White House 'media bias' tracker vanishes shortly after launch then returns with major changes

WASHINGTON, DC: The White House rolled out a brand-new web page Friday to sniff out “media bias” and inaccuracies, but ended up tripping over its own shoelaces within hours.

The boldly titled “Media Bias” portal was billed as a government-backed watchdog focused on the Fourth Estate. The official White House X account announced, “Tired of the Fake News? We’ve got the place for you. Get the FACTS. Track the worst offenders. See the Fake News EXPOSED.”

Splashy launch followed by a faceplant

The page promised to catalog the press’s alleged sins, everything from “bias” and “omission of context” to “left-wing lunacy” and "lie." It even featured an “Offender Hall of Shame" that called out the supposedly biggest culprits.

But shortly after going live, the site suddenly vanished. When it finally re-emerged, there was one conspicuous change. Fox News was no longer listed as an "offender" after the White House mistakenly claimed a reporter from the outlet had asked certain questions during a press conference.

Washington Post media reporter Scott Nover pointed it out on X, “Fox News asked the White House to correct it, and now there’s a 404 error where the page once was.” 

Once the dust settled and the site was back online, visitors were greeted by a spotlighted “media offender of the week” section that accused several major US outlets of tarnishing “President Trump’s Calls for Democrat Accountability.”

The site claims these outlets misrepresented and exaggerated Trump’s remarks, slapping them with categories like “misrepresentation” and “omission of context.”

According to the White House, the press twisted Trump’s reaction after certain lawmakers allegedly told US service members they could refuse unlawful orders. 

The site’s “truth” box reads, “The Democrats and Fake News Media subversively implied that President Trump had issued illegal orders to service members, it is dangerous for sitting Members of Congress to incite insubordination in the United States’ military, and President Trump called for them to be held accountable.” 

List of publications and their offenses

Once it was back up and running, the White House tracker flaunted 31 “fake news offenses” across 21 publications. Among the named offenders was The Daily Beast, slapped for allegedly downplaying the criminal past of Kilmar Abrego Garcia after his deportation.

Catherine Bouris at The Beast, alongside CBS News and The Independent, stands accused of “describing him as a ‘Maryland dad,’” while “omitting facts about his criminal history.”

This is just the latest move in the Trump administration’s apparent crackdown on the media. Since January, several journalists have been booted from Pentagon briefings, shuffled out of the White House press pack, and threatened with lawsuits for coverage that rubbed officials the wrong way.

Among the headlines immortalized in the tracker’s hall of infamy were “Italian Pasta Is Poised to Disappear From American Grocery Shelves" by The Wall Street Journal,  “The View’s Whoopi Goldberg Makes Up a Song to Slam Trump for Building White House Ballroom” by ABC News,  and “Republicans are Losing the Political Battle Over the Shutdown” by MSNBC.

Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt gushed in her announcement post, “The Trump White House is holding the Fake News accountable like never before.”

The site leans on infographics powered by Flourish, owned by UK design giant Canva, and appears to serve as a clap back to the media trackers that once hounded Trump.

Notably, The Washington Post claimed Trump issued 30,573 false or misleading statements in his first term, clocking in at more than 20.9 per day.