Citations Needed News Brief: Media Helps Sell ICE Raids with Zero Dark Thirty Ride-Along Schlock
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Oct 22, 2025 Matthew Cunningham-Cook, an investigative journalist covering DHS and ICE, joins to delve into how media normalizes brutal immigration crackdowns. He reveals the unsettling dynamics of ride-along reporting that prioritize access over accountability. The conversation explores how ICE's narrative misrepresents their targets, emphasizing their impact on vulnerable communities. Cunningham-Cook sheds light on the normalization of ICE within bipartisan politics and how anti-immigrant rhetoric distracts from larger economic issues, making for a compelling discussion on journalism and ethics.
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Ride-Along Reports Normalize ICE Actions
- Ride-along reporting privileges access in exchange for uncritical coverage that normalizes ICE actions.
- Matthew Cunningham-Cook argues this format inherently produces propaganda rather than accountability.
Fox Inside A 'Trojan Horse' Raid
- Fox News rode inside a Penske truck during a 'Trojan horse' ICE raid in Los Angeles and filmed arrests from inside the vehicle.
- Cunningham-Cook found similar ride-alongs in mainstream outlets, including the New York Times, that failed to critically fact-check ICE claims.
'Worst Of The Worst' Framing Misleads
- ICE frames raids as targeting 'the worst of the worst' to make brutality seem legitimate.
- In practice, ICE disproportionately arrests vulnerable workers with weak legal protections, not powerful employers.
