St. Michael's Media is a 501 organization which operates in the State of Michigan under the officially-registered assumed name of Church Militant via the website ChurchMilitant.com. Church Militant is a Catholic lay apostolate and traditional Catholic news website founded by Michael Voris. It was known as Real Catholic TV until 2012, when the Archdiocese of Detroit notified Michael Voris and Real Catholic TV that "it does not regard them as being authorized to use the word 'Catholic' to identify or promote their public activities". Mr. Voris responded by changing the name to Church Militant. While Church Militant makes use of a paywall and offers premium content to subscribers, the website's most well known feature is its free segment The Vortex, simulcast on YouTube and hosted by Voris. As of December 2018, 34 employees create videos and write content for Church Militant.
Owing to its wide viewership among traditional Catholics, Church Militant exposées have been reported to cause deplatforming of liberal Catholics, such as in the case of Dan Schutte, who was disinvited from a concert after a Vortex segment accused him of being a homosexual. Also "relentlessly" targeted has been Fr. James Martin, whose book Building a Bridge proved controversial among traditional Catholics, which some, including Martin himself, have speculated has led to him being disinvited from speaking engagements. Church Militant, along with other Catholic publications, were accused by Micheal Sean Winters and other Catholic journalists as playing a role in the "forced" resignation from Catholic News Service of Tony Spence, its editor-in-chief, owing to his opposition towards proposed bathroom bill legislation. The Society of St. Pius X's U.S. District criticized Church Millitant's handling of sexual abuse allegations against them, writing that "It is well-known that Church Militant is not a serious journalistic enterprise but a repository of sensationalized stories, hit pieces, and videos featuring the opinions of its controversial founder, Michael Voris. Further, Church Militant has repeatedly used the SSPX’s name to generate web-clicks and revenue while hoping to stoke the fires of public controversy by baiting it into a war of words. Prudence dictates caution when dealing with a tabloid, and we will not be so baited."
Coverage by other news sources
Samuel Freedman of The New York Times said, "To fully grasp what 'church militant' means in this highly politicized atmosphere, it helps to examine the broader movement and the role of a traditionalist Catholic website called — to no surprise — ChurchMilitant.com." Freedman went on to quote an interview with Michael Voris on which his article was based accusing Church Militant's alleged "right-wing stances" as "mesh with many of the positions espoused by Mr. Trump and his inner circle." Freedman summarized Voris' views by claiming that "the website's positions were a righteous defense of patriotism and morality on behalf of people who believe those virtues have been attacked by liberals, secularists and global elites." Freedman relayed that Voris' online audience was cumulatively "about 1.5 million views a month" and characterized the apostolate's position as one that dismisses manmade climate change, thinks the Black Lives Matter movement is akin to "the new fascism," and called Hillary Clinton "Killary," who was acting as "Satan's mop for wiping up the last remaining resistance to him in America." It also quoted Voris's critique of social-welfare programs as a system where "half the people of America" do not pay taxes and "get things handed to them." Church Militant responded to The Times article in a panel discussion in which the panel called Freedman's article a "hit piece" and "dishonest." On February 19, 2017, Robert Allen wrote a piece for the Detroit Free Press, which was republished by USA Today about Voris. The article declared that Voris' studio in Ferndale was "the nerve center for a growing, religious group hoping the forces that elected President Donald Trump will tear down the wall between church and state." The article called Voris' apostolate "a fringe group claiming to be Catholic but denounced by the church, broadcasts pro-life, anti-gay, anti-feminist, Islam-fearing content on its website". The article held that "Many of Church Militant's headlines are similar to those on Breitbart News, the far-right news organization that White House Chief Strategist Steve Bannon previously ran." It noted "Many of Breitbart's articles are cited on the Church Militant website. But unlike Breitbart, Church Militant is under a Christian, 501 nonprofit organization." The article noted that Voris didn't think that the group's political advocacy violated restrictions on keeping tax free status by avoiding political campaigning - restrictions which the article quoted him as calling "stupid" since "Church and state have long been linked in this country". Voris proclaimed that the election of Trump showed that the notion of mainstream media has been altered, "The Entire established order has been thrown up into the air. What we say now has some credence. We're allowed into the discussion." Church Militant responded to the Detroit Free Press/USA Today article in a panel discussion in which it also addressed the Detroit archdiocese. On May 9, 2017The Atlantic released a video on the operations at Church Militant, featuring interviews with Michael Voris and behind the scenes footage at their offices.
