Texas Tribune spreads false claims about Accuracy in Media while ignoring its role in Coppell ISD lawsuit
March 20, 2025
The Texas Tribune this week reported on Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton’s lawsuit against Coppell ISD, which was sparked by an Accuracy in Media investigation.
But the Tribune did not reach out to Accuracy in Media for comment and instead published false information about AIM from the Southern Poverty Law Center, which is a financial supporter of the Tribune.
“Accuracy in Media has drawn controversy in the past, most recently in August at Columbia University. The group’s Center for Investigative Journalism is directed by Cliff Kincaid, who the Southern Poverty Law Center said ‘is actually an unrepentant propagandist for extremist right-wing causes who knows few boundaries in his attempts to smear liberal foes.’
Accuracy in Media does not have a “Center for Investigative Journalism,” and Kincaid’s work at AIM predates the entire current staff. He has not been employed by AIM since summer of 2017. Of note is that since he has not been employed by AIM for the better part of a decade, he is not featured in any recent press coverage of AIM — of which there are ample examples for the Tribune to compare. By contrast, AIM President Adam Guillette is quoted in nearly every piece on AIM’s investigations – including the one in the Tribune.
The SPLC does not detail Accuracy in Media as part of its database, only Kincaid — and only articles that are more than a decade old. The Texas Tribune is exclusively using its own financial supporter as the sole source to pull “facts” to discredit Accuracy in Media and an investigation solid enough to be the basis of a lawsuit from the Attorney General.
Accuracy in Media reached out to the writer, Alejandro Serrano, to provide accurate information. Neither Serrano nor the Tribune agreed to correct the article.
This comes as “Americans’ trust in the mass media is at its lowest point in more than five decades,” according to Gallup polling from February. “About two-thirds of Americans in the 1970s trusted the “mass media — such as newspapers, TV and radio” either “a great deal” or “a fair amount” to “[report] the news fully, accurately and fairly.” By the next measurement in 1997, confidence had fallen to 53%, and it has gradually trended downward since 2003.”
Edit: The Texas Tribune has updated the article to reflect a correction regarding Kincaid’s employment.