You know, David’s so insightful VIP post this afternoon on how Epic Fury’s become a litmus test for the Left made me smile a little after watching this magnificent local CBS reporter.
He’s a young guy, Vinny Martorano is. And I’ll bet Austin is a hep cat kind of happenin’ city to cover as a young reporter. Sadly, last night and today, he was out in the downtown covering the horrible terror attack that happened early Sunday morning.
Around 10:15 tonight, a group of young adults held a vigil/prayer outside Buford’s. People hung string lights in the shape of a cross in front of the bar.@cbsaustin pic.twitter.com/sgZzbt3LOh
— Vinny Martorano (@VinnyMartorano) March 2, 2026
But this isn’t what about Vinny that’s caught the attention of a lot of people.
It’s something to do with this moment, where he’s reporting on a really large crowd of Iranian diaspora members who have gathered to jubilantly demonstrate in downtown Austin, in front of the state capitol. There are waving American, Israeli, and Iranian lion flags.
And loud chants of ‘Thank you, Trump! Thank you, Bibi!’ ringing out accompanied by a drum.
“Thank you Trump”
A large group of people in front of the Texas Capitol are celebrating the coordinated strike against Iran early this morning.
Some people I spoke with moved to Austin from Iran.@cbsaustin pic.twitter.com/y7frrIrcPy
— Vinny Martorano (@VinnyMartorano) February 28, 2026
In woke, insufferably progressive Austin.
The usual suspects were also out, in nowhere near those numbers, being the little black clouds trying to rain on a joyful parade that they can’t help themselves being.
A group of people are protesting at the state capitol against the US’s recent attack in Iran this morning, saying there needs to be peace worldwide wide.@cbsaustin pic.twitter.com/V6924INXRw
— Vinny Martorano (@VinnyMartorano) February 28, 2026
Those are Vinny’s actual reports.
I guess what he didn’t realize is that someone caught him on their camera as he practiced his walk-through before filming the piece.
It’s what Vinny Martorano did then that just makes you smile.
He’s just about ready to go when his cameraman hands him a phone with a message from the station bosses, telling him to cool his jets on the ‘Yay, Trump‘ crowd coverage.
‘They don’t want us focusing on that,‘ says the cameraman, and it is hard to make out over the racket of the voices behind him.
WELL, I AM
WATCH: In a Facebook Live stream, Sinclair-owned CBS Austin multimedia journalist @VinnyMartorano refuses his bosses’ order to spin and downplay the rally in support of the U.S.-Israel strikes on Iran.
In the video, Martorano is seemingly practicing for a live shot and noting… pic.twitter.com/iHiTCAxehe
— Nicholas Fondacaro (@NickFondacaro) March 1, 2026
…In the video, Martorano is seemingly practicing for a live shot and noting that people were “celebrating the attack. He’s then hand a phone:
CREW MEMBER: [Hands him a phone]
MARTORANO: What does that mean?
CREW MEMBER: It means they don’t want us to focus on this.
MARTORANO: [Shrugs] All right. [Hands the phone back] Well, I am.
RALLY CHANTS: Thank you Trump! Thank you Trump! Thank you Trump! Thank you Trump! Thank you Bibi! Thank you Bibi! Thank you Bibi! Thank you Bibi!
(…)
MARTORANO (presumably in the live shot): All right. There are a lot of mixed opinions across Austin about the joint attack between the United States and Israel against Iran that happened earlier this morning. Some people like this group behind me are thanking Trump and the United States government for following through with this attack against Iran.
HOLY CRAP
What a sad commentary on the state of the media that this one young man’s honest adherence to the essence of reporting the truth of the story in front of him is just a gobsmacker in this day and age.
A reporting job for a major affiliate in a larger market like Austin is a plum opportunity, and to buck the bosses to tell the truth?
To show THE UNADORNED, UNEDITED TRUTH instead of massaging the sensitivities of the pervading ideology?
I’m sorry – that is beyond spectacular.
Maybe it’s because he went to a mid-major like Ball State (yes, I read his bio) that he’s kept his innate integrity.
Whatever it is, his parents raised what used to simply be known as a ‘good man’ – the same ‘good men’ who are now as rare as Sasquatch sightings in his profession.
I don’t know what will happen once word of this hits the bosses, or if they’ve already ripped him a new one for his report.
All I know is that the media could use more Vinnies on-air and a whole lot less of the national CBS reporters.
I’ll lay you dollars to donuts they do the exact opposite.
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