In December 2025, then 23-year-old self-identified “independent YouTube journalist” Nick Shirley posted a viral video “investigating” fraud committed at federally funded Minneapolis daycare centers. Alleging that the daycare centers were not providing childcare services and misappropriated over $100 million in taxpayer dollars, Shirley and a crew of cameramen visited multiple daycares and demanded to see the children inside. The video, titled “I Investigated Minnesota’s Billion Dollar Fraud Scandal,” currently has 4.1 million views, but it made waves beyond the original platform.

The FBI was aware of the fraud, said FBI Director Kash Patel in a post on X from December 28 in response to Shirley’s video. But “this is just the tip of a very large iceberg. We will continue to follow the money and protect children, and this investigation very much remains ongoing,” the post continued. Shortly after the video was posted, the Trump administration deployed more federal officers to Minneapolis. Dubbed “Operation Metro Surge,” over 3000 ICE/CBP (Customs and Border Patrol) officers were deployed to the Twin Cities (Minneapolis/St Paul) Metro area.

Shirley, who currently has over 1.8 million followers on YouTube, is joined by other conservative media figures posturing as “investigative journalists.” They have found audiences online on platforms such as YouTube and TikTok of mostly young, middle-class, conservative white men. Outlets such as the New York Times have called this wave of content “Slopulism,” linking it to past right-wing populist movements, but adding that the social media platform “offers followers emotional gratification through mindless, performative gestures online.”

In the early 1990s, right-wing populist figures such as radio host Rush Limbaugh spoke to an audience mostly consisting of young, white men who felt disillusioned by legacy media. His show, titled The Rush Limbaugh Show, reached an estimated 15.5 million listeners a week at its peak. Limbaugh was followed by fellow right-wing populist radio figures like Tucker Carlson, who retains a large audience, both young and old.

Since then, it’s clear that legacy media has failed to recapture this demographic. In 2025. An all-time low of 28% expressed having a “great deal” or “fair amount” of trust in mass media, Gallup Polling found. The number is even lower for Republicans, with only 12% of 18-29 year olds reporting the same level of trust.

Though populism giving way to conspiracy theory and acting as a stepping stone to fascistic beliefs isn’t new, today the repercussions of this demographic, pushed away from mainstream media and towards media figures such as Shirley, are more dire than ever. In February, the Department of Homeland Security reported that over 4000 arrests had been made since Operation Metro Surge began. ICE agents killed two American citizens, Renee Goode and Alex Pretti, during the surge as well. It’s clear that the issue is getting worse, not better.

If journalism is supposed to serve as a map to guide our navigation through the world, it’s clear that this failure to do so has led some off the path and to dark places. In Chapter 9 of Bill Kovach and Tom Rosensteil’s The Elements of Journalism, they say that the industry “created a map for certain neighborhoods and not others. And those who were unable to navigate where they lived gave it up.”

This presents an opportunity for independent, legacy media to message to and recapture this demographic. While media outlets such as the New York Times give (sometimes front-page) space to figures such as Bret Stephens, who enthusiastically gives consent for one of the most unpopular conflicts in American history.

Messaging specifically to the demographic of young white men is another version of the very identity politics they so often say is destroying America. Legacy media has shown a reluctance to create news that is comprehensive and proportional, resulting in a failure to create a viable public square, again funneling those into extremist and niche spaces online to gather “news.”

Independent media can combat this by taking an unapologetic look at the issues that Americans face. Without elite ownership that may be interested in preserving the status quo, independent media can solely be accountable to the public. Creating a viable public square is also a path to financial viability, and a subscription-based model should be prioritized. When advertiser or other funding is accepted, transparency should be practiced.

As social media becomes increasingly unregulated and algorithms even encourage extremist speech, independent media also has the responsibility to maintain a presence online to combat extremism, and platform fact-based, objective reporting to counter narratives before they are co-opted by figures such as Shirley.

To affirm a commitment to the people they serve, outlets should prioritize impact-based reporting instead of simply offering commentary on issues from afar. This can be done by staffing reporters from communities being covered and hiring from diverse backgrounds.

As legacy media faces a legitimacy crisis, the information vacuum it has left has been filled by sensationalism and extremism that continues to have dire consequences.