Back in the day, Andrew Breitbart asked the audience at Tea Party rally to take out their smartphones. He told them they had the power to be a citizen journalist — with the equipment they had in their pockets.
Nick Shirley, 23, of Utah, is the latest to take up Andrew's challenge. As PJ Media's Matt Margolis reported, in Nick's video report of visits to Minneapolis daycares that seem to have few or no children, yet bill hundreds of thousands to government, he has taken us behind the scenes of a story on corruption.
🚨 Here is the full 42 minutes of my crew and I exposing Minnesota fraud, this might be my most important work yet. We uncovered over $110,000,000 in ONE day. Like it and share it around like wildfire! Its time to hold these corrupt politicians and fraudsters accountable
— Nick shirley (@nickshirleyy) December 26, 2025
We ALL… pic.twitter.com/E3Penx2o7a
The New York Time, the "paper of record," has reported on Minnesota's social services fraud, as has the Minneapolis Star-Tribune. However, the Minneapolis Star-Tribune has a digital weekday circulation of approximately 102,000, with print circulation of about 71,000. Per their third quarter earnings release, the New York Times reaches 11.76 million digital subscribers and about 570,000 print subscribers.
The difference between the mainstream outlets' reach and Shirley's is phenomenal. Shirley's Dec. 26 post video has been seen on X over 92 million times as of this writing, with nearly a million more views on YouTube.
Nick didn't just suddenly burst onto the scene. He's been working quietly on his video reports full time for the past two years, covering the border crisis, Antifa, and El Salvador's response to crime. He spent the time building his YouTube channel and X account, but up to now hasn't yet made much money, he says. His security bill for these reports is one extra expense he has to budget. He spent over $3,000 for security for his Minneapolis childcare video.
A bit about me:
— Nick shirley (@nickshirleyy) December 28, 2025
- 23 years old
- 100% independent
- Have posted a full “YouTube” video every week for the past 104 weeks
- Helped expose the border crisis
- 1st American to ever film inside CECOT
- Briefed President Trump in the White House about ANTIFA
- Ended Tim Walz career https://t.co/6mT98JH6qV
What does it take to be a citizen journalist?
It takes patience and a tolerance for unsexy, unseen, hard work. Back in the '80s, my high school journalism teacher showed us the movie All the President's Men. She insisted we remember one part in particular: the scene where Woodward and Bernstein sat for hours in the Library of Congress, going through old documents. That grunt work and relentless fact checking was the essence of journalism.
One former mainstream journalist congratulated Nick on his breakout success, prompting him to reply that this was just the end result of those years of hard work.
um actually you can't. It took years of hard work and hundreds of airplane flights, countless all night editing sessions and I didn't make a profit for 5 years prior. It might look simple but its an artform in its own way
— Nick shirley (@nickshirleyy) December 27, 2025
Yes, you can, like Breanna Morello said, get started with just an iPhone and gumption. But to make it work, you need several characteristics.
Patience. You're not going to go viral immediately. That is a once-in-a-lifetime chance accorded to a few, like James O'Keefe with his Acorn undercover videos. You will need to do what Nick did: dig in, develop sources, and doggedly chase the stories.
No fear. Do you have the courage to put yourself in uncomfortable situations? At best, you'll probably have people slam doors on you, hang up, or otherwise refuse to talk. At worst, you could find yourself in physical danger, the way Andy Ngo has been when reporting on Antifa.
Persistence. Just because you started doesn't mean you'll come up with a great story quickly, or even in the first year of work. As Nick said, he's been working for years. During those times, you must remember the words of Calvin Coolidge: "Persistence and determination alone are omnipotent."
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