The report most often credited as the first media outlet to break the news was Israel’s Channel 12, which Military Times said first reported that a second American pilot was missing after the Iran shootdown.

What’s known

  • Channel 12 reporters Amit Segal and Barak Ravid were among the earliest to post the information on social media, and later coverage from outlets like Reuters, CBS News, and The Washington Post followed.
  • Trump’s comments were aimed at the unnamed leaker who passed the information, not at a publicly confirmed outlet as the source of the leak itself.
  • BBC reporting also notes that the early downing reports were first released by the Tasnim news agency, which is linked to the IRGC, but that is separate from the leak controversy about the missing pilot.

Bottom line

If you’re asking which outlet first carried the sensitive information, the answer is Channel 12.

TL;DR

Channel 12 appears to be the first outlet associated with the report, while the actual person who leaked the information was not publicly identified.