Episode Description

Richard Schreiber and Tom Martin welcome documentary filmmaker Michele Mitchell — Murrow Award winner, former CNN Headline News political anchor, and director of The Uncondemned — for a conversation recorded on the night CBS News Radio went dark after 98 years. The through line Richard names up front sets the tone: the watchdogs are going quiet, and the criminals are getting paid.

Mitchell, who calls her approach "responsibly rogue," traces how institutional journalism has been breaking for two decades — from a CBS president telling her in 2005 they were stepping away from investigative work, to Walter Isaacson ordering reporters to be "more patriotic" after 9/11. She connects that erosion to the $1.776 billion January 6 fund, the Epstein files, and a culture that now treats empathy as a weakness.

Her new film OG* — about the outlaw growers of California's Emerald Triangle and the unconstitutional military raid that tried to crush them — becomes the lens for the episode's central question: who gets to make the rules, and what makes someone a criminal versus an outlaw?

Topics Covered

• The Night CBS Radio Went Dark: Recorded as a 98-year-old news institution signs off for the last time — Murrow's house, gone quiet.
• Responsibly Rogue: Why Mitchell walked away from mainstream media to tell the stories the mergers and shareholders would never let her tell.
• "Be More Patriotic": Her firsthand account of Walter Isaacson pressuring CNN reporters to soften 9/11-era coverage of the Patriot Act.
• The $1.776 Billion Insult: The January 6 fund versus the 9/11 families who fought Congress for decades — rewarding the rioters while survivors were left to beg.
• Criminal or Outlaw?: The thesis behind OG* — "right side of history, wrong side of the law" — and the duty to break an unjust law.
• Operation Green Sweep: The 1990 deployment of the U.S. Army into the Emerald Triangle, a Posse Comitatus violation that foreshadows today's ICE tactics.
• "Quiet, Piggy": Misogyny in the newsroom, the press corps that won't defend its own, and the economic freedom driving the backlash against women.
• The True Alibi: Why everyone in the Epstein orbit "knew" — and the self-deception that let them take the money anyway.

About the Hosts

Richard Schreiber
Richard Schreiber is a strategic AI consultant, journalist, autism advocate, and fiction writer based in New York City. With a background spanning investigative reporting, technology consulting, and over 25 years in legal technology and procurement, Richard brings a rare combination of real-world experience and analytical depth to every conversation. He is the founder of a growing autism advocacy foundation and the author of multiple books, including Autism Care Revolution. His journalism is guided by one principle: facts first, always.

Tom Martin
Tom Martin is a veteran television news producer with more than 20 years at some of the most respected names in broadcasting. He got his start at the CBS News Washington Bureau in 1982 — where he witnessed history firsthand, including being in the room when Nixon delivered his infamous "I am not a crook" statement. The son of a legendary newspaper editor who helped launch USA Today, Tom grew up believing journalism is a sacred public trust. He carries that belief into every story he tells.

Guest: Michele Mitchell

Michele Mitchell is an award-winning documentary filmmaker, former CNN Headline News political anchor, and co-founder of Film at 11. She won the Edward R. Murrow Award for Haiti: Where Did the Money Go?, an investigation that tracked $1.4 billion in earthquake donations and found conditions on the ground had actually worsened. Her film The Uncondemned helped make rape a prosecutable war crime at the Rwanda Tribunal. Trained under mentors like Garrick Utley and Bill Moyers, Mitchell left mainstream media to tell the stories the mergers and shareholders would never allow — an approach she calls "responsibly rogue." Her latest project, OG*, documents the outlaw growers of California's Emerald Triangle and the question at the heart of this episode: who gets to decide what makes a criminal.

Our Mission

True Journalism exists because facts still matter. The press is a watchdog — not a lapdog — and the American public deserves reporting that shines a light rather than throws a shadow. This is not a political show. We do not have a party. We have one principle: if it is not a verified fact, we will say so.

Episode Description

True Journalism | Season 2026 "Digital First Responders Kim Karr on Protecting Kids in the Age of Social Media" Featuring Kim Karr — co-founder of Digital for Good, bringing 13 years of classroom experience and partnerships with major tech companies to create practical digital citizenship programs that empower youth as change agents in online communities.

Two groundbreaking verdicts totaling $755 million against Meta and YouTube for harming children signal a new era of accountability for social media platforms. As Mark Zuckerberg sat in the LA courtroom witnessing the $380 million judgment, across America's schools, children remain glued to the very devices deemed harmful by the courts. With the Ticket Down Act requiring platforms to remove deepfake sexual imagery of children within 48 hours, hosts Richard Schreiber and Tom Martin explore this pivotal moment when tech accountability meets educational responsibility.

This episode features Kim Karr, co-founder of Digital for Good, who has trained over 2.4 million students across 1,500 schools in digital citizenship. From her 13-year teaching background to partnerships with major platforms, Kim shares insights on creating "digital first responders" among youth. The conversation spans sextortion cases costing billions, phone bans in schools, AI detection challenges, and the critical role of peer accountability in online spaces.

Topics Covered:

• Legal Accountability Era: Analysis of $375M New Mexico and $380M LA verdicts against Meta/YouTube for child harm
• Sextortion Crisis: Billions lost to international schemes targeting minors with AI-generated personas
• Digital First Responders: Training students to recognize and respond to online dangers before escalation
• School Phone Policies: State-by-state implementation of device restrictions and their surprising positive outcomes
• Platform Safety Measures: Youth councils at Snapchat, TikTok providing real input on product development
• Parental Partnership: Moving beyond monitoring to side-by-side digital literacy conversations
• AI Detection Challenges: Beta-tested facial recognition failing to accurately verify user ages
• Rage Bait Economics: How click-driven revenue models fuel misinformation and emotional manipulation
• Generational Digital Divide: Students educating parents on deepfakes and manufactured news content
• Peer Accountability: Teaching respectful callouts for inappropriate online behavior
• Federal AI Labeling: Need for mandatory disclosure when artificial intelligence creates content

About the Hosts:

Richard Schreiber

Richard Schreiber is a strategic AI consultant, journalist, autism advocate, and fiction writer based in New York City. With a background spanning investigative reporting, technology consulting, and over 25 years in legal technology and procurement, Richard brings a rare combination of real-world experience and analytical depth to every conversation. He is the founder of a growing autism advocacy foundation and the author of multiple books, including Autism Care Revolution. His journalism is guided by one principle: facts first, always.

Guest Kim Karr joins as co-founder of Digital for Good, bringing 13 years of classroom experience and partnerships with major tech companies to create practical digital citizenship programs that empower youth as change agents in online communities.

Our Mission

True Journalism exists because facts still matter. The press is a watchdog — not a lapdog — and the American public deserves reporting that shines a light rather than throws a shadow. This is not a political show. We do not have a party. We have one principle: if it is not a verified fact, we will say so.


True Journalism airs weekly. Subscribe wherever you get your podcasts.

This episode of True Journalism welcomes one of Washington's most meticulous chroniclers of power the morning after the White House Correspondents' Dinner. Hosts Richard Schreiber and Tom Martin are joined by Chris Whipple — Emmy and Peabody winner, and the man who has put every White House chief of staff since Nixon on the record.

Whipple's 10,000-word Vanity Fair profile of Susie Wiles was called a "hit piece" by the White House. His answer: everything is on tape. Together they dissect Tucker Carlson's calculated apology, the corporate surrender at CBS News, the Biden inner circle's fog of delusion — and the central question of this moment: who, if anyone, is still willing to walk into the Oval Office and tell this president what he doesn't want to hear.

Topics Covered

• Tucker Carlson's Apology: Carlson admits he misled America on Trump and Iran. Whipple's read: he's running for president in 2028.
• The CBS News Surrender: The Skydance merger, Barry Weiss's editorial retreats, and the defanging of 60 Minutes — with a cautionary parallel to the Larry Tisch era.
• Susie Wiles, The Chief Who Stopped Delivering Hard Truths: A year of reporting reveals the woman Trump trusts most has abandoned the most critical function of her job.
• The Gatekeepers: From James Baker saving Reagan on Social Security to Leon Panetta rescuing Clinton — why chief of staff is the most consequential unelected job in America.
• Biden's Fog of Delusion: How Donillon, Ricchetti, and Klain convinced themselves Biden could win — and why Whipple disputes the Tapper thesis.
• Trump Family Conflicts: Kushner's $2 billion Saudi deal, the sons' Pentagon drone investments.
• The Fourth Estate: Great journalism is still happening. The midterms will tell us if it still has a constituency.

About the Hosts

Richard Schreiber

Richard Schreiber is a strategic AI consultant, journalist, autism advocate, and fiction writer based in New York City. With a background spanning investigative reporting, technology consulting, and over 25 years in legal technology and procurement, Richard brings a rare combination of real-world experience and analytical depth to every conversation. He is the founder of a growing autism advocacy foundation and the author of multiple books, including Autism Care Revolution. His journalism is guided by one principle: facts first, always.

Tom Martin

Tom Martin is a veteran television news producer with more than 20 years at some of the most respected names in broadcasting. He got his start at the CBS News Washington Bureau in 1982 — where he witnessed history firsthand, including being in the room when Nixon delivered his infamous "I am not a crook" statement. The son of a legendary newspaper editor who helped launch USA Today, Tom grew up believing journalism is a sacred public trust. He carries that belief into every story he tells.

Guest: Chris Whipple

Chris Whipple is one of America's foremost chroniclers of presidential power. A journalist, Emmy Award winner, and Peabody Award recipient, he spent years at 60 Minutes and Primetime Live before dedicating his career to documenting the inside of American government on tape and on the record. He is the author of The Gatekeepers, The Spymasters, and The Fight of His Life: Inside Joe Biden's White House. His most recent book, Uncharted, covers the 2024 election — the wildest, he argues, since 1968. In December 2025, his Vanity Fair profile of Susie Wiles set Washington talking. Everything in it, he notes, is on tape.

Our Mission

True Journalism exists because facts still matter. The press is a watchdog — not a lapdog — and the American public deserves reporting that shines a light rather than throws a shadow. This is not a political show. We do not have a party. We have one principle: if it is not a verified fact, we will say so.

True Journalism — Episode Description

Hosts Richard Schreiber and Tom Martin sit down with newspaper veteran Steve Patterson — 40 years, 13 chains, former CEO of America's largest community newspaper group, and host of the Galveston Bay Bizcast — for a sober, hopeful conversation about what journalism was, what it has become, and where it goes next.

Recorded the day a federal judge tossed a $10 billion lawsuit against the Wall Street Journal and Anthropic invited 15 clergy to Silicon Valley to "give AI a conscience," this episode digs into why the moral ground print journalism fought two centuries to own is up for grabs again.

What you'll hear:

• The Wall Street Inflection Point — How the Washington Post going public alerted hedge funds to 40–50% margins, and how Ralph Ingersoll and Michael Milken's junk bonds cracked the door open to extractive ownership.
• Newsrooms as Islands — Why the wall between editorial and advertising worked, and what broke when investigative reporting became a "cost center."
• The Bezos Moment — Killing the Harris endorsement at WaPo, the LA Times following, and what happens when owners buy silence.
• Two Sources, On the Record — Steve's newsroom rule that kept him out of every libel case in 40 years — and why the WSJ won the Epstein case.
• Silicon Valley's Right Turn — Steve's eight-year view from the Palo Alto Rotary Club watching libertarian salons drift hard right.
• The Comeback — Substack, Midas Touch, Brian Tyler Cohen, and local podcasts as the new community press.
• Jailed Journalists — Ahmad Shahidan in Kuwait and the long Khashoggi shadow.

Steve's parting word: journalism isn't dying. It's just no longer delivered to your door.

About the Hosts

Richard Schreiber

Richard Schreiber is a strategic AI consultant, journalist, autism advocate, and fiction writer based in New York City. With a background spanning investigative reporting, technology consulting, and over 25 years in legal technology and procurement, Richard brings a rare combination of real-world experience and analytical depth to every conversation. He is the founder of a growing autism advocacy foundation and the author of multiple books, including Autism Care Revolution. His journalism is guided by one principle: facts first, always.

Tom Martin

Tom Martin is a veteran television news producer with more than 20 years at some of the most respected names in broadcasting. He got his start at the CBS News Washington Bureau in 1982 — where he witnessed history firsthand, including being in the room when Nixon delivered his infamous "I am not a crook" statement. The son of a legendary newspaper editor who helped launch USA Today, Tom grew up believing journalism is a sacred public trust. He carries that belief into every story he tells.

Our Mission

True Journalism exists because facts still matter. The press is a watchdog — not a lapdog — and the American public deserves reporting that shines a light rather than throws a shadow. This is not a political show. We do not have a party. We have one principle: if it is not a verified fact, we will say so.

In this episode, Richard Schreiber and Tom Martin dismantle the synthetic reality of April 2026. The week began with a "lightning bolt" ceasefire announcement that calmed the markets, but as the 88-minute deadline passed, the reality on the ground told a different story. From the closing of the Strait of Hormuz to the continued bombardment of Lebanon, we analyze why official statements are increasingly using "weasel words"—a term coined by Edward R. Murrow—to bridge the gap between policy failures and public perception.

We dive deep into the "Digital Mask"—a world where the Commander-in-Chief must call his generals to verify if war footage on his feed is real or a server-generated deepfake. We also tackle the systemic dismantling of the Fourth Estate, from the defunding of NPR and PBS to the corporate "defanging" of legacy institutions like 60 Minutes.

Drawing on the standards of the 1970s and 80s, Richard and Tom contrast the "News as a Public Service" era with today’s "Profit-at-all-Costs" model. This isn't just a news brief; it’s a briefing for your survival in the information war.

Topics Covered

• The "Nearly" Test: A breakdown of the April 10th ceasefire and how qualifiers are used to manufacture a sense of "Mission Accomplished."
• The $1.5 Trillion Pivot: Analyzing massive surges in defense spending paired with 10% cuts to healthcare and social services.
• The Deepfake Battlefield: How AI-generated disinformation is successfully deceiving the highest levels of government.
• The War on Access: A review of the federal court ruling against Secretary of War Pete Hegseth regarding the sequestering of Pentagon reporters.
• The Death of the Independent Newsroom: How corporate mergers and "Vulture Funds" have turned local news into syndicated propaganda machines.
• The 60 Minutes Overhaul: Discussion on the shift from investigative reporting to "cultural relevance" and punditry.

"Truth is not a preference; it is a foundation. Build your week on it."

About the Hosts

Richard Schreiber

Richard Schreiber is a strategic AI consultant, journalist, autism advocate, and fiction writer based in New York City. With a background spanning investigative reporting, technology consulting, and over 25 years in legal technology and procurement, Richard brings a rare combination of real-world experience and analytical depth to every conversation. He is the founder of a growing autism advocacy foundation and the author of multiple books, including Autism Care Revolution. His journalism is guided by one principle: facts first, always.

Tom Martin

Tom Martin is a veteran television news producer with more than 20 years at some of the most respected names in broadcasting. He got his start at the CBS News Washington Bureau in 1982 — where he witnessed history firsthand, including being in the room when Nixon delivered his infamous "I am not a crook" statement. The son of a legendary newspaper editor who helped launch USA Today, Tom grew up believing journalism is a sacred public trust. He carries that belief into every story he tells.

Our Mission

True Journalism exists because facts still matter. The press is a watchdog — not a lapdog — and the American public deserves reporting that shines a light rather than throws a shadow. This is not a political show. We do not have a party. We have one principle: if it is not a verified fact, we will say so.

Episode Summary

In an era defined by the "Digital Mask," your eyes are no longer reliable witnesses to the truth. This week on True Journalism, veteran broadcasters Richard Schreiber and Tom Martin peel back the layers of a world where a server in a basement can tank global markets for less than fifty dollars. We are moving past "funny videos" and into the reality of financial warfare.

As traditional newsrooms are swallowed by conglomerates and local truths are diluted by private equity "vulture funds," we return to the bedrock of 1970s and 80s investigative standards. This episode dismantles the "Deepfake Economy," analyzes why current AI labeling laws are failing to keep pace with the speed of lies, and honors the legacy of the "Murrow Boys" through an exclusive look at the golden age of CBS News.

We don't give you what you want to hear; we give you what you need to know to stay grounded.

Topics Covered

• The Digital Mask: How $50 in server time creates market-moving synthetic media.
• "Google Zero": The AI "answer engines" starving traditional publishers of traffic.
• Financial Warfare: Sophisticated deepfake traps targeting retirement accounts.
• The 1996 Telecom Act: How corporate mergers turned newsrooms into entertainment cogs.
• Vulture Fund Impact: Private equity’s role in creating propaganda-filled "news deserts."
• Verification vs. Viralism: Using traditional discipline to cut through algorithmic outrage.
• The CBS Legacy: Reflections on the "Murrow Era" standards with icons like Charles Kuralt.
• AI Labeling Laws: Evaluating the new February 2026 federal mandates for synthetic media.
• The Journalist’s Tool: Identifying "The Glitch"—finding flaws in the logic of a source.

About the Hosts

Richard Schreiber

Richard Schreiber is a strategic AI consultant, journalist, autism advocate, and fiction writer based in New York City. With a background spanning investigative reporting, technology consulting, and over 25 years in legal technology and procurement, Richard brings a rare combination of real-world experience and analytical depth to every conversation. He is the founder of a growing autism advocacy foundation and the author of multiple books, including Autism Care Revolution. His journalism is guided by one principle: facts first, always.

Tom Martin

Tom Martin is a veteran television news producer with more than 20 years at some of the most respected names in broadcasting. He got his start at the CBS News Washington Bureau in 1982 — where he witnessed history firsthand, including being in the room when Nixon delivered his infamous "I am not a crook" statement. The son of a legendary newspaper editor who helped launch USA Today, Tom grew up believing journalism is a sacred public trust. He carries that belief into every story he tells.

Guest: Henry Lenz

Henry Lenz is a veteran broadcast engineer and producer whose career at CBS spanned over four decades. From mixing the World Tonight to producing award-winning documentaries like the Bach 300th Anniversary special, Henry’s work defined the "Gold Standard" of audio journalism. He is a master of the analog craft and a witness to the evolution of the Fourth Estate.

Our Mission

True Journalism exists because facts still matter. The press is a watchdog — not a lapdog — and the American public deserves reporting that shines a light rather than throws a shadow. This is not a political show. We do not have a party. We have one principle: if it is not a verified fact, we will say so.