The Trace is the anti-gun gift that keeps on giving. It’s the propaganda arm of former New York City mayor Michael Bloomberg’s anti-gun empire, which includes Everytown for Gun Safety.
The Trace pretends to be a newsroom to provide cover for members of the corporate media who republish their anti-gun stories as if they’re actually real news. That ruse can be hard to keep up, though. The Trace and Everytown have the same president, John Feinblatt. The anti-gun propaganda both churn out is basically the same.
Trace staffers actually call themselves journalists, apparently with a strait face. Some even have journalism backgrounds, but in reality, they’re nothing more than ardent anti-gun activists paid in Bloombucks.
On St. Patrick’s Day, “Team Trace” published a press release welcoming three new board members: Elizabeth Weinreb Fishman, Trymaine Lee and Julia Turner.
“We’re really fortunate to have such talented and thoughtful leaders willing to contribute to our unique mission in these critical roles,” the Trace’s managing director, James Burnett, announced in the press release. “Their counsel will be invaluable as we work to expand our impact, inform new audiences, and engage more supporters.”
Unfortunately for Mr. Burnett and “Team Trace,” each of the new hires has an extremely interesting background, which kind of makes you wonder why they were chosen in the first place. Actually, each could prove invaluable to those of us who value our Second Amendment rights. So let’s take a look at each of them, shall we?
Trymaine Lee
According to his biography and scores of interviews, Trymaine Lee has won both a Pulitzer Prize and an Emmy award.
In nearly every single media story about him, Lee describes himself as a Pulitzer Prize winner, which is a big deal for any print journalist. “Lee was hired as a reporter for The Times-Picayune in New Orleans, Louisiana, where he covered Hurricane Katrina and was awarded the 2006 Pulitzer Prize for breaking news reporting for his coverage of the storm’s aftermath,” his bio claims.
What Lee doesn’t share, for some reason, is that the 2006 Pulitzer Prize for breaking news reporting was not given just to him. Instead, it was awarded to the entire staff of his newspaper, The Times-Picayune of New Orleans, “for its courageous and aggressive coverage of Hurricane Katrina, overcoming desperate conditions facing the city and the newspaper.”
Lee was one of 13 Times-Picayune reporters whose work was chosen by the Pulitzer committee. He wrote only one story. Another reporter, Brian Thevenot, wrote three. Because the 2006 breaking-news Pulitzer was given to the entire paper, recipients include every reporter and editor, as well as the entire production staff. Even Times-Picayune janitors can claim to have won a Pulitzer.
Twelve years after winning “his” Pulitzer, Lee claims to have won an Emmy award, but again, that was a shared honor. The Emmy was awarded to “All in with Chris Hayes” for an episode titled “All in America: Chicago.” Lee was one of 26 people working for the show at the time, which included an executive producer, three senior producers, one field producer, 18 producers, one director, host Chris Hayes and Lee…who is listed as a reporter.
Every single staffer at the show can rightfully claim, as Lee does constantly, to have won an Emmy.
Julia Turner
According to her bio, Turner worked at Slate, where she served as Editor-in-Chief. She also worked as a senior editor at the Los Angeles Times.
When the Times was suffering a massive financial crisis, including layoffs and the departure of senior editors, Turner sent out an all-hands email letting the staff know she was in charge. She left the newspaper in February, 2024.
“The time has come for me to explore other ways to contribute to the mission of strengthening, protecting and preserving news in the digital age,” Turner said in a message sent to her staff. “It has been an extraordinary privilege to be part of this newsroom — one of the most talented and tenacious this industry has ever produced. I leave a stronger, better, braver journalist, thanks to all of you.”
Turner, the Trace claims, is now “the editor-in-chief and co-founder of something called L.A. Material, a new digital news outlet covering Los Angeles.” Unfortunately, L.A. Material didn’t exist…until Thursday.
The website allegedly has 10 staffers—editors, a CEO, Turner who is Editor-in-Chief and co-founder, contributing editors, producers, a creative director, senior reporters and reporters, but only a total of four news stories are posted.
L.A. Material has no advertising.
Elizabeth Weinreb Fishman
On her LinkedIn page, Elizabeth “Lizzie” Weinreb Fishman describes herself as a “media & brand strategist, a storyteller and a trusted advisor.”
For the past 10 months she has served as the “senior advisor and head of communications” for the “Together Project with Dr. Vivek Murthy,” the former 19th and 21st U.S. Surgeon General. It’s difficult to determine exactly what the Together Project actually does because the only link on the project’s one-page website is to the former Surgeon General’s book.
According to her bio, Ms. Fishman worked at the Office of the Surgeon General for almost two years. Before that, Ms. Fishman’s resume is varied, to say the least. She worked as a part time baker’s assistant for seven months in 2022. That was after she served as the head of strategic communications for Sesame Street.
“Created the global communications narrative. Oversaw press strategy and media relations for Sesame Street and all productions, as well as Sesame Workshop’s social impact work and executives. Worked with marketing and social media teams to create an integrated strategy for Sesame properties and initiatives around the world,” her bio states.
Takeaways
I’m sure that the Trace will take full advantage of Mr. Lee’s journalism awards, Ms. Turner’s new website, and Ms. Fishman’s Sesame-Street…expertise.
I’m someone who is 100% against everything that the Trace does and stands for, but if I could ever find the individual who suggested these three new board members, I might have to buy them a beer.
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This story is part of the Second Amendment Foundation’s Investigative Journalism Project and is published here with their permission.