Staff Reports
The moment Americans needed straight reporting, the network formerly known as MSNBC instead served up a manufactured fantasy. During a segment about the frightening shooting of Alex Pretti in Minneapolis, MS NOW anchor Nicolle Wallace ran an AI-enhanced portrait of the deceased that made him look bronzed, buffed and cosmetically altered — a cosmetic “glow-up” that wasn’t in the original staff photo. The image was obvious enough that conservatives and independent watchdogs immediately smelled a setup and demanded answers from a network that keeps preaching truth while practicing propaganda.
This isn’t an accidental filter slip-up; it’s the latest example of media elites trying to manufacture sympathy and steer outrage for political ends. Videos and eyewitness accounts of the Minneapolis encounter show chaos, disputed claims about a firearm, and a community demanding accountability — but instead of sober reporting, MS NOW handed viewers a doctored hero shot to frame the narrative before the facts landed. Ordinary Americans deserve facts, not facelifts and framing designed to serve a partisan script.
When the camera flashed that altered picture while Wallace lectured the Trump administration about “not believing your eyes and ears,” the hypocrisy was almost painful to watch. The network demanded skepticism of official accounts even as it broadcast a clearly manipulated image as if it were documentary truth. That double standard isn’t just sloppy journalism; it’s a cynical attempt to weaponize emotion and to delegitimize law enforcement investigations before they even conclude.
MS NOW eventually scrubbed the image from at least one video and reportedly appended an editor’s note admitting the thumbnail was AI-enhanced, but an after-the-fact correction doesn’t erase the damage. The manipulation had already seeded millions of impressions and social-media posts, shaping the first reactions of people across the country. If a news outlet can so casually present an artificial portrait in the middle of a breaking tragedy, what else do they think they can get away with when shaping elections and public opinion?
Patriotic Americans should be furious that our media institutions think they can play god with images of a dead man to further a political agenda. Whether you support law enforcement, want better immigration enforcement, or simply demand rule of law, the principle is the same: journalism must be honest, not theatrical. The left-wing press’s pattern of reshaping reality to fit a narrative erodes trust in every institution, including the hospitals, police and federal agencies that keep communities safe.
This episode also exposes a broader problem with a network that rebranded itself as MS NOW while keeping the same activist mindset. Rebranding doesn’t cleanse decades of editorial bias; it only gives the same machinery a shinier logo to push the same agendas. Americans who still believe in fair-minded reporting should demand real accountability — including an explanation of who produced the altered image, why it was chosen, and whether disciplinary steps will be taken.
Enough with the performative outrage and photo-shop martyrdom. We need reporters who verify, editors who refuse to weaponize grief, and executives who understand that their first duty is truth to citizens, not virtue signaling to a political base. If MS NOW and its anchors want to regain any credibility, they will stop manufacturing images and start publishing sober, evidence-based coverage of what actually happened in Minneapolis. The country deserves nothing less.
