Greg Sarber: Distrust of the Mainstream Media Narrative

The recent suspension of Jimmy Kimmel and the resignations of journalists from local newspapers are examples of the media distorting the truth and getting caught. Despite their pious claims of censorship, these two events are just the most recent examples of how the public is constantly being fed a distorted narrative by the mainstream media in an attempt to influence us. 

Google and Facebook Censorship During Pandemic

The issues of censorship and propaganda in this country are real. Google and Facebook have both come forward, admitting they censored people during the covid pandemic and after the fraudulent election of 2020 at the request of the Biden administration. In contrast to the protests the liberals made after the Kimmel and Homer News events, there was actual censorship being conducted by the government against conservatives, and the press was complicit, most likely because the censorship favored the policies of a Democrat president. 

What Google and Facebook did is out in the open, but what is not so clear is the constant daily propaganda that we are fed by the media. Here are a few examples. 

The Palisades Wildfire

Wildfires have devastated California over the past decade. When one broke out on January 1, 2025, it resulted in the devastation of the Palisades neighborhood in Los Angeles. The LA Fire Department said they suspected the ignition source was fireworks shot off to celebrate New Year’s, and the large extent of the fire was caused by climate change and exacerbated by high winds. 

That is a convenient narrative, but the truth of this event has now come out, and it paints a very different picture, one critical of Democrat leadership in the state. The fire was actually caused by a depressed Uber driver, by the name of Jonathan Rinderknecht, who was arrested two days ago. Inconveniently for the Democrat narrative, Rinderknecht was both an immigrant and had donated to the Joe Biden election campaign. However, even those facts don’t tell the whole story. 

An investigation revealed that after two days, the fire was contained by the Los Angeles Fire Department, but after stopping the initial fire, they failed to monitor the area for flare-ups, which is a standard wildfire practice, especially when the weather forecast is for high winds. The fire smoldered in dense underbrush for a week until it rekindled later because of the winds. It destroyed over 6000 homes and killed 12 people. The underbrush that trapped the initial fire and where it reignited was the result of 50 years of vegetation growth in Topanga State Park, where brush clearance to proactively prevent fires was not permitted by the state of California. 

In this example, the devastation appears to be a result of failures on the part of city and state governance. That is a very different story from what we were initially told about fireworks and global warming. You have to wonder if this was an intentional effort to cover up Democrat incompetence? 

James Comey and Leticia James Indictments

Another example of a false narrative supporting Democrats is the indictments of James Comey and Leticia James this week. Both of these individuals lied in very public ways. Comey perjured himself in Congressional testimony, and James lied on a mortgage application, which has been made public. The lies are obvious, but the press is telling us these prosecutions are examples of Donald Trump weaponizing the justice system against his opponents. They conveniently forget to mention that indictments like these cannot be made at the will of the President alone. Before any indictment, the cases must first be presented to a grand jury, which reviews the evidence and must find probable cause to indict. Both indictments were made by grand juries in Virginia, a blue state. If a group of Democrats in Virginia has concluded that Comey and James should be prosecuted, the cases have merit and are not the product of malicious prosecution. Not quite the story you are being told by the media. 

New York Gubernatorial Race

The media can also influence us based on how they present information, which can be seen in news coverage of the upcoming New York gubernatorial election. Yesterday, it was reported that the Democrat incumbent governor of New York, Kathy Hochul, has a 5-point lead over her Republican opponent in the election to be held in just over three weeks. This is accurate, but less widely reported is the fact that the Republican is quickly closing the gap and may soon lead the polling. By highlighting that it is the Democrat who is leading the race, it could discourage Republicans from turning out on election day and influence the election results. Even if only a small percentage of conservative voters believe the story, it could change the election outcome. The press may be trying to support a Democrat who they align with politically. 

These examples show how mainstream media distorts the news to achieve a political objective. Whether it is shielding Democrats in power or helping them to win elected office, the lesson from these examples is to distrust what the mainstream media tells you. Don’t believe the first story you hear as gospel. Seek alternate sources of information for confirmation. The reality is often quite different from what we are being told. 

Greg Sarber is a lifelong Alaskan. He is a petroleum engineer who spent his career working on Alaska’s North Slope. Now retired, he lives with his family in Homer, Alaska. Greg serves as a board member of Alaska Gold Communications, Inc., the publisher of Must Read Alaska.