the Washington near the actual ballroom during the White House Correspondent Week and raising serious and major concern about how close was he. How was he able to get to one of the most profitable get pro high profile. The President, the vice president and the speaker were all in the room at the same time warning signs before the answers. A tense atmosphere outside radical protests. I saw it was overlooked in hours leading up to it. They stand there with the most vile vicious signs. Despite this, much of the media focus remained on the social scene. They're so full of themselves. Let's say a little bit coverage in the political Personas rather than escalating tone on the ground inside the pre party circa media prioritizes access over awareness. Events hosted by the major Fox, abc, Reuters, through top media figures. We'll talk about that. But coverage centered on the network's presence and personalities with little attention on the security. When we have a president that's, you know, this is his third attempt but I'm going to show you. Brian Stelter asked a really tone deaf question and how did they get that far, the media? How did this person actually get through the ballroom? Trying to run into the massive ballroom with the speaker, the vice president? The president was. We're going to talk about that more. I want to welcome my first guest, Raquel De Bono. He's Make America Hot again. Raquel, thanks for joining us again.

[Raquel De Bono]

Thanks for having me,

[Adam Wise]

Raquel. I know I saw on because I, you know, I saw you were there as well. So I wanted to bring in someone that was in the room as well to dissect what it was like being in the room because you know, for me I've been there probably a dozen times. I've been to the dinners a lot of times. But it felt a little weird walking up because when I walked in the front those signs were really terrible signs like kill them all. What used to be calm protests, like radical protesters, vicious mean people on the left. So did you come through the front as well?

[Raquel De Bono]

Yeah, I mean the reality is it's really tragic that we can no longer have a nice bipartisan event. I mean we got let out of the Uber a few blocks away and you know, we're wearing six inch heels and ball gowns and trekking through the rain and all you have to do to walk through to the perimeter is literally just show your ticket for one second. And so we walked up and we were standing outside in the rain for about 30 minutes waiting to be let in. It was a complete mess. It felt like TSA preached non pre check line. You know, it's, this is the general admission TSA line we're talking about. And you know the agents outside were just sort of yelling at everyone and it was, it was really a mess.

[Adam Wise]

What time did I got there? I say I got there about 5:40 and I walked, I walked right into the gate in front. I just said, here's my, I'm going to the pre party. Here's an email. I don't think they, I don't think they looked at the email. But then I got into a lobby and it was chaos in the lobby. And then I took one escalator down and I said, I'm here for the pre party. And then the second escalator down for more pre parties. And that's where I was in the ABC and FOX party. Which, which event did you attend before? The actual big dining hall dining dinner?

[Raquel De Bono]

Yeah, so I was also at the ABC party. So we walked in, we were standing outside for about 30 minutes. I probably got there around 6:15. You know, there's a line of people waiting to take pictures in front of the red carpet and you're standing at the door with some of the most important people in political media. And that's the part that's really sort of terrifying. Right. We had to part the way to make room for Secret Service to come through with dogs at one point. But other than that, no bag check. I mean, it's easier, it's more difficult to get into a bar in New York City on a Thursday night than it was to get into the White House correspondence dinner. And that is truly problematic.

[Adam Wise]

So next time, get there early so you can get in, enjoy yourself, because by the time you got to the ABC party, you probably couldn't even get to the bar. Right. Let's go to one disaster. Let's go to cut one. It's Brian Stelter with CNN interviewing Carol Levitt before the dinner.

[Brian Stelter]

So tell us what to expect from your boss tonight.

[Carol Levitt]

Sure. Look, this speech will be highly entertaining. It's going to be classic President Trump. There will be some comedy throughout. There will be some jabs thrown. I think it's appropriate for a night like this. But I'm really glad that the President is here and I know he's really looking forward to it. It's the 250th anniversary of our country and he's definitely the most accessible president we've ever had.

[Brian Stelter]

So I know you say he's very accessible, but so often he tries to demonize the press. Is he coming here tonight admitting that the free press is an important part of the country and that actually he's conceding that by showing up for the first time?

[Carol Levitt]

Well, of course he believes that. That's why he talks to journalists personally. Half of this room will have his personal phone number and have spoken to him. He takes their calls, he answers their questions. And he tussles back and forth, too. I think he likes to hold people accountable. You'll see a mix of both of that tonight. It's going to be great. It'll be fun. And we're happy to be here.

[Brian Stelter]

We appreciate the preview.

[Donald Trump]

Thank you.

[Adam Wise]

Even on the night, they're supposed to be gracious and come together and it's supposed to be a warm feeling. Well, he's got to take a potshot. Looks like she's about to burst any minute. You have to give her stress on this night. What do you think of that question by Brian Stelter?

[Raquel De Bono]

I mean, the woman is just about to, you know, go on maternity leave. He's about to give her a. Give her a heart attack or something on that carpet, I'll tell you. But it's just completely inappropriate. Again, she's trying to be, you know, uplifting and really be there to have this bipartisan effort to support the president. And again, it's just constant jabs from the left.

[Adam Wise]

Yeah. I want to show a couple of photos here. This is my first photo. Photo one, me and Blair at the Fox party on the screen. And then they had this background. When you're in the Fox party, next door to ABC was Fox. Second photo, I'm with Carol Levitt and she's about to burst. That was probably 40 minutes before the shooter got in. That's at the Fox party as well. I go to photo 4. This is this girl Keegan, who's her assistant. We'll go to photo 6. If we get it up. I'm going to show Raquel on the step and repeat. There you are. I don't know if that's the second floor when you first one escalated down or was that the bottom. Was that the.

[Raquel De Bono]

That was.

[Adam Wise]

Was that. Was that the second floor, the big step and repeat.

[Jim Norton]

Yeah.

[Raquel De Bono]

Before you sorties, I think it was

[Adam Wise]

where I entered one flight. That was. That was. That was one escalated down, right? That was. And then they have that repeat straight ahead. Yeah. So that's one flight down. And that's where the. That's where the madman, the shooter ran in to the second floor by the step and repeat. Because if he went one floor down where we were in at the ABC party, If you came 45 minutes earlier, who knows? There was no security, no metal detectors. You could have walked in any one of those rooms and shot the place up. Thank God. Thank God he came an hour later, you know, so.

[Raquel De Bono]

Yeah. And I mean, it's really terrifying if you compare it to events in the past and other, you know, Trump rallies. And you know, they usually confiscate things. You can they, they do a bag check. And really there was none of that. I just walked in and showed my ticket. There was like a two tiered security system, I will say so right before you entered the dinner, there were metal detectors and extra security measures in place. But the reality is all the most important people were standing on that red carpet. Why was that room not more locked down?

[Adam Wise]

Cabinet secretaries in the pre parties, ABC and Fox, there were the highest level officials. I was in the room. Stephen Miller, Caroline Levitt, Brendan Carr, Cabinet officials in those rooms. It was only until you walked after you left ABC or Fox, you walk a little bit ahead and there's the metal detectors to get into the big ballroom. Did you happen to go into the ballroom? Did you go for the dinner or you left afterwards after the ballroom?

[Raquel De Bono]

No, I left after the pre party. But it was funny because I looked at my friend and I go, this seems off. Compared to all the Trump rallies we've been to and all the security measures that are usually in place, this seems off. And she looked at me like I was crazy.

[Adam Wise]

And with the Trump rally, it's just Trump. You had everybody there. You had every second, almost every secretary. You had the speaker of the House, the vice president. Security had been on lockdown. They shut at entrances. They should have metal detectors on every entrance. It was really sad and kind of weird that we're living in this alternative universe, not protecting the highest officials in the country. But I'm glad you got a taste of Washington. I'm sorry it happened. I'm sorry this happened. While you were there, where did you. And we'll talk later about where else you ended up that weekend. So, Raquel, thanks for joining us again. I'll see you soon. Thank you.

[Raquel De Bono]

Thank you.

[Adam Wise]

Coming up next, we're going to talk about the dinner and what happened after the dinner. It was like out of a movie. You think all this stuff happens in movies. Surreal. The dinner was postponed and they said they're going to do it in a month. That more coming up on Media Exposed.

[Podcast Host/Announcer]

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[Adam Wise]

Welcome back to Media Exposed. It was chaos after the dinner Security scare sends shockwaves through the White House correspondent. The people diving under the tables, people protecting their wives. A viral photo of Steve Miller went photo of Steve Miller protecting his wife went viral. It showed him, you know, protect the woman. And it was a bunch of men like that. It was very, you know, alluring to society to show that, you know, masculine men jumped on top of the women. All across the White House dinner and following the armed threat near the Washington Hilton attendees faced confusion. They didn't know where to go. Heightened security and Trump even made the point he wanted to keep going and come back. Rapid shift in tone from celebration to concern is Lawrence Fussman locked down the areas and assessed the threat. Donald Trump responds and it would a major post dinner press conference. It was like out of a movie. In the aftermath, Trump addressed the incident commenting on the response overall handling of the situation as a video from the press circulate widely across the media of the Trump the leadership spoke out. The leadership of the White House correspondents was there. Wei Xi Jiang addressed the concern. She addressed concerns and the incident serious. What was such a serious threat and the need for review. The media narrative split debate emerged over incidents legitimacy and motive. Some people even said it was state some conspiracy theorists out there with some outlets raising questions about the incident itself while others focus on security failures creating divided media response. I want to welcome my next guest John Arundell. John is director of Perdiccas pr an insider long term longtime Washington insider who's probably at more Washington correspondence weekend parties and even myself because I only got there on Saturday. John, thanks for joining us. The first time media Exposed.

[John Arundell]

Thanks so much, Adam. You know, I've been to about 15 of these things and I've, I've hosted a bunch of parties as well.

[Adam Wise]

So this is it's almost out of a day. It's almost out of a movie. Yeah.

[John Arundell]

You know, went from black tie to sheer panic in seconds.

[Adam Wise]

Yeah.

[John Arundell]

I want to one minute it's laughter and headlines and it's a survival instinct.

[Adam Wise]

Yeah. People were under the table. You know, precautions were happening. Shots were fired. Nobody knew what was happening at that last minute. But if the guy showed up, like I said earlier at the pre parties, there was no metal detectors, no patting anybody down just a little down the hallway. I was at, I was at abc, I was at Fox with Cabinet secretaries, with the, the highest officials in the government, Carolyn Levitt, Stephen Miller, Brendan Carr, Cabinet officials, the Fox News anchors. And you know what, they never did any metal detectors in those rooms. Thankfully he came later. And at that point I figured there was no way he's going to get him when the President was in that room with the military dhs. But I want to show you this. I want to show the audience this first cut. This is Trump. This is the Secret Service evacuating Trump off the state. Let's go to cut two. The mentalist was speaking at that moment was guessing Carolyn Levitt's baby name. And I think he got it right. And then the secret sir rushed in. This is something you'd only see in a movie. And then Trump wanted to continue, but they said no way and they canceled the dinner. I want to jump to this next cut, John, we're going to cut three. And they rushed back to the White House and had a press conference. Let me show you cut three here.

[Donald Trump]

Madam Chairman, I just want to say you did a fantastic job. What a beautiful evening. And we're going to reschedule

[Adam Wise]

and after

[Donald Trump]

that, that it's very tough for her to ask a killer question. Right. But you have done a fantastic job. Please.

[Wei Xi Jiang]

Thank you, Mr. President. I appreciate it. As you mentioned, it all happened so quickly and I wonder, especially because unfortunately you have experience with these sorts of threats in that moment when you realize there was a threat and service agents were telling us to get down. Can you describe what was going through your mind, how you were feeling in that moment?

[Donald Trump]

That's a very good question. Actually. It was, it's always shocking when something like this happens. Happened to me a little bit. And that never changes the fact. We were sitting right next to each other, the first lady on my right and I heard a noise and sort of thought it was a tray. I thought it was a tray going down. I've heard that many times. And it was pretty loud noise and it was from quite far away. He hadn't breached the area at all. They really got him. But. So it was quite far away.

[Adam Wise]

But it was a gun, John. What a common presence. I think right after that was right after the shooting attempt. You know, this is the third time. I hope he's not getting used to it. But, you know, give me your thoughts on the press conference right after.

[John Arundell]

Yeah, I think he did a masterful job and he is just one of the most courageous men that's ever lived to be able to survive three assassination attempts like this. Of course, Ronald Reagan was not so lucky at the Hilton Hotel because he obviously ended up in the hospital. And of course, here in D.C. we all call it the Hinckley Hilton, jokingly, but now it's not a joke anymore.

[Adam Wise]

I know. So the common presence of Trump the next day, that night, even with Liu Ji Jang, who's the president of the White House Correspondents association, he's never been a friendly reporter towards the president, his movement, but he was so gracious towards her. He said, you did a wonderful job to the press and as graceful he was. And all his cabinet secretaries came out for the White House correspondence. And, you know, we all know he hasn't been treated fairly. He gave us exclusive to 60 minutes the next night. And I want to show you what Norah Donald, one of the questions she asked. So let's go to cut four.

[Donald Trump]

I'm not a rapist. I didn't rape anybody.

[Adam Wise]

Oh, you're not a pedophile?

[Donald Trump]

Excuse me? I'm not a pedophile. You read that crap from some sick person? I got associated with all stuff that has nothing to do with me. I was totally exonerated. Your friends on the other side of the plate are the ones that were involved with, let's say, Epstein or other things. But I said to myself, you know, I'll do this interview and they'll probably, I read the manifesto. You know, he's a sick person. But you should be ashamed of yourself reading that, because I'm not any of those things.

[Adam Wise]

So what happened, John, is he gave the excuse 60 minutes and she read his manifesto. He says, I can't let a pedophile rapist go Brutus anymore. And she read it to his face. And not even 24 hours after that attempt. I mean, Nora, come on, what do you give me your thoughts on that? The way he responded back to her question.

[John Arundell]

Well, I don't think that she should have read that because those are the rantings of a madman. And, you know, journalists should be more responsible and that people say all sorts of crap out there and they really shouldn't be putting out the ramblings of a complete psycho crazed man. But, you know, from Nora's perspective, I think it probably got the emotional sort of reaction that she wanted, the sort of gotcha moment of I'm Not a rapist and that kind of thing. So, you know, it got the reaction that she wanted.

[Adam Wise]

But if it was Obama sitting in that seat, I don't think she'd be asking that question in a sensitive manner. After the president was third attempt, assassination attempt, I don't think it would happen that way. So.

[John Arundell]

Absolutely not.

[Adam Wise]

Strange weekend, right? It was a strange weekend. The president a third time. But you know what he said, John, we're going ahead with this. We're going to go 30 days and they're working on a new one. But things have to change if you're going to do this again. Give me your thoughts. You think they should just reboot it 30 days later?

[John Arundell]

Well, that's what the president wants. I mean, you know, you have to wonder about the 2000 stakes that were that, that went to waste that night. According to the Hilton, actually they gave them to the homeless people. But how do you do a redo this massive, this big 30 days later, you have to wonder, you know, can they reboot this thing 30 days later in such a manner? Because this is, this is our Super Bowl, Adam. You know, this is our biggest weekend of the year.

[Adam Wise]

John. I said the nerd prom was back and the cool kid was finally showing up, right? And the cool kid was Trump. And 11 years, 10, 11 years he never showed up. And he finally said, you know what, let's go, let's go be gracious, let's show up. And this is what happened. Hopefully this doesn't happen again. If they do it again, hopefully they got to have better security. They have these checkpoints outside, inside, second floor with the step and repeaters. They need metal detectors all over. This is the president, vice president, speaker. John, I want to thank you for joining us. First time meeting in spade. I'll see you soon. Thanks, John. Coming up next.

[John Arundell]

Thank you, Adam.

[Adam Wise]

We're going to take a look at, we're going to take a look at Jimmy Kimmel. Oh, man, he's making news again. What did he say about the first lady? What did he say about the president? That and more coming up on Media Exposed. Sam.

[Podcast Host/Announcer]

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[Adam Wise]

Welcome back to Media Exposed. The FCC is going to it says it's taking aim at late night. Federal Communications Commission opens a review into ABC programming, the ABC stations they own. That is a new report highlighting growing scrutiny over network content, including late night host Jimmy Kimmel. As questions mount over such political bias and the broadcast Kimmel jokes sparked outrage. It wasn't until actually the assassination attempt that people saw his clip from the previous night. And during a Friday night monologue, Kimmel made a joke suggesting first lady Melania Trump might be better off if President Trump were dead. A comment that quickly exploded given the timing just hours prior to the real security threat for a real assassination, timing turns punchline into a major flash. What might have been overlooked becomes national controversy. Critics argue that without the shooting incident, the joke may have passed with little notice. But in the context of real world violence, it landed differently. No apology. Kim actually doubled down and clarified intent instead of waiting it back and saying I apologize, first lady, I apologize to the president. I went too far. Again, he says the joke wasn't meant literally. Framing it was as he was just talking about his age, a response that only feel more immediate media. And then of course, the media came to his defense. CNN came to his defense. Other outlets came to his defense. Double standard, like always, questions over what crosses the line. The moment has reignited a familiar debate. When does political comedy become inappropriate? And would the reaction be different from comedy to controversy? I want to welcome my next guest, Jim Norton. Comedian Jim is also the host of Can't Save you. Jim. Thanks for joining the first time on Media Exposed.

[Jim Norton]

Hey, Adam.

[Adam Wise]

Thank you, Jim. And then after he made the joke, he came back on. So that's not what I meant. I was just going after his age. Why would a woman go out, be married like so that's not what you meant. But I'm going to do, I'm going to denigrate his age and with his wife. This guy doesn't he doesn't have to stop. I'm just giving your thoughts on his initial joke, which I don't think it would have been followed up, Jim, if this didn't happen on Saturday because there was so much other news and him at the dinner, and people might have even forgot about it. Right.

[Jim Norton]

Well, I will never side with the FCC against a comedian or. Or an attempted comedy, whatever you want, call it. You know, the thing. It's really easy for people to defend free expression when a guy we like is making fun of a guy we hate and people we hate are coming after a guy we like. But when a guy people don't like makes fun of a guy they like, it's very difficult to defend it. And if you believe in free expression and you believe that people shouldn't be punished for jokes, I think that kind of has to go across the board whether we like the guy making the joke and regardless of how we feel about the target of the joke. So it was made the night before. Kimmel was not at all calling for an assassination. And people could say it was in poor taste. Okay, that's a fair thing. Maybe it was in poor taste. Poor taste is allowed. You're right. The media will always take one side of it, and if it were reversed, the media would take the other side of it. But my views on speech and people not being punished for jokes don't change because the media's full of it. I feel that, you know, Kimball should just say whatever. I have no problem with a comedian or a guy trying to be funny making fun of anybody in any way they see fit.

[Adam Wise]

Right. So you're from an old school, Jim, and so am I. And we believe in free comedy everywhere. But there was a time night of it, during Obama or before Obama. I worked with the guys at a club called the Stand. I opened the place, and it was like all these politically correct comedians, they weren't even funny. But it was like, let's just put these people on people because it's the right thing to do, but they're not that funny. Where's the old school community? Well, we can't be offensive. We can't talk about this. We can't talk about women. We can't talk about blacks. So it's one side of the equation. We're allowed. But to attack conservatives is fine. I want to show the audience that they didn't see it. Cut 5. Jimmy Kimmel's original offensive skit. And the first lady, of course, our first lady, Melania is here. Look at Melania so beautiful. Mrs. Trump, you have a glow like an expansion expectant widow.

[Jim Norton]

Yeah, just, just, you know, again, people can feel how they want to feel about the joke, but to me, the FCC getting involved should concern everybody. The FCC has done nothing but make regular radio irrelevant. Regular television, they've hurt. That's why cable is so big. That's why satellite radio and podcasts became so big, because the FCC emasculates anything that is attempting to be funny or slightly edgy. And they kind of water it down and they wonder why. Going elsewhere to, to listen to things and to watch things. The FCC has no business getting involved in this unless he violated something in the fcc. And he didn't, he didn't curse. He's not calling for a threat. The fcc, literally, I will never support. I think they're a fairly worthless organization and they contribute nothing and they have no place investigating anything that Kimmel says unless he was actively calling for some type of. Which he certainly was not.

[Adam Wise]

So. So you feel, did Jimmy should have doubled down or you think he should have made a better apology or just he said, I didn't mean anything like that, or if you felt he wants to explain was hurt, you can't, you can't, you can't tell someone if the first lady. Right away. I want to show you. Let's show you. I'm going to show you the first lady's tweet. Tweet here. Kimmel. She said. Kimmel's hateful and violent rhetoric is intended to divide our country. His monologue about my family isn't comedy. His words are corrosive and deepens the political sickness within America. People like Kimmel shouldn't have the option to enter our homes. Each. And a coward like Kimmel hides behind ABC because he knows the network will keep running cover. Enough is enough. It's time ABC to take us in. How many times will ABC's leadership enable Kimmel's atrocious behavior at the expense of our community? Now, I don't think the first Lady, Jim, would have put up a tweet like that message like that if she wasn't hurt. She really very speaks out like that. So he spoke out. That tweet. That tweet was before he, before Monday night when he's able to respond. So I don't have you able to see. Well, you're able to see his response because I can.

[Jim Norton]

No, but I also think like, like Melania, I like Melania Trump. So I understand for her it's a very personal thing. Of course she's going to be angry about her husband that they tried to kill. And I don't blame her for reacting that way or feeling that way. But, and I would say the same thing about Michelle Obama, Nancy Reagan, Laura Bush, whoever it is. The feelings of the, of, of the people are not necessarily relevant to what's allowed, you know, and, and, you know, I would say the same thing about things Trump says. Like, I always think that Trump should just say whatever he wants and he does. And he's fairly unheardable as far as people commenting back to him. And he usually gets the last word. But I simply, whenever it's, it's a late night host or whoever it is, I will never side with anybody trying to punish somebody for something that in, in, in humor. I just, I understand feelings get hurt, people get angry. They have every right to get their feelings hurt, every right to be angry. But as far as a punishment being meted out, I will never agree with that. And, you know, you people could just see this, like, I love Gutfeld. I do Gutfeld all the time. There's plenty of people that want him to get in trouble for the things he says. I never want to see anybody get in trouble for things that they're saying when they're making fun of people, whether the people are the president and the first lady or whether they're foreign dignitaries or whoever they are. I will always side with somebody who is, who is attempting to make fun of something as long as they're not violating the FCC rules, which is, you know, using one of the seven dirty words or calling for actual violence, which he was not doing.

[Adam Wise]

Yeah, but you might be too young, but I remember a day when Johnny Carson was on and then Jay Leno took his place and he shot. And I didn't know, nobody knew. Democrat, Republican. He'd make fun of every side of the aisle.

[Jim Norton]

Yeah.

[Adam Wise]

Wasn't radical ideology either one of them. And it was a pleasant time. It was funny. And the ratings was so much better back then. Maybe it was the only thing to watch at night, but it was a calming presence when you sat down and watched it. You know, I wish Kimmel would just get back to just humor and hit every side. He just too ideologically and it's the only place in America, I think his ratings go down and he can bash one side of the country and still keep his job because Hollywood's become that perverse, you know, in their ideology, which is sad too. I want to show you this. Cut. It was CNN afterwards and they defended Kimmel like you.

[Donald Trump]

But watch this.

[Adam Wise]

Let's go to cut six and many

[Raquel De Bono]

shootings in America and more.

[Unknown Media Commentator]

Can I just play for you something? These are Republicans blaming Democrats. First of all, I just want to give you a mash of sort of the last couple of days of how this has been playing out.

[Adam Wise]

Why are we here? The Democrats have used rhetoric referring to ICE agents as the Gestapo, Trump's secret police. They can't help themselves. Like, this is a real sickness. They've incited violence, in my view. I mean, you have some of the most prominent figures in the House and the Senate on the Democrat side, effectively, you know, calling for, for. For war. When you have reporters, when you have media, media just being overly critical and

[Jim Norton]

calling the president horrible names for no

[Adam Wise]

reason, and without evidence, without proof, it shouldn't surprise us that this type of rhetoric takes place.

[Unknown Media Commentator]

And then I want to play for you one more. This is from Charlemagne, the God using this. Because this is a person, right, who is speaking to the public back and forth, being in that dog dialogue, especially on social media. And he responded this way.

[Unknown Commentator]

Whenever there is some type of political violence that happens at one of these events, people always say, so are we going to tone down the violent rhetoric towards Trump? Stop it. Like, I'm sick of that narrative. I need every single media personality to direct that energy and that question towards one person and one person only. And that person is President Donald J. Trump. At what point do people simply say, hey, Trump is clear that you're the drama?

[Adam Wise]

Jim, from my perspective, they've called him every name in the book for 10, 11 years. I think we've rationalized young people across. I think we radicalized a lot of young people across the country. Give me your final thoughts.

[Jim Norton]

Everyone likes to say this rhetoric caused that. If a mentally ill person picks up a weapon and does something like that, it's the fault of the mentally ill person who did it. I don't blame Democrat rhetoric. I don't blame Trump's rhetoric. I don't blame. I don't blame Trump's rhetoric for what happened in Charlottesville. I don't blame people for the actions of mentally ill people. You know, everyone who says that we got to take responsibility for our own actions, well, this is a great time to look at that. I get sick and tired of. Everybody blames what everybody else says because then by default, they make their own speech look healing and peaceful. It's a shell game. Everyone is involved with it. Everyone is blaming each other, and it's all a lie.

[Adam Wise]

Jim, I wish the rest of the community were like you but too far to the left. But I'm glad you're for all freedom each place. Thanks for joining us, Jim. I'll see you soon. Coming up next, we have a look at the media coverage of the war and also the Minnesota raids early in the week that more coming up on Media Exposed.

[Justine Brooke Murray]

Who says renting can't feel like home? Make your rental feel like yours. It all starts with one scroll. Download TikTok to discover easy home decor ideas.

[Adam Wise]

Welcome back to Media Exposed. I want to talk about the war because it's still going on with two months into it and the media negativity is non stop even even with our men and women across the globe fighting for freedom, getting rid of a nuclear power, a nuclear country like Iran who's threatening other countries. I'm going to show you a compilation coming up about how all these outlets are consistently on the same pages. Negative, negative, negative, the study complains overwhelming negative. 88% of war reporting is framed negatively. And analysts found the coverage conflict was again 88% with heavy emphasis on costs, price hikes, gas hikes, downplaying what the future will be like. Focus on fear over facts. Critics say coverage prioritize economic pain and anxiety they're showing. According to study reporting leaned heavily into consequences like inflation disruption rather than explaining strategic or national security implications. Omission and coverage like usual. Major networks accused of ignoring key stories, separate analysis claims outlet include abc, CBS News give little potential to significant elements over in Minnesota. So I'm going to talk about that fraud rates, patterns or coincidence. The bigger picture is trust in media continues to be tested with claims of negative framing on one hand and a mission on the other. The question becomes whether audience are getting a full picture or just a selected one. I want to welcome Justine Brooke Murray from News Best News Busters and the Media Research TV host over it do a great job of covering the media bias. And my earlier segment, Justine, I want to touch on this because you know, I don't want to blame anybody but third attempt at the president, 10, 11 years of calling him every name in the book, his family, his conservatives across the country and like to say people take responsibility but it seems like we've created monsters across the country. If you tell someone over and over again in class, you know when you pick on when somebody picked on kids in class over when you were really young and that one person was getting picked on over and over again, everybody was saying that person did something wrong and he was so bullied because everybody said he was A bad person or this person. That's what the media's done to Trump. And they've turned what was the analogy of little children into mentally ill people that were on the spectrum. And they become. And this last one just seemed like a regular teacher, right?

[Justine Brooke Murray]

Yeah. And to think that the number of teachers who feel the same way, the number of teachers and also college professors. I've been on campuses firsthand, my own college camp where professors would support violence. And they're the. Some of them are the biggest proponents of violence. But this is the party that for years, in fact for decades, they called our speech violence. They said speech leads to violence, quote, unquote, misinformation, and quote, unquote, hate speech equals violence. They created those terms to shut us up and also in turn to justify violence against anybody who disagrees with them or simply if you exist and they disagree with your existence. And now we're here, and it's so funny to see Jimmy Kimmel, the big puddle whining about censorship when he was the one who called for the de platforming of multiple news outlets that I worked for. He cheered it on. Joe Biden put people on watch lists, including Turning Point USA with the help of the splc. So it just goes to show the leftist motto is by any means necessary. And they're open about it. In fact, they proudly state, they proudly celebrate and cheer violence in the streets because they know that they usually are the ones who receive no consequences. They're the ones who always said freedom of speech doesn't mean freedom from consequences. And they appointed themselves as the arbiter of those consequences, and the consequences equal them taking us out in the streets.

[Adam Wise]

I can go back six years ago, Justy and the people in Charlottesville with the white robes and all the media jumped on it to blame Trump. And I said it's fake. I know that's fake. I've been to so many states, people don't act that way and behave that way. And little behold, six years later, we have indictments from the SPO Southern Poverty Law center that they hired actors, they paid people to do this, and little do we know, right? But the media jumped on it right away and tried to blame it all on conservatives, and never once they do expos on the radical left. But. But it's sad that it takes six years to do this and because that might have hurt the president his reelection. Right. So I want to play his first clip. It's about the war and show all the negative press about the war. Only two months in can't the press be a little patriotic? Let's go to cut six. I got this from news busters. If you could say something to President Trump and he was going to hear you right now, what would it be? You are a worthless pile of the

[Unknown News Reporter]

president's extraordinary threat that a whole civilization will die. Tonight, condemned in Rome by the first American pope, Trump's one time close ally, Tucker Carlson disgusted.

[Justine Brooke Murray]

But Trump defending his tough talk. As a new poll finds most Americans say they feel worried, stressed or angry

[Adam Wise]

about the escalating war.

[Unknown Commentator]

Also developing tonight, the war and your money. It's not just gas prices.

[Adam Wise]

If we turn now to the war and your money. The war and your money.

[Unknown News Reporter]

On Capitol Hill, the 200 billion dollar request catching many members of Congress off guard. The president launched this war without seeking their approval. Now lawmakers from both parties demanding details before they write that check. The president didn't consult American allies before going to war either.

[Adam Wise]

The Kremlin is benefiting from higher oil prices. Is Vladimir Putin the big winner from this war? He has benefits. Oh, my God. Justine, let's break this down here. They found some screeching woman at the gas station. First of all, people are probably already frustrated. Went to the gas station with high prices. And how many, how long you think it took that reporter to find some woman, screeching woman to go off like that at the gas station? And then they said, Tucker, they actually sets up Tucker Carlson, his used to be ally. Since when did they ever care about what Tucker Carlson says? Right. And then they go to, you know, and, and then they go to Zelensky for a comment. Give me your thoughts on all this. There's a lot to break down there, right? With all that negative coverage.

[Justine Brooke Murray]

Yeah, yeah. As you highlighted, it's funny how the left, they were very pro Zelensky supportive of our gas prices going up. In fact, the same media outlets who lectured us that we should just sit on our hands and be okay with the rise in gas prices when it comes to Ukraine, suddenly it's a bad thing because we're fighting against a regime that tried to assassinate President Trump twice. But it's no surprise, aside from Newsbusters reporting on the fact that our big major media outlets allotted 88% of negative coverage on our battle with Iran. Our major four news apps, also since the first day of President Trump launching a war against our enemies, 634 of their outlets that they show on your feed are all left leaning. And about 41 of those outlets, only 41 are center to right. So it not only just shows their bias and their Trump derangement syndrome, but these people are on the side of the Ayatollah. In fact, the Media Research center recently expanded exposed two CNN officials who went to the Iranian embassy in the UK to celebrate at a party that was supporting the Islamic regime. So when they want to lecture us, oh, what about gas prices? We don't want war. They hope they receive golf claps among their fellow dilettantes for rooting for the destruction of Western civilization through violent means. They want our modern civilization destroyed.

[Adam Wise]

Yeah. And another thing that happened this week, another big new in the news midweek. The I gave him an award, actually last Friday was Nick from the Metropolitan Republican Club, one of the oldest Republican clubs in New York City. We gave him the Thomas Jefferson Award for his investigative journalism. Was Nick Shirley. We have one guy with a little, with a, with an iPhone, with a camera, I think it was iPhone or he had a cameraman. I asked him, he said he had, at that point he had one person, this guy Dave called them and said, nick, I've had so much, I've been over, I've been studying these daycare centers, I mean these, these centers and nobody ever goes in. Could you come down and do a video? They did a video for a few hours all day and it went viral. Elon Musk, the vice president, retweeted it. You know what it led to this week? 20. The FBI rated 20 daycare centers. And there's going to be a lot more they're going to go after and indictments coming in left and right. But that one kid did more than the national press and the local Minnesota Press did in 20 years. Give me your thoughts on. And there's no very little coverage of that. Those raids too. Give me your thoughts on that.

[Justine Brooke Murray]

Yeah, of course all of our major outlets were apparently too busy covering very local stories. But as you mentioned, our mainstream media outlets, especially cnn, it almost seems like they're bitter or that they're jealous at the fact that a young person who got his start on YouTube did more reporting than these career so called journalists have done within the decades of their career. Because instead they're the ones who are trying to cover for the people who come in here who either come in here illegally or come here from Somalia and scam us. Because it's really, they're the leftist voter base, the leftist voting base, illegal aliens and foreigners. So, you know, they don't want to insult their audience. Cnn. And then of course, it just goes to show how when they do cover Nick Shirley, by the way, they'll either support a potential law in California that they're trying to get passed to censor more young journalists like Nick Shirley and stop them from actually trying to ask these scammers, or go up to these so called daycares or the Quality Leering center and see if there's any fraud.

[Adam Wise]

Justine, thank you. And that's California's ridiculous. The Stop New York Shirley act. Justine, thank you for joining us. I'll see you soon. Thank you again.

[Justine Brooke Murray]

Yeah, it's always good to see you.

[Adam Wise]

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