The Blaze Fires Reporter Behind Its Crazy Jan. 6th Pipe Bomber Story
And he’s firing back, alleging the publication was “in the fetal position” over lawsuit threats.
Welcome back to False Flag! Ben Shapiro’s Daily Wire is in trouble on YouTube, losing significant numbers of subscribers—with Shapiro himself down a whopping 80,000 in the first quarter of the year, according to a new survey of political channels by researcher Kyle Tharp.
It’s more proof that dissident and increasingly anti-Trump voices like Candace Owens and Tucker Carlson have the energy in right-wing media. Shapiro, by contrast, is stuck defending an unpopular war with Iran.
But at least Shapiro’s foray into movies is going well, right? Well, not so much. Deadline reports that the set of the Daily Wire’s upcoming film Run Hide Fight Infidels is in chaos, with black mold on the site, a tree branch hitting a crew member, and actor Jonathan Majors falling out of a window during a recent shoot. Undeterred by crew complaints, producers say they won’t negotiate on safety “with communists.” By communist, they mean unionized crew members.
Speaking of right-wing media outlets in trouble, do we have a False Flag for you! A newly fired reporter for the Blaze says the outlet could be easily crushed by a potential libel settlement over its off-the-wall reporting on the January 6th pipe bomber.
But first, a quick note: Here at The Bulwark, we don’t waste our members’ money putting Jonathan Majors in danger on movie sets (Jared Poland, on the other hand, we’re willing to risk). We invest, instead, in covering the stuff that matters, chiefly the threats to American democracy. If you’re already a member, thanks for your support. If not, please sign up for Bulwark+ today and join our growing community:
–Will
Blaze Reporter Steaming Over Firing
BACK IN NOVEMBER, the conservative media outlet the Blaze claimed that reporter Steve Baker had the scoop of the century: compelling evidence that the pipe bombs planted outside Republican and Democratic headquarters on January 6th were laid by a Capitol Police officer.
Blaze founder Glenn Beck declared it would be “the biggest scandal of my lifetime, maybe in the last hundred years.” Republican members of Congress like Anna Paulina Luna and Thomas Massie championed the story, saying it was proof the deep state was behind January 6th.
The story quickly fizzled. And instead of receiving a Pulitzer, the Blaze was forced to backtrack. It retracted its story on December 4. As for Baker, he was fired on Wednesday morning, as the publication faces the possibility of a massive libel judgment over the story.
“They basically wanted to curl up in the corner in the fetal position and suck their thumbs,” Baker told me today.
Along with raising questions about the future of the Blaze, Baker’s firing lays out a conundrum that’s faced conservative media outlets dating back to Fox News’s mammoth settlement with Dominion Voting Systems over its airing of 2020 election conspiracies: