It was immediately after Christmas when independent journalist Nick Shirley began releasing his video reports amplifying in-depth fraud reporting from the snowy streets of Minneapolis about the suspect daycare centers in that city. Throughout January, there were competing news narratives; the breadth of the fraud was becoming revealed, while the press outlets began their own investigations.
Into Nick Shirley, not the possibility of there being rampant fraud.
In the weeks after Shirley’s exposé of The Quality Learing Center, and other childcare facilities that were notably child-free, the press was busy looking into Shirley in a clear attempt to discredit him as a mere MAGA online crank playing for clicks. It was a glaring example of wanting to shoot the messenger. That the press outlets had the aim of an inebriated Stormtrooper has become evident.
NPR did an exhaustive study on Nick’s background, not on the possibility of rampant cases of centers bagging fortunes of taxpayer money. You see the lack of intent throughout the “report"; words like “allegedly,” “purports,” “seemingly,” “claim,” and other qualifying language abound. What is not seen in this report: Any evidence that proves Shirley was correct or incorrect. This is due to a lack of investigating by the outlet. Seeing “has not been verified” in the article is a tacit admission that they did not do the work.
Also getting in on the action was CNN. The network sent reporter Whitney Wild to Minneapolis, who worked to disprove Shirley in embarrassing fashion. She was shown on camera “investigating” the story; this entailed her sitting in a hotel room and calling up childcare centers to ask them if they were committing fraud. You are going to be amazed by this, but she found no one admitting to it to her!
Ms. Wild also confronted Shirley on the streets, in front of one location where kids were seen being dropped off…after being exposed by his videos. There is no way to prove collusion, but it was a nice dose of convenience that she and her cameraman were on site when kids arrived at the location where Nick was previously unable to find any in attendance. Wild was unswayed that the phone number on the center’s signage was never answered, or that those kids were arriving at a location that Minnesota authorities stated was not operating as a business. Her journalistic curiosity was more frozen than the January streets in that city.
VIDEO - Flashback: CNN Tried to Discredit Nick Shirley’s Findings on Minn. Daycare Fraud https://t.co/wQYQX7hE5o
— Grabien (@GrabienMedia) May 22, 2026
Also getting in on the extensive investigation into the investigator was the New York Times. The next month, they included Shirley among a list of other right-of-center videographers and influencers who took up the cause inspired by Nick’s investigations, looking into fraud in other areas of the country. In the exposé by Nathan Taylor Pemberton, he looked into several influencers who were making reports in the Shirley-Minneapolis vein, describing their efforts as “slopulism.”
Administrator of the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, Dr. Mehmet Oz, Benny Johnson, and a handful of others were denigrated as posturing individuals claiming to be rooting out corruption but really resorting to opportunism for the sake of generating traffic, accusing them of monetizing manufactured outrage. The same paper has recently touted independent journalism, but it was also rather bothered and upset over those committing…well, independent journalism. If the “wrong” people are employing this method, then it must be improper.
Well, as has recently been unfolding, it seems they were committing proper journalism after all. Even in her reporting, Whitney Wild asserted that some cases of fraud in Minneapolis had been investigated and cases found, so why was Shirley highlighting these investigations and instances a problem, and why was it not cause for her own work looking into the matter? Because of partisanship, clearly, and now they have been strung up by their elective sloth.
Minnesota fraud: Minneapolis day care owner featured in Nick Shirley video federally charged https://t.co/PCGrcXKEtd
— Rapid Response 47 (@RapidResponse47) May 20, 2026
Last week, charges were filed against some of the figures seen in the Nick Shirley reports. One woman featured was charged with $4.6 million in fraud collected, and another instance saw a scammer charged for over $5 million in false filings. Also, the Quality “Learing” Center has long been shut down since it was exposed, yet these instances are only given a token mention by the news outlets since Nick’s work.
Interestingly — or, tellingly — these cases of proven fraud taking place were not delivered with nearly the same level of energy or import as the earlier reporting on Nick Shirley. With proven examples of the fraud that he exposed, extensive reporting would ensue, it would stand to reason. Instead, reason is told to sit down.
It is clear now that extensive fraud being committed in the backyard of a Democratic stronghold, and possibly overseen by media darling Ilhan Omar, and possibly permitted by former Vice Presidential candidate Tim Walz, was a story the news industry does not want broadcast. It raises far too many questions about their preferred party and could interfere with the obstruction of President Trump’s agenda through Congress.
Supporting this slanted coverage is that “slopulism” report from the Times. In all of the lengthy prose on the topic, and the detailing of the efforts of these people they attempted to discredit, there is one theme running throughout that piece: At no point are we given evidence that any of them were incorrect. Pemberton slams their efforts, but never shows them proven wrong. Their efforts are not disproven; it is simply disapproval.
Look at the way these investigative influencers are positioned in the column against those doing similar work on the Left. Pemberton resorts to the use of “experts,” who seem in concert to degrade these examples as conservative propaganda. He then strains to look at both sides of the term, but exposes his bias as he describes those on the political spectrum.
In describing how his “slopulism” appears between conservatives and liberals, he makes wildly opposing summations. Notice how Leftists are shown as positive, almost noble forces for good, while those on the other side are only described in a nefarious manner.
On the right, this can look like gleeful cruelty, sadistic memes, posts that “own the libs” or sensationalized claims about fraud and conspiracy. On the left, it could be social justice messaging, online identity politics or populist economic proposals to, say, tax the rich.
Again, what stands out amid this taking potshots at the messenger style of non-journalism is how all the efforts to discredit Nick Shirley and others reporting in the same vein have led to the outlets missing the story entirely. Those shown by Shirley committing the fraud are now facing charges. At NPR, searching “Minnesota Fraud” shows no further coverage on the topic since February. CNN had two digital reports, but the broadcast efforts have been rather tepid in delivery.
What is evident is that this has been a twofold embarrassment for the news industry. They have missed out on a major national story, and they are shamed because figures they regard as unfit and not in their league have shown them how to commit actual journalism.
Editor's Note: Do you enjoy RedState's conservative reporting that takes on the radical left and woke media? Support our work so that we can continue to bring you the truth.
Join RedState VIP and use promo code FIGHT to receive 60% off your membership.
Join the conversation as a VIP Member