A citizen journalist questions a news reported before an on-location broadcast from a parking lot. During their exchange, the reporter adamantly professes unbiased journalistic integrity despite protestations by the man filming him. The video below culminates with hilarity.
As Raheem Kassam from The National Pulse noted on Twitter, the video ends very differently from how it started. “Oh man this started just super obnoxious and awkward on both sides but by the end you could tell the reporter — @DKaplanWTAE — realised he was being a fraud.”
Oh man this started just super obnoxious and awkward on both sides but by the end you could tell the reporter — @DKaplanWTAE — realised he was being a fraud. https://t.co/tqiI3W6nxa
— Raheem. (@RaheemKassam) May 9, 2021
The reporter, David Kaplan from WTAE in Pittsburg, PA, is visibly frustrated by the end when the citizen journalist calls him out further over his face mask hypocrisy. Throughout their semi-heated conversation, Kaplan didn’t wear his face mask. But right before the camera was set to roll for the on-location taping, Kaplan slips on his face mask.
“Nobody tells me what to say, sir,” Kaplan told the citizen journalist. But just as it appeared they were parting ways and Kaplan was going to record his segment, he put his face mask on. The citizen journalist laughed.
“You didn’t have your mask on the whole time and now you’re putting your mask on,” he said, chuckling. “This is a guy, he’s been standing here the whole time without his mask, here’s his camera dude with no mask on, but here he is. Now he’s still trying to scare everyone, he’s got to put his mask on while he reports. Keep spreading that fear, buddy.”
Kaplan was silent, shoulders hunched, as the citizen journalist lambasted him. Eventually, he did try to explain why he had the entire conversation just prior without a mask but needed to put it on before doing his broadcast.
“They’re asking us to wear it for guidelines for television,” he said. He continued to say they’re trying to set a “good example.”
The vast majority of major and local media outlets have a strict face mask policy when broadcasting outside of the studio. Some still wear face masks in-studio. But for months we’ve seen the hypocrisy as those in front of the camera act very differently from those behind the camera. We’ve also seen how few reporters continue to wear their face masks when they think the camera stops rolling.
Whether these reporters realize it or not, this is all part of conditioning. They need ubiquitous and ceaseless wearing of face masks to be on our television and digital screens. A separate article that I’m working on addresses this issue of mainstream media, Big Tech, government, academia, and “woke” corporations banding together to embrace certain narratives that are driving what appears to be a singular agenda. The article, which will be posted early Monday, is titled “Today’s pandemic is being filmed before a live studio audience” and includes a portion that’s relevant to this article.
The citizen journalist in the beginning of the video tells Kaplan about compilations of news anchors saying the same thing. Kaplan acts like he’s never seen the compilations and declares that nobody tells him what to say. Here’s an excerpt from my upcoming article that references one of the compilation videos in question:
Have you ever seen one of those compilation videos in which news anchors in studio are saying the same thing? There are dozens of them available, though one clip in particular has drawn the most attention with iterations of it dominating searches on YouTube for “reporters saying the same thing.”
The funny part is the message isolated in this compilation video is the one that gets all the attention on YouTube because it was pushed through Sinclair Broadcasting Group which the left considered to be “pro-Trump.” It’s not, but that’s beside the point. This sort of thing happens all the time as narratives are handed down by the powers on-high in media; isolating this particular clip and labeling its producers as “pro-Trump” is, itself, part of their agenda.
The message being mandated to mainstream media is “face masks good.” It’s attached to their other message of “be terrified of this disease, facts be damned.” But the overarching message in all that they broadcast is this: “Obey. Conform. Accept.”
YouTube, Spotify, and other Big Tech platforms are taking Freedom First Network down
It’s no secret we speak our minds and bring on guests who do the same. That’s one of the biggest reasons we put together the Freedom First Network in the first place. There are far too many news outlets, including so-called “conservative” media companies, who are so beholden to Big Tech that they temper their perspectives at best and outright coverup the truth at worst. Many, as you all know, will blatantly lie in order to maintain the narrative that supports the radical agenda taking over much of the United States.
We have had our YouTube channel taken down. Many of our shows have been suppressed or removed by Facebook and Twitter. Spotify banned one of our shows completely from their platform. Google hates us. We’ve even been censored by some of the smaller players like Medium, Transistor, and Captivate. But we stand behind our reporting and perspectives and we refuse to bow down to Big Tech tyranny for the sake of pageviews or video plays.
This isn’t the easiest road to travel, especially for a media company that is so new. We launched Freedom First Network in 2020 to fight against the very censorship that we’re seeing so widespread today. We have found great homes for our content on freer speech platforms like Rumble and we’re putting our best efforts forward into building our presence on Locals. Nevertheless, we cannot do it alone. We need help.
One of the things cofounders Jeff Dornik and JD Rucker agreed to from the start was to never be the pawns of companies that do not embrace our worldview. Finding advertisers and affiliates is easy; we receive requests by companies wanting to be pushed on our shows every day. But it’s important to us that we’re promoting companies, services, and products that are beneficial to maintaining a Freedom First stance in America. As a result, we do not take on sponsors easily. We would rather rely on our own products like Freedom First Coffee and the support of our wonderful viewers, listeners, and readers.
Those who want to support us and help keep the fight for America’s future moving forward can do so by donating through our Locals page. There, you can donate monthly or one-time. Some have told us to use Patreon or GoFundMe, but both of those platforms have demonstrated a hatred for free speech. Locals does not. They embrace it. We encourage everyone to join us on Locals, but donations are greatly appreciated as well. We do not have day jobs. Our fight for freedom is a full-time gig.
Please feel free to reach out to us through our contact form. It goes directly to our founders, so if you’re interested in getting involved, investing, sponsoring, or even bringing a show to our network, let us know. May God Bless the United States of America!
