A group of American influencers received an all-expenses-paid trip to Poland. Included in the group were Texas independent journalists who, when asked who or what group paid for the overseas trip, refused to answer.
Why does disclosure of gifts matter for a journalist? Journalists disclosing the gifts, favors, fees, travel, or special treatment they receive in exchange for the work they’ve done is a common practice, something done even by auto journalists. Free/gift trips are actually banned outright by most news outlets.
Independent journalists, like Sarah Fields, have often spoke out against influencers not being transparent about who is funding them:
The Poland Trip
The trip to Poland began in mid-August, with one of the first stops being an organized dinner with Polish politician Dominik Tarczynski.
Dominik Tarczyński is a politician who has served as a Member of the European Parliament since 2020. He is a well-known Polish conservative who frequently uses the slogan “Be like Poland.”
Throughout their trip, the influencers and journalists would all use the same phrase of “be like Poland” in their posts. Those on the trip stated multiple times that they were not told what to post:
Afterwards the group was given private tours to multiple historical sites in Poland.
Fields, a self-described journalist, as well as several others on the trip, later showed off hats leaning into the recent claim that influencers were being paid $7,000 to push specific content:
Current Revolt reached out to several of the influencers to inquire about the source of the gifted Poland Trip.
Maddy Delia, known as “ThatOpinionatedGirl” on Instagram and “ThatZionistGirl” on X, reached out to say that the right-wing political group Confederation Liberty and Independence (CLI) had funded their trip:
Current Revolt reached out to CLI who stated they knew nothing of the influencers or the Poland trip and asked for information on the influencers and their posts.
Delia did not respond to a follow-up inquiry regarding CLI’s response.
A source provided the following screenshot of the Poland group’s private chat where some seemed to panic at the idea that Current Revolt was looking into their trip:
Two journalists attended the paid-for Poland trip:
Lance Johnston, also known as LanceVideos, is/was a member of the Pentagon Press Corps.
When reached for comment, Johnston told Current Revolt the following:
“I’m not disclosing Poland. Because it doesn’t matter. We weren’t asked to make content. No contract said we had to and we weren’t paid.”
In a now-deleted X post, Johnston stated that he is not renewing his Pentagon press credentials which he states are expired.
A later review of Johnston’s social media posts show that Johnston updated the original captions on his photos to include disclosure and explanation of the trip:
However, Johnston did not update the Facebook versions of his posts which show they originally had no disclosure:
Current Revolt also reached out to independent journalist Sarah Fields about the trip. Instead of responding directly, Fields posted her answers on X and also revealed that Maccabee Task Force funded the trip. You can read CR’s questions to Fields and her full response here:
Incidentally, according to Pangram, 61% of Fields’ response was written by AI:
For those who don’t have the time to read Fields drawn-out response, here’s a brief summary:
Fields claims there was no secrecy surrounding the trip. She said she was only hiding who funded the trip specifically from Current Revolt.
Editor’s Note: This doesn’t make sense seeing as everyone involved in the Poland trip was hiding who funded it. With one person even giving false information.
Fields says she didn’t want to disclose due to risk of harassment and being doxed.
Editor’s Note: It is interesting that Fields is concerned about doxing considering she falsely doxed the wrong woman in at least two stories she covered. You can read Fields’ history of shoddy reporting here:
Fields mentions she had posted on Facebook that she was going to Poland for “work” but says the post was “old” and claims she did go for work since she was “writing” (tweeting) while she was in Poland.
Fields says that journalistic ethics regarding disclosure of this all-expenses-paid trip to Poland do not apply to her since she wasn’t asked for anything in return by those who funded it.
Fields questions whether Current Revolt even bothered to reach out to anyone else for comment.
Editors note: We did! Several individuals and organizations, including Maccabee Task Force, were reached out to for comment.
The line between independent journalist and influencer continues to get murkier as their followings grow. Influencers have no code of ethics dictating whether they should disclose paid promotions or gifts. Journalists, however, have long had a code of ethics requiring them to disclose gifts they receive for the work they’ve done.
When we suddenly see Tony posting glamorous snapshots of his tour of the cow-urine drinking festival in Drashkalavtrashar, India - we'll all know what has happened.
"The line between independent journalist and influencer continues to get murkier as their followings grow. Influencers have no code of ethics dictating whether they should disclose paid promotions or gifts. Journalists, however, have long had a code of ethics requiring them to disclose gifts they receive for the work they’ve done." Ethics is intended to govern journalism, but federal law is intended to govern influencers.
As influencers primarily engage in commercial speech and brand partnerships, they are strictly regulated by the Federal Trade Commission (FTC). Influencers are legally required to clearly disclose when they are compensated to review, use, or mention a product (using tags like #ad or #sponsored). Failing to do so can result in massive financial penalties. Essentially, they are reviewing Poland, which is not a product, per se, but, presumably, the positive endorsement of the country is to attract tourists for future profits to Polish vendors, attractions, accommodations, and goods--the products in question which must be promoted, in order to attract visitors to Poland.