Underground Dispatch: The Washington Post's PFAS Spin, Meta's AI Perverts, and Media's Favorite Cover-ups
A water safety rollback spun as protection, a trafficking hotline failing victims, and $3.5 billion in California healthcare cuts—why won't the media give you the whole story?
May 16, 2025
Welcome to this week's Underground Dispatch, where I wade through the media swamp so you don't have to ruin your good shoes. Trust me, it's getting muckier by the week out here.
What's on the menu today? A masterclass in headline manipulation from The Washington Post, a taxpayer-funded trafficking hotline that apparently forgot its one job, California's $3.5 billion healthcare reality check, and Meta's AI chatbots that really need to be grounded from the internet. Plus, a California social media law you probably haven't heard about because... well, CNN is busy covering for Tapper.
If you're new here, welcome! I'm also on Instagram for breaking news and co-host the podcast, where we dissect media narratives twice weekly. Our monthly UNFiltered episodes for paid supporters go places that would make a corporate news editor break out in hives.
Let's dive into this week's media circus, shall we?