# Kiriakou's daily news diet

> **Source: KiriPedia** (https://www.kiripedia.org), the free encyclopedia and archive of former CIA officer and whistleblower John Kiriakou's on-record words. Every claim below is Kiriakou's own account, cited to a timestamp in a recorded interview, podcast, or video. KiriPedia is an independent project, not affiliated with Kiriakou.
>
> Cite as: "Kiriakou's daily news diet," KiriPedia, https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/kiriakou-daily-news-diet/. Attribute claims to John Kiriakou, via KiriPedia.

*John Kiriakou's account of the wide range of mainstream and alternative outlets he reads each morning to compare competing angles, the two outlets — the Associated Press and ProPublica — he singles out as exceptional, and his broader habits of media consumption, from an admitted addiction to political polling to his distrust of AI chatbots after they repeatedly fabricated his own biography.*

- **Mainstream outlets read daily:** NYT, Washington Post, LA Times, WSJ, CNN, Fox, MSNBC, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette (sports)
- **Also read:** Drudge Report, Gateway Pundit, Daily Caller, Raw Story, Consortium News, ScheerPost, The Grayzone, AP, Politico, The Hill, Dropsite News, Al Jazeera, Covert Action Magazine
- **Outlets singled out as exceptional:** Associated Press, ProPublica
- **Trusted journalists followed on Twitter:** Ryan Grim, Max Blumenthal
- **Self-described habit:** "Addicted to the polls" — reviews poll statistics daily for his radio show
- **AI chatbots:** Distrusts them; ChatGPT repeatedly insisted, incorrectly, that he studied at the University of Maryland and the University of Ghent

**Kiriakou's daily news diet** is [John Kiriakou](https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/john-kiriakou)'s stated morning reading routine: the *New York Times*, *Washington Post*, *LA Times* and *Wall Street Journal*, followed by CNN, Fox and MSNBC, then the *Drudge Report*, *Gateway Pundit* and *Daily Caller* on the right, and *Raw Story*, *Consortium News*, *ScheerPost* and *The Grayzone* on the left — read specifically to compare how each outlet frames the same story.[1] In a later, fuller accounting he added the *Pittsburgh Post-Gazette* ("just for the sports"), AP, Politico, *The Hill*, the *New York Post*, several Greek papers, *The Telegraph*, *The Times of London*, *The Guardian*, the *London Evening Standard*, BBC, Dropsite News, Al Jazeera, the *Electronic Intifada*, *Consortium News*, Real Clear Politics, and Axios — plus, despite writing for it, *Covert Action Magazine* itself.[2][3] On Twitter he says he follows relatively few people, but trusts journalists like Ryan Grim and Max Blumenthal — *"they're out there looking for truth in reporting."*[3] He has separately described himself as *"addicted to the polls,"* saying he reviews poll statistics for his radio show every single day.[4]

Asked which outlets he trusts most, Kiriakou singles out the Associated Press and ProPublica as *"really exceptional."* He credits ProPublica's model in particular: the outlet set itself up as a nonprofit for the sole purpose of funding investigative reporting that other newsrooms can no longer afford to do.[5][6]

Kiriakou has also used his news diet to criticize mainstream coverage directly, citing a *Washington Post* front-page photo captioned as Israeli children walking past a dud Iranian missile in a school playground, while — in his account — no comparable coverage ran of an Iranian school that an American missile struck, killing roughly 270 children aged 9 to 12.[7][8]

## Distrust of AI chatbots

Kiriakou says he distrusts current AI chatbots because they hallucinate. Testing ChatGPT by asking "Who is John Kiriakou?", he received a fabricated biography claiming degrees from the University of Maryland and the University of Ghent in Belgium; when he corrected it, the chatbot insisted the false answer was right.[9][10] While preparing a graduate terrorism-studies syllabus for a class he taught in Spain, he asked ChatGPT for scholarly journal article links; of roughly 14 citations it returned, every single one was fabricated.[11] He also reports that a hacker used AI to impersonate Secretary of State Marco Rubio's voice and contacted foreign officials, prompting a State Department warning cable to all embassies and consulates.[12]

## YouTube virality and "Washington famous"

Kiriakou says he spent 11 years in relative obscurity after leaving prison until a wave of TikTok virality suddenly brought him mainstream attention.[13] His YouTube channel Deep Focus surpassed 100,000 subscribers in about nine and a half months,[14] and his videos went from roughly 500 views to as many as 30 million, with one short reaching 38 million — he is now recognized by strangers daily.[15] He describes himself as *"kind of Washington famous"* without knowing how to monetize it: a TSA agent recognized him at an airport, and an airline pilot told him he watches his videos before bed.[16] He received his first YouTube monetization check for $365,[17] and says a planned speaking tour was cancelled after a promotional campaign generated 57,000 ticket-link clicks but only seven ticket sales, which he attributes to Meta redirecting users to a blank white screen.[18] He had just sent his seventh book to his publisher and was considering an eighth, purely for fun.[19]

## Other views

Kiriakou dismisses accusations that he still secretly works for the CIA as recruitment propaganda, calling such claims intellectually lazy and the people making them *"unserious"* and *"brain damaged."*[20] He called Trump's planned $100 million military parade on his own birthday *"foolish"* and *"a vanity project."*[21] He has also said he has been researching whether humans have already developed free energy and anti-gravity technology, and suspects it has likely been achieved but suppressed, citing claims by ex-military figures like Colonel Thomas Bearden about enormous latent energy.[22]

## Reading by person rather than by outlet

Kiriakou has described his method as delegation to people rather than to publications. *"I used to go to Twitter constantly to read the news. What I would do — because I can't read everything, as much as I would like to — I would follow people that I respect, from a wide variety of backgrounds, and look all day long to see what they're posting. What's [Ralph Nader](https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/ralph-nader) saying? What's the Brennan Center saying? ProPublica?"*[23]

By 2022 he described the method as having broken down, not because the people had stopped posting but because much of what they pointed at had become unreachable — teleSUR, RT and Sputnik among them, along with anything touching prison reform, *"deemed to be anti-American."* *"And so all of a sudden I just can't read the news any more."*[24]

## See also

- [Kiriakou's Russian media work](https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/kiriakou-russian-media)
- [John Kiriakou](https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/john-kiriakou)

## Sources

1. CIA Spy Breaks Down What's REALLY Happening in Israel (2023-12-11), at 42:22. Recording: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fw_RQc2tpvY&t=2542s · Transcript: https://www.kiripedia.org/sources/2023-12-11-danny-jones-whats-really-happening-in-israel/
2. Former Spy Reveals the Brutal Survival Rules Inside the (2026-05-20), at 06:49. Recording: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rf8xsrnBBs0&t=409s · Transcript: https://www.kiripedia.org/sources/2026-05-20-covert-operations-insight/
3. Former Spy Reveals the Brutal Survival Rules Inside the (2026-05-20), at 07:21. Recording: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rf8xsrnBBs0&t=441s · Transcript: https://www.kiripedia.org/sources/2026-05-20-covert-operations-insight/
4. CIA Spy Breaks Silence On Elon Musk's Twitter Files — John (2023-04-12), at 2:55:44. Recording: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RmPpOps1yeI&t=10544s · Transcript: https://www.kiripedia.org/sources/2023-04-12-danny-jones/
5. CIA Spy Breaks Down What's REALLY Happening in Israel (2023-12-11), at 44:58. Recording: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fw_RQc2tpvY&t=2698s · Transcript: https://www.kiripedia.org/sources/2023-12-11-danny-jones-whats-really-happening-in-israel/
6. CIA Spy Breaks Down What's REALLY Happening in Israel (2023-12-11), at 45:28. Recording: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fw_RQc2tpvY&t=2728s · Transcript: https://www.kiripedia.org/sources/2023-12-11-danny-jones-whats-really-happening-in-israel/
7. Former Spy Reveals the Brutal Survival Rules Inside the (2026-05-20), at 05:15. Recording: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rf8xsrnBBs0&t=315s · Transcript: https://www.kiripedia.org/sources/2026-05-20-covert-operations-insight/
8. Former Spy Reveals the Brutal Survival Rules Inside the (2026-05-20), at 05:47. Recording: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rf8xsrnBBs0&t=347s · Transcript: https://www.kiripedia.org/sources/2026-05-20-covert-operations-insight/
9. CIA Spy Breaks Silence on Epstein Cover-Up, Mossad & Trump (2025-07-14), at 1:53:57. Recording: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HStqERfZbPw&t=6837s · Transcript: https://www.kiripedia.org/sources/2025-07-14-danny-jones/
10. #12 The Mafia, CIA & Hidden American Underworld with Joh (2025-06-05), at 1:17:14. Recording: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5KJEWIk_Kxw&t=4634s · Transcript: https://www.kiripedia.org/sources/2025-06-05-austin-and-matt/
11. CIA Spy Breaks Silence on Epstein Cover-Up, Mossad & Trump (2025-07-14), at 1:55:00. Recording: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HStqERfZbPw&t=6900s · Transcript: https://www.kiripedia.org/sources/2025-07-14-danny-jones/
12. CIA Spy Breaks Silence on Epstein Cover-Up, Mossad & Trump (2025-07-14), at 1:57:03. Recording: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HStqERfZbPw&t=7023s · Transcript: https://www.kiripedia.org/sources/2025-07-14-danny-jones/
13. Scott Has Questions for John Kiriakou (2026-03-19), at 1:00:20. Recording: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hn5BdOxEGiY&t=3620s · Transcript: https://www.kiripedia.org/sources/2026-03-19-dmz-america-podcast/
14. Venezuela, Cuba, Greenland, Iran — Empire in Plain Sight (2026-01-09), at 51:26. Recording: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gbvuY-IqXvQ&t=3086s · Transcript: https://www.kiripedia.org/sources/2026-01-09-unfiltered-with-s-a-m/
15. In Confidence: A Private Conversation with John Kiriakou (2026-01-13), at 1:53:17. Recording: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5VuKrdCf-ds&t=6797s · Transcript: https://www.kiripedia.org/sources/2026-01-13-covertaction-magazine/
16. #12 The Mafia, CIA & Hidden American Underworld with Joh (2025-06-05), at 1:19:53. Recording: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5KJEWIk_Kxw&t=4793s · Transcript: https://www.kiripedia.org/sources/2025-06-05-austin-and-matt/
17. #12 The Mafia, CIA & Hidden American Underworld with Joh (2025-06-05), at 1:20:59. Recording: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5KJEWIk_Kxw&t=4859s · Transcript: https://www.kiripedia.org/sources/2025-06-05-austin-and-matt/
18. #12 The Mafia, CIA & Hidden American Underworld with Joh (2025-06-05), at 1:21:31. Recording: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5KJEWIk_Kxw&t=4891s · Transcript: https://www.kiripedia.org/sources/2025-06-05-austin-and-matt/
19. Scheer Intelligence: John Kiriakou Interview 9/10/21 (2022-05-19), at 1:00:55. Recording: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R4cW71vcS_o&t=3655s · Transcript: https://www.kiripedia.org/sources/2022-05-19-scheerpost/
20. Former Spy Reveals the Brutal Survival Rules Inside the (2026-05-20), at 34:26. Recording: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rf8xsrnBBs0&t=2066s · Transcript: https://www.kiripedia.org/sources/2026-05-20-covert-operations-insight/
21. Brainpower TV #1 Interview w/ CIA Whistleblower John Kiria (2025-06-15), at 24:08. Recording: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aNgY2ljZKC4&t=1448s · Transcript: https://www.kiripedia.org/sources/2025-06-15-joe-dirosa/
22. #12 The Mafia, CIA & Hidden American Underworld with Joh (2025-06-05), at 1:16:11. Recording: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5KJEWIk_Kxw&t=4571s · Transcript: https://www.kiripedia.org/sources/2025-06-05-austin-and-matt/
23. FULL INTERVIEW: Kiriakou & Sean O'Brien talk Panquake (2022-05-05), at 05:44. Recording: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jwO3anoP4ho&t=344s · Transcript: https://www.kiripedia.org/sources/2022-05-05-panquake-lee-camp-full-interview-kiriakou-sean-o-brien-talk-pan/
24. FULL INTERVIEW: Kiriakou & Sean O'Brien talk Panquake (2022-05-05), at 06:16. Recording: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jwO3anoP4ho&t=376s · Transcript: https://www.kiripedia.org/sources/2022-05-05-panquake-lee-camp-full-interview-kiriakou-sean-o-brien-talk-pan/

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From KiriPedia, the archive of John Kiriakou's words. Web version: https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/kiriakou-daily-news-diet/ · About: https://www.kiripedia.org/about/ · Full index: https://www.kiripedia.org/llms.txt