By Lee Williams
SAF Investigative Journalism Project
Not too long ago, investigative reporters had to find their own information when they took on a story. Getting data was difficult but crucial. The other side—the subject of the investigation—fought throughout the entire process, since it usually proved they had screwed up, and loss of employment and/or prison were a consideration.
Nowadays, so-called investigative reporters have it a lot easier. There are organizations that will provide nearly everything they need for a story, including data, photos and quotes. The problem is that these groups are all politically connected. They all have a hefty axe to grind.
Very few groups are better at selling themselves to today’s media than the Trace, Michael Bloomberg’s fake reporters and fake newsroom. The Trace is paid to produce anti-gun propaganda. They’re propagandists not journalists, and they’ve certainly never had a real newsroom.
For an investigative reporter, using anything from the Trace comes with huge risks.
John Feinblatt is president of both the Trace and the largest anti-gun organization in the country, Bloomberg’s Everytown for Gun Safety.
To say that’s a conflict of interest is obvious. After all, you’ve got the Trace, which claims to be “the only newsroom dedicated to reporting on gun violence” overseen and paid for by “the largest gun violence prevention organization in America.”
Feinblatt even admitted he came up with the idea of the Trace after Everytown had problems obtaining access to government data. After discussing his idea with Bloomberg, the Trace was launched in 2015, and Everytown was its largest donor.
Today, I don’t think there’s too much difference between the two groups, other than what’s written on a staffer’s paycheck. They’re both seeking the same goal, total civilian disarmament, and they both take orders directly from Bloomberg.
For an investigative reporter to use such an obviously skewed source could be disastrous, at least it should be.
Enter ProPublica.
I remember when the journalism nonprofit first started in 2008. It hit hard, like a bullet. Over the years, I’ve known several of their reporters. One still works there. Today, they have more than 150 investigative reporters and database analysts whose work is mostly funded by donations.
I’m betting ProPublica’s funding process may have created a serious if not fatal problem, since Bloomberg has never been shy about donating cash.
His gifts always come with a steep price, for example writing a story about a former ATF official who now works for Bloomberg.
“Dettelbach’s puppet”
Marianna Mitchem spent 20 years at ATF, rising to Associate Assistant Director of Field Operations (Industry Operations).
Mitchem began her 20-year ATF career in 2005 as an IOI, an Industry Operations Investigator, who inspect gun shops to make sure their records and inventory are documented correctly. She worked unarmed and was never an ATF Special Agent, who are armed and charged with enforcing federal law.
She was promoted to field supervisor in 2011, and by 2014, was put in charge of Industry Operations for ATF’s Phoenix Field Division.
She moved to Washington D.C. in 2017, when she became ATF’s deputy chief of Field Management Staff. One year later, she was promoted to Chief.
In 2019, Mitchem became ATF’s deputy chief of staff, and reported to ATF’s director. Just one year later, she became the chief of the Firearms and Explosives Industry Division.
Mitchem held her final position as Associate Assistant Director of Field Operations (Industry Operations), from March 2024 until she left in May 2025.
A former ATF senior official who worked with Mitchem said she was smart, a good communicator but always extremely anti-gun.
When former President Joe Biden appointed Steve Dettelbach to run ATF, Mitchem was given more duties and responsibilities.
The former official described her as “Dettelbach’s puppet.” She was his “superstar,” and was responsible for ATF’s frame or receiver ruling and for going after “ghost guns.”
ProPublica’s story
On Monday, ProPublica published: “No One Is Watching”: How Trump Reversed Biden’s Crackdown on Gun Trafficking.
Mitchem is named in the lead of the story, is quoted throughout the piece and is definitely the star.
Guided by Mitchem, the story’s two authors examine a bit of ATF history, although it’s completely one-sided, flawed and terribly written.
“After 2021, the homicide rate started falling, which criminologists attributed to several factors, including repair of the social fabric since the coronavirus pandemic and a closing of the breach in police-community relations that followed the 2020 murder of George Floyd. One other factor got less attention: the clampdown on the illegal flow of firearms,” the authors actually wrote.
In addition to Mitchem’s self-serving quotes, the authors used data—a lot of data—and the data sources raise even more concerns.
The Trace, Everytown for Gun Safety and Everytown Research are cited frequently as the main data sources, as if they’re capable of actually producing believable data.
CNN and USA TODAY are the two largest news organizations quoted by the authors, and nowadays they’re about as bad as the Trace or Everytown.
The three main points of the story are actually pretty good, great in fact, but they were definitely not written that way.
The authors concluded that under President Donald J. Trump the ATF now refers 30% fewer gun-trafficking cases, sends ATF agents to help ICE make arrests at protests, and has reduced the number of gun dealers losing their licenses by 69%.
As to the rest, there’s not much that’s really new in the piece, other than the quotes from Mitchem.
It’s definitely anti-gun, which raises additional questions.
Takeaways
The authors’ story violates the top three rules of ProPublica’s own code of ethics, which states:
- Our facts are accurate and fairly presented.
- Our analyses represent our best independent judgments rather than our preferences or those of our sources.
- There are no hidden agendas in any of our journalistic undertakings.
The facts in the story were definitely unfair and unclear; both the analysis and judgement were anti-gun instead of independent, and the authors had a massive anti-gun agenda, which they were almost incapable of hiding.
Quite frankly, I expected more a lot more.
I’m accustomed to seeing local TV stations and newspapers duped by the Trace’s lies and manipulations, not ProPublica—one of the few investigative powerhouses still in operation.
Guns have always been the only issue where traditional journalism rules do not apply. Journalists can publish whatever they want about guns or gun owners, violating every ethical code and nothing will ever happen.
Why?
Well, the reason is very simple: Journalists don’t like guns. They don’t understand them. They think they’re evil, as is anyone who owns one. Anyone who advocates for guns or gun rights they believe is a “gun nut,” so their opinions are immediately discounted.
It’s sad but true.
Given the dire financial straits facing most of the traditional media, nonprofits like ProPublica have become even more important. So, it’s sad to see both the Trace and Everytown take control.
It proves the worth of an anonymous quote about how wealth or the desire to become wealthy can overshadow all else: “When money talks, nobody checks the grammar.”
As I said, it’s sad but true.
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