{"id":6549,"date":"2026-08-08T10:04:00","date_gmt":"2026-08-08T10:04:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/nextcitydigest.com\/?p=6549"},"modified":"2026-08-08T10:04:00","modified_gmt":"2026-08-08T10:04:00","slug":"schram-the-case-for-de-faking-the-news","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/nextcitydigest.com\/?p=6549","title":{"rendered":"Schram: The case for de-faking the news"},"content":{"rendered":"
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We\u2019ve all got the same problem these days. No matter which news screen we are watching \u2013 or which news silo site our screen is tuned to \u2013 we are finding it is harder than ever to tell the trustworthy newsmakers from the news-fakers.<\/p>\n

Read more Asking Eric: Her jokes about my nipples make me feel freakish<\/a><\/p>\n

Everyone on every news screen seems to have an angle these days. And we need to admit there\u2019s one thing more: Too many of my journalistic colleagues just don\u2019t seem as good as they need to be at making sure today\u2019s newsmakers are showing and telling it like it really is.<\/p>\n

That\u2019s why we need to scroll back a couple of weeks and take a fresh look at a recent news-making happening. It was a moment in which solid journalism pierced what was about to become yet another trial balloon of opinion-warping fake news \u2013 just as it was being made. And frankly, most in my business seemed to have missed the significance of the moment. Which means you may have, too.<\/p>\n

So let\u2019s look back at what happened back on Sunday, July 19, on CBS News\u2019 Face the Nation. Perhaps it will help both Washington\u2019s newsmakers and news-chroniclers recalibrate how we do our jobs.<\/p>\n

Moderator Margaret Brennan was interviewing President Donald Trump\u2019s White House border czar, Tom Homan. (Yes, it\u2019s really his title.) Homan clearly came to the interview locked and loaded with talking points intended to convince Americans that agents of Immigration, Customs and Enforcement (ICE) are misunderstood and underappreciated.<\/p>\n

Reckless rhetoric<\/h4>\n

Homan, who formerly commanded ICE and may well have been born looking like the tough no-nonsense enforcement guy he is today, started by blaming the violence on politicians who say bad things about good ICE agents. Brennan started by truth-checking each of Homan\u2019s assertions.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve done this since 1984,\u201d Homan began. \u201cMy concern is\u2026 a lot of the rhetoric (from) \u2026 members of Congress saying ICE isn\u2019t a real law enforcement agency\u2026 emboldens some people to say, \u2018I\u2019m not going to comply with ICE.\u2019 And I think no matter what people think of ICE\u2026 no matter what you think of immigration law, you should always comply with law enforcement.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cYes,\u201d said CBS moderator Brennan, \u201cbut in the shootings in both Houston and Maine, the people who were killed were not the intended targets\u2026 These were fatal shootings\u2026 And in Houston, it was an unmarked car. So, when you\u2019re saying, don\u2019t resist, these individuals who were chasing the man who died\u2026 didn\u2019t have markings on that vehicle that would allow (the driver)\u2026 to know that they were ICE.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n<\/div>\n

\u201cNo, they have emergency lights,\u201d Homan quickly countered. This was the first of several times he would insist the unmarked ICE car had flashing enforcement lights.<\/p>\n

They are talking about the July 7 killing in Houston of Lorenzo Salgado Araujo, 52, a Mexican national who had been building homes in Houston for many years. He was driving his three-man crew in a white van. ICE agents were looking for a different Latino man in a different white van. But when they saw Salgado Araujo\u2019s van in the same neighborhood they began aggressively tailing him in their two unmarked black SUVs. They caught him. He was killed by a gunshot to his right side. But we\u2019ve seen no video of what happened.<\/p>\n

Later Homan added suspects would \u201cbe alive today if they simply complied (when) stopped by federal law enforcement\u2026 If you don\u2019t think you\u2019re being treated right and (they) had no reason to stop you, then\u2026 take them to court. Just sue. Get a lawyer and argue in court.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Brennan noted that \u201cthe family of the man in Houston said\u2026 he thought he was being robbed because it was an unmarked vehicle.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n<\/div>\n

\u201cThey had emergency lights,\u201d Homan insisted yet again. \u201cThey activate emergency lights. Blue lights.\u201d<\/p>\n

Brennan challenged the czar: \u201cYou\u2019ve seen that on video? Because we haven\u2019t?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cSeen what on video, ma\u2019am?\u201d Homan asked.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat there were lights,\u201d Brennan replied. \u201cBecause in the videos that we\u2019ve seen, there aren\u2019t. And because there weren\u2019t body cameras, it is hard to substantiate some of what you are saying.\u201d<\/p>\n

For the first time, Homan looked like a border czar who realized he hadn\u2019t done his homework \u2013 and he was about to get caught. To his credit, Homan owned up to the inevitable.<\/p>\n

\u201cWell, I have not seen the videos,\u201d Homan admitted. \u201cNow, if they didn\u2019t activate the lights \u2026 then there\u2019s an issue there\u2026 So, let me just caveat that. They should have been equipped with lights and sirens. So, I do not know specifically if they activated those lights.\u201d<\/p>\n

Missed opportunity<\/h4>\n

This became a significant journalistic moment for Brennan and CBS News. But it fell just short of being game, set and match. It\u2019s a reality I discovered way back in the late 1980s, while reporting for a book I wrote, \u201cThe Great American Video Game: Presidential Politics in the Television Age.\u201d Back then, television journalists often overlooked the reality that they had one journalistic advantage that print and radio journalists just don\u2019t have: They are TV.<\/p>\n

Time and again, I saw that video images left influential impressions on voters that seemed to last forever. Brennan had done her pre-interview homework. She saw the videos from private security cameras: Two black SUVs chasing one white van \u2013 and no flashing blue lights on either unmarked ICE vehicle.<\/p>\n

This was a made-for-TV news-making moment. CBS missed a chance to end its show by simultaneously showing Homan\u2013 and all of us \u2013 the video Face the Nation\u2019s moderator had seen.<\/p>\n

Better yet, this deserved to be a split screen moment. On the left: the unmarked ICE vehicles chasing through Houston with no lights blinking. On the right: Homan\u2019s face as he realized the nation had just witnessed visual proof that the Trump border czar\u2019s main news-making talking point did not have the added virtue of being true.<\/p>\n

Martin Schram is a columnist for Tribune News Service.\u00a0\u00a92026 Tribune Content Agency.<\/em><\/p>\n

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