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New York City’s credentialing system produced a grotesque spectacle this week when self-styled “Mangionistas” arrived at a courtroom wearing official press passes and openly celebrated the murder of a private-sector CEO. These weren’t sober reporters doing their civic duty; they were activists parading as journalists, cheering violence and taunting the victims’ family on public steps.
Video from the scene captured women identified as Ashley Rojas and Lena Weissbrot hurling obscene praise for the killing and even telling the slain executive’s children they were “better off” without their father. Those remarks are not merely tasteless—they are morally repugnant and, frankly, poisonous to civic life when tolerated in the name of “independent media.”
Mayor Zohran Mamdani’s administration provided the very badges that allowed these activists to masquerade as credentialed press, and his office has since admitted the approvals should not have been granted. That admission is too little, too late; it exposes a city hall more interested in performative inclusion than in basic vetting or protecting victims from public attacks.
Let’s not forget what these fanatics were celebrating: the December 4, 2024, execution-style killing of Brian Thompson, the CEO of UnitedHealthcare, a man who was gunned down in Manhattan as he performed his business duties. This was a targeted, cold-blooded murder, and pretending it is fodder for political theatre insults every grieving family and every worker who keeps our economy running.
The larger pattern is unmistakable—an emerging culture on the radical left that not only excuses but sometimes exults in political violence, while the institutions that should police public standards look the other way. When credentialing offices hand out access like participation trophies to activists who celebrate murder, the line between journalism and advocacy collapses and the rule of law suffers.
City officials must act decisively: revoke any credentials improperly issued, overhaul the vetting process, and publicly condemn the celebration of violence in the strongest possible terms. Vague after-the-fact statements aren’t enough; New Yorkers deserve concrete steps that restore trust in public institutions and protect victims from being revictimized on camera.
Americans who still believe in decency and order should be furious, not complacent. Demand accountability from those who enabled this spectacle, stand with the Thompson family, and never let our institutions normalize applause for murder under the flimsy banner of “independent media.”
