Caitlin Johnstone
Nov 4, 2026
I never want to hear another American compare their media’s malpractice to North Korean propaganda ever again. Westerners are more aggressively propagandized than any other population on earth.
The propagandists of the American press have been uncritically describing recent US airstrikes on Iran as “defensive” despite the US being the clear aggressor in this ongoing conflict, and despite the United States existing on the other side of the planet from Iran.
CBS News was the most egregious offender with its headline, “U.S. launches defensive strikes at Iranian targets near Strait of Hormuz.”
The title frames it as an objective fact that the attack was defensive in nature, without quotation marks around the word “defensive” and without even bothering to uncritically cite US officials as the source of this claim.
As a reminder, CBS News was recently acquired by David Ellison, son of Larry Ellison, who is one of the wealthiest people on the planet with a net worth of some $160 billion and who is also the largest single donor to the Israeli military. The Ellisons have responded to Israel’s genocide-induced PR crisis by frenetically buying up control over major platforms like CBS, CNN, HBO Max, Warner Bros and TikTok in order to drum up support for US-Israeli military agendas.
Other mass media outlets weren’t much better, uncritically regurgitating assertions from the US government which present the attacks as “defensive”.
The Associated Press headline on the story reads, “US has conducted defensive strikes on Iranian targets in the Strait of Hormuz, US official says.”
From The Washington Post, “U.S. forces launch new ‘defensive’ strikes in Iran on eve of election.”
From CNN, “US military conducts strikes on Iran’s Qeshm Island in defensive operation, officials say.”
From Fox News, “US launches ‘defensive’ strikes on Iranian island as Tehran talks hang in balance.”
From Reuters, “US carries out ‘defensive’ strikes on Iran’s Qeshm Island, officials say.”
From ABC News, “US carries out defensive airstrikes on Iran’s Qeshm Island: Officials.”
From Politico, “US has conducted defensive strikes on Iranian targets in the Strait of Hormuz, US official says.”
The first paragraph of the Newsweek write-up on the story reads, “The U.S. carried out defensive strikes against Iranian targets in the Strait of Hormuz, a U.S. official told the Associated Press (AP) on Monday.”
The story that these propagandists are spinning was first broken by The Wall Street Journal, who reported that the attacks on Qeshm Island were actually part of a series of secret strikes on Iran which have been going on for weeks now. Paragraphs four and five of the report contain claims attributed to anonymous US officials saying their attacks have been “defensive in nature” in response to Iranian aggressions, which the aforementioned other outlets then seized on as the most significant and newsworthy element in the story.
At no time is the assertion that US forces are “defending” themselves off the coast of Iran ever called into question by any of these outlets. At no time is the audience ever reminded that the US started this war of aggression without any provocation whatsoever. At no time is the audience ever encouraged to ask what the fuck the US military is doing “defending” itself thousands of miles from American shores.
I never want to hear another American compare their media’s malpractice to North Korean propaganda ever again. Westerners are more aggressively propagandized than any other population on earth.
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