PS. If I hear one more reporter say that Afghanistan may define Biden’s presidency, I’ll continue to scream ad nauseum. Now they are seers into the future, historians extraordinaire😱! AHHHH.
amazing part is they were saying that two weeks ago. i.e. at the very outset of the story. was kind of a dead give away journos were married to a narrative
To quote Esquire’s Charlie Pierce “the elite political press will waver between I Told You So and Biden Doomed.” I was furious to see the WaPo’s run several headlines the other day predicting the demise of Biden’s presidency. They really do live in the Beltway Bubble.
Eric, a lot of people are talking now about the recent ACS season on the Clinton impeachment, and it, and the reviewers (who don't like it that much or think it has real heat), are engaging in so much historical revisionism over the actual events or what was actually said in 1998. Clearly, the Clinton Rules are governing everything.
I agree with you that people really need to understand what happened back then. I am old enough to remember other biased media behavior like their putting Reagan on a pedestal despite Iran Contra and refusing to hold Bush Seniors feet to the fire for his repeated false claims that he had been out of the loop but the behavior of the press during the Clinton years still boggles my mind. Even worse the never paid a price for it.
From what I have seen over the years this is really when Republicans went off the deep end. Had the media not aided and abetted their insane slander machine I think Republicans would have decided that tactic wasn’t effective. I think their slide into crazy town could have been halted back them had the media shined their light on their behind the scenes tactics and sleazy operatives like Lee Atwater, Roger Ailes, Roger Stone, Paul Manafort, Karl Rove, Richard Mellon Scaife, etc. The pre-Fox American public would have been appalled at what was going on under the radar. Instead of hammering Newt and his merry band of extremists (e.g. Dan Burton the melon shooter) for their outrageous lies and investigations the media, led by the NY Times, helped them spread the false accusations. And I am talking about before Monica.
Well it might help define is presidency but not in the way the Republicans hope. This is the greatest and most successful evacuation in history. Getting us out of a 20 year quagmire, a war we should have never gotten ourselves into will ultimately benefit Biden politically.
The media seems to think that the public - the public which strongly supported withdrawal — will be focused on the messy withdrawal a year from now. Since when have Americans or the media paid attention to a crisis more than a couple of months after it has passed?
This piece was triggering but y’all should know by now what my response to be but then this was triggering:
“Why would she seemingly go out of her way to provide cover for DeSantis…”
Because doing PR for the GOP is what the mainstream has been doing since the late 1970s.
And not to defend the Times here, but when the mainstream has been cool with Trump’s killing of well over 300,000 Americans, well, DeSantis’ number is low in comparison, right? So no problem for the awesome defenders of our democracy, nothing for them to get excited over. </sarcasm>
You’re begging the question of the media ever being sensitized to a POTUS allowing mass deaths. Of course, my theory is that mainstream’s let’s say incensitized to giving Republicans passes whenever possible — surely they'd go nuts if a Democrat POTUS had Trump’s death count.
To say this let’s say failure of dishonest journalism has done and is doing real, massive harm to the nation cannot be overestimated.
Rather than buck the herd and accurately report about DeSantis and his evil policies, Ms. Mazzei has succumbed to whatever alternative reality bias she and the NYT bring with them. I have many friends who live in Florida and to a person each is appalled by the cruelty and blinders with which their governor has (not)tackled covid. He set up monoclonal clinics, for goodness sake, so patients with covid have a ‘cure;’. no need for masks, no worries. The difference in coverage of Biden is amazingly stark by comparison as Eric chronicles. I have yet to hear any msm coverage about the amazingly successful evacuation out of Kabul. Don’t the powers that be see how blatantly they skew their reporting in that horrible man’s favor and against Biden? How is it so obvious to Eric et al but not to them? Oh right, their jobs depend on it.
to try to whitewash DeSanytis/Covid of all things is remarkable. it's part of large media reluctance to tell the truth abt how radical and dangerous GOP has become
And as expected the Screw York Times continues to beat the DeSantis for President drum by posting an article where they probably polled the same 7 Trumpers in the Ohio Diner that they always go to who say they are tired of teleworking and want to go back to the office...
There are people on MSNBC who haven’t been buying the childish expectations of a clean withdrawal. This is an excerpt Lawrence O’Donnell on the 23rd:
“ When you hear people calling the evacuation from Afghanistan a debacle, ask them compared to what? When has any country ever evacuated from a foreign war that they lost, in a way that is better than what we are seeing now? The answer is never. This is the best version of an evacuation from a lost war that the world has ever seen.
That doesn`t make it good. That doesn`t make it orderly. That doesn`t make it safe for everyone involved. But it does mean that nothing else was realistically possible.”
Then there is this contrast with how the press behaved back when we withdrew from Vietnam:
“No one in the White House press corps then asked why President Ford did not publicly say it was inevitable that the side we had been fighting for would surrender before they surrendered. BECAUSE ALL OF THE REPORTERS WERE ADULTS THEN, who understood that the president of the United States, even if he believed it, could not publicly predict the surrender of the weak government we had been fighting for.”
I gave up on CNN a couple of years ago. I decided until they got rid of Wolf i was not watching any of it. Since then my decision has been backed up more than a couple of times. They jump the gun on reporting then have to go back and retracked. Get it right the first time so you don't have to do a correction.
Las Vegan here. Thanks for the shoutout for our group!
It pains me. I think The Times does so many things so well. But I am this close to canceling my subscription. I do think it would be fun to inundate dbaquet@nytimes.com, though.
Don't let CSPAN Washington Journal off the hook for their coverage of Afghanistan. Usually they have a different subject everyday during which they allow their right wing callers a chance to provide disinformation. However, for the last ten days the subject has been "How do you think Biden is handling Afghanistan?" Gee . I wonder what point they are trying to get across.
Whoever is running that show has a definite right wing slant. They present subjects which reflect the right wing talking point of the day. I can only listen to the show for a few minutes a day so that my head doesn't explode. If you want to know who the 74 million who voted for Trump are, listen to that show. And for some laughs, see how many callers who call in on the "Independent" line are Trump supporters.
Regarding the martyr Ashli Babbitt, I wonder why the media does not respond to this meme by mentioning the death of Roseanne Boynton, age 34, from Georgia. She was also a Jan 6 insurrectionist who was trampled by her fellow seditionists when they stormed into the capitol. I demand to know the names of the rioters who trampled her to death.
Thanks for your comment. I just wish someone with some influence in the media or politics would respond with this talking point to blunt the attacks on the officer---and to point out the hypocrisy.
We are (so far) a free people, in a free society in a free country. But that freedom comes with plenty of responsibility. People who think and read know this. Democracy would be all but impossible without a free press, but...Letters to the editors may help. Reasonable voices can and do make some difference. But ultimately, the media and press will listen to their financial people before they'll make any changes, because we also live in a capitalist society. Eric B and some others do get noticed by those in the msm. So let's all keep the pressure on to make 'em play fair and do journalism the way it's supposed to be done.
That is why I urge people to read reporters and pundits who are fact-based and not afraid to speak out against their colleagues. Money matters and clicks = money to the people running media outlets so the more of us who go to major media outlets and ignore the spinmeisters but click on the truth-tellers, the more the people in charge will notice that the public wants to hear that, not right wing propaganda.
I am sorry it pushed you to have to drop out, but I certainly understand your reasonings. I am getting there. I don't watch any news on the weekends. That is a big move for me. Baby steps, I guess
Check out this transcript of LawrenceO’Donnell’s show from the 23rd. Scroll down to 22:20:37. He is not regurgitating the media’s conventional wisdom. Neither is Joy Reid or Rachel. Nicolle Wallace also goes against the media in crowd’s preferred narrative.
What can the average person DO about mass media reframing/misinformation which you point out so capably pretty much daily? We do hope that the Times and other Beltway press read your blog critiques. They are excellent.
i think just keep up public pressure, altho i know that sounds frustratingly vague. NYT got hammered on Twitter for this Fla story, so I guarantee writers/editors saw it. Q is will it change behavior. the press, in general, is way more fearful of GOP media critiques, even tho they're rarely based in fact. but if they come to understand there's a price to pay for awul journalism in the eyes of progressives, it might help.
also, as noted supporting independent media is important.
p.s. wish i had better answer. it's frustrating, i know.
Good answer. I just emailed msnbc about my disappointment in their reporting and let them know they are losing this 20 + years fan. Felt good. They need to be deluged by those of us seeking the truth, not cotton candy. Empowering.
What was your complaint based on? I just wonder because I was furious of Engel the other day. He was seeing into the future and past at the same time. Talking about how Biden horribly mishandled the evacuation. He was abandoning all those who helped our soldiers for 20yrs and it was going to cost him in an election. Other Dems or him personally. All the while 66% plus percent of Americans backed Biden. No mention as to why we even had a quick approaching deadline. Why? Trump,, no mention of this situation Biden was forced to handle to save military lives along with innocent civilians. NOT to mention that clusterf***, that Trump and Miller caused by not working the Visas as they were supposed to or how they said they did. Everything that has slowed down the evacuation was brought about by those two, specifically. They didn't want the brown people coming to America.
I don’t think it will change their behavior, sadly. The media, especially the NYT, does not take responsibility or admit error, whether it’s “but her emails” or not calling Trump a liar (“we will leave that for our readers to decide” said the awful Dean Baquet). The Grey Lady never fully took responsibility for Judith Miller and its cheerleading for the Iraq War. And they are getting worse.
Sorry to be a bore, but if the media can’t call Trump a killer, I doubt that they’ll come down on DeSantis or Abbott or a bunch of other murderous governors. Likewise, they seem awfully reluctant to call out, say, Harley, Jordan, McCarthy, Godard, Brooks, Boebert, et al, for 6 January. Or even to note that Team Trump had been undermining the election since at least last summer and arguably fall 2016.
Wish, hope Eric’s right — maybe he is. Would love to be wrong… the nation needs me to be wrong but…
Thank you for addressing my question, Eric. We know the worst thing that we can do is feel small and helpless and do nothing—so any empowering steps and advice, like what you just gave, help. Thank you for your blog and the terrific job you're doing!
We have to convince our friends and relatives to find information from reliable sources. Press Run, Freespeech.tv, Thom Hartman, Randi Rhodes, Progressive Voices (channel 127 on SiriusXM). There are progressive news sources just not on traditional TV and in print.
Find the best people you can and read them. Clicks matter. For example WaPo articles on its many page have gone off the rails since the evacuation but Jennifer Rubin, as well as Greg Sargent and Paul Waldman of the Post’s Plum Line have been posting articles on weekdays that are pushing back against the conventional wisdom. Don’t expect to find their articles on their main page. I just go straight to to Rubin’s page
Margaret Sullivan doesn’t post as frequently but she does some great media criticism such as this recent article “ The Afghan debacle lasted two decades. The media spent two hours deciding whom to blame.”
The more of who read those kinds of articles but ignore the “Biden is doomed” and other faux balance garbage the more influence journalists who are willing to criticize their colleagues will have. The powers that be will notice. If it weren’t for those writers I would not renew my WaPo subscription.
The truth is out there and — obviously? — searching online is the cleanest way to find reliable sources.
I dis the mainstream but like any rule, there’s exceptions. The Times and WaPo come through on occasion. The Times, for me, has the best one-stop Covid data site. WaPo, today, had a great piece on the collapse of Kabul; implicitly raises more questions about Afghanistan’s future than you’d get from the usual reporting.
And a plug of sorts: as far as it goes, TPM is terrific.
Quit paying for their subscriptions. Random individual cancellations won't ring a bell, mass cancelations will. It cannot be a one a day cancelation. It has to be large amounts from the same areas. When you are asked why you are cancelling, tell them the truth.
The root problem is, the owners of the media companies have decided to put money in front of the truth. The writers and broadcasters are trying to increase salaries at "raise time" at the same time trying to be noticed as great reporters and broadcasters. Their conceit comes at a cost. The cost is the truth. Look at Tucker. He was not a front-runner until Trump and Covid were the big stories. From there, his lying has gotten him attention all over the airwaves. Stop covering these people.
I canceled my NYT and WAPO subscriptions last year. I had enough back then. I considered it money well saved for a better use. I know, Press Run Media for a year!
DeSantis and other like-minded governors bear much of the responsibility for the nation's maddening, preventable plight. It's as if we've entered Bizarro World, featured decades ago in Superman comics, featuring an alternate Earth, where everything was opposite. DeSantis is praised for policies that have killed and harmed thousands. And certain media rewards this unspeakable behavior. Bad is now good.
The Media ignores anything pertaining to the truth the times, wapo an all the conservative press. We all know how they report things it depends on the party if R then they speak quiet if D then they are loud. The American people have to choose who they listen too. We know when it's a lie or cover-up or conservative BS. We just have to pick and choose who speaks TRUTH.
I think the most disgusting aspect of your commentary on this Times' piece is why the paper is pursuing this narrative. Once again it's all about the media themselves, so they can have access, so in the case of the Miami office, they can be relocated to DC for the glory of covering (God forbid) President DeSantis. Our news media is severely broken and the only solution is to stop buying the physical paper and subscribing to the digital version. All the Times, WPO, and other mainstream outlets understand is money. If they have the access, they make the money. It's that simple but sadly this paradigm is helping to bring down our democracy. Contribute to Press Run and other progressive outlets. Only when the people understand the truth and put pressure on the mainstream media will things finally change.
I just read Playbook this morning (I’m more to be pitied than censured, as the old song goes), the “Driving the Day” top notes has two paragraphs on Hurricane Ida, and eight paragraphs on Afghanistan.
And that’s all you need to know about our elite and failed political press.
I just counted again: Playbook gave their story of their sale to Axel-Springer 6 paragraphs, because a major American City being clobbered by a category 4 hurricane is local weather (2 paragraphs), but the press preening is national news, and includes this self-serving passage:
“Asked why he had chosen Politico over Axios, [Axel Springer chief executive MATHIAS] DÖPFNER told me in a telephone interview, ‘It’s an easy decision that you go for the No. 1.’”
OK, now a day later and the word “hurricane” appears twice in Playbook (and one of them is in a photo caption and there are no items - none). The vast rest of it is on the Afghanistan “disaster."
PS. If I hear one more reporter say that Afghanistan may define Biden’s presidency, I’ll continue to scream ad nauseum. Now they are seers into the future, historians extraordinaire😱! AHHHH.
amazing part is they were saying that two weeks ago. i.e. at the very outset of the story. was kind of a dead give away journos were married to a narrative
To quote Esquire’s Charlie Pierce “the elite political press will waver between I Told You So and Biden Doomed.” I was furious to see the WaPo’s run several headlines the other day predicting the demise of Biden’s presidency. They really do live in the Beltway Bubble.
Eric, a lot of people are talking now about the recent ACS season on the Clinton impeachment, and it, and the reviewers (who don't like it that much or think it has real heat), are engaging in so much historical revisionism over the actual events or what was actually said in 1998. Clearly, the Clinton Rules are governing everything.
https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2021/8/31/2049385/--Impeachment-Season-of-ACS-Proves-The-Clinton-Rules-Remain-In-Effect-Forevermore?_=2021-08-31T10:27:42.000-07:00
You should really write a full blog post about this, especially in how the media shaped it then, and are reshaping it now.
I agree with you that people really need to understand what happened back then. I am old enough to remember other biased media behavior like their putting Reagan on a pedestal despite Iran Contra and refusing to hold Bush Seniors feet to the fire for his repeated false claims that he had been out of the loop but the behavior of the press during the Clinton years still boggles my mind. Even worse the never paid a price for it.
From what I have seen over the years this is really when Republicans went off the deep end. Had the media not aided and abetted their insane slander machine I think Republicans would have decided that tactic wasn’t effective. I think their slide into crazy town could have been halted back them had the media shined their light on their behind the scenes tactics and sleazy operatives like Lee Atwater, Roger Ailes, Roger Stone, Paul Manafort, Karl Rove, Richard Mellon Scaife, etc. The pre-Fox American public would have been appalled at what was going on under the radar. Instead of hammering Newt and his merry band of extremists (e.g. Dan Burton the melon shooter) for their outrageous lies and investigations the media, led by the NY Times, helped them spread the false accusations. And I am talking about before Monica.
Well it might help define is presidency but not in the way the Republicans hope. This is the greatest and most successful evacuation in history. Getting us out of a 20 year quagmire, a war we should have never gotten ourselves into will ultimately benefit Biden politically.
The media seems to think that the public - the public which strongly supported withdrawal — will be focused on the messy withdrawal a year from now. Since when have Americans or the media paid attention to a crisis more than a couple of months after it has passed?
Completely agree! We collectively have the attention span of a gnat.
This piece was triggering but y’all should know by now what my response to be but then this was triggering:
“Why would she seemingly go out of her way to provide cover for DeSantis…”
Because doing PR for the GOP is what the mainstream has been doing since the late 1970s.
And not to defend the Times here, but when the mainstream has been cool with Trump’s killing of well over 300,000 Americans, well, DeSantis’ number is low in comparison, right? So no problem for the awesome defenders of our democracy, nothing for them to get excited over. </sarcasm>
good pt. the mass deaths of Covid under Trump may have desensitized the media to not caring abt Florida
You’re begging the question of the media ever being sensitized to a POTUS allowing mass deaths. Of course, my theory is that mainstream’s let’s say incensitized to giving Republicans passes whenever possible — surely they'd go nuts if a Democrat POTUS had Trump’s death count.
To say this let’s say failure of dishonest journalism has done and is doing real, massive harm to the nation cannot be overestimated.
It isn't news. Last year's Covid19 was news, 2021 is not.
Rather than buck the herd and accurately report about DeSantis and his evil policies, Ms. Mazzei has succumbed to whatever alternative reality bias she and the NYT bring with them. I have many friends who live in Florida and to a person each is appalled by the cruelty and blinders with which their governor has (not)tackled covid. He set up monoclonal clinics, for goodness sake, so patients with covid have a ‘cure;’. no need for masks, no worries. The difference in coverage of Biden is amazingly stark by comparison as Eric chronicles. I have yet to hear any msm coverage about the amazingly successful evacuation out of Kabul. Don’t the powers that be see how blatantly they skew their reporting in that horrible man’s favor and against Biden? How is it so obvious to Eric et al but not to them? Oh right, their jobs depend on it.
to try to whitewash DeSanytis/Covid of all things is remarkable. it's part of large media reluctance to tell the truth abt how radical and dangerous GOP has become
Eric I don't think it's reluctance to tell the truth about GQP. I contend they're all in with the GQP's agenda.
Dereliction of duty par excellence.
I still go with money 45 was a money maker, Biden does the job and is a real president who they label boring. No money to be made IJS
And as expected the Screw York Times continues to beat the DeSantis for President drum by posting an article where they probably polled the same 7 Trumpers in the Ohio Diner that they always go to who say they are tired of teleworking and want to go back to the office...
It's not just the Times, it's CNN and MSNBC too..
The media are right now preparing reports about how Biden botched the Ida Hurricane response......
There are people on MSNBC who haven’t been buying the childish expectations of a clean withdrawal. This is an excerpt Lawrence O’Donnell on the 23rd:
“ When you hear people calling the evacuation from Afghanistan a debacle, ask them compared to what? When has any country ever evacuated from a foreign war that they lost, in a way that is better than what we are seeing now? The answer is never. This is the best version of an evacuation from a lost war that the world has ever seen.
That doesn`t make it good. That doesn`t make it orderly. That doesn`t make it safe for everyone involved. But it does mean that nothing else was realistically possible.”
Then there is this contrast with how the press behaved back when we withdrew from Vietnam:
“No one in the White House press corps then asked why President Ford did not publicly say it was inevitable that the side we had been fighting for would surrender before they surrendered. BECAUSE ALL OF THE REPORTERS WERE ADULTS THEN, who understood that the president of the United States, even if he believed it, could not publicly predict the surrender of the weak government we had been fighting for.”
https://www.msnbc.com/transcripts/transcript-last-word-lawrence-o-donnell-8-23-21-n1277511
(22:20:37 minutes in)
I couldn’t believe O’Donnell basically called his colleagues a bunch of babies. It was epic!
He has a way about him and his comments. Must be from all the years in Congress listening to bs, day in and day out. He calls it as he sees it.
I gave up on CNN a couple of years ago. I decided until they got rid of Wolf i was not watching any of it. Since then my decision has been backed up more than a couple of times. They jump the gun on reporting then have to go back and retracked. Get it right the first time so you don't have to do a correction.
They made things even worse when they hired Buttery Emails Cillizza.
Las Vegan here. Thanks for the shoutout for our group!
It pains me. I think The Times does so many things so well. But I am this close to canceling my subscription. I do think it would be fun to inundate dbaquet@nytimes.com, though.
Don't let CSPAN Washington Journal off the hook for their coverage of Afghanistan. Usually they have a different subject everyday during which they allow their right wing callers a chance to provide disinformation. However, for the last ten days the subject has been "How do you think Biden is handling Afghanistan?" Gee . I wonder what point they are trying to get across.
Whoever is running that show has a definite right wing slant. They present subjects which reflect the right wing talking point of the day. I can only listen to the show for a few minutes a day so that my head doesn't explode. If you want to know who the 74 million who voted for Trump are, listen to that show. And for some laughs, see how many callers who call in on the "Independent" line are Trump supporters.
Regarding the martyr Ashli Babbitt, I wonder why the media does not respond to this meme by mentioning the death of Roseanne Boynton, age 34, from Georgia. She was also a Jan 6 insurrectionist who was trampled by her fellow seditionists when they stormed into the capitol. I demand to know the names of the rioters who trampled her to death.
Frank Hart
Excellent point about Roseanne Boynton.
Thanks for your comment. I just wish someone with some influence in the media or politics would respond with this talking point to blunt the attacks on the officer---and to point out the hypocrisy.
You're absolutely right. But then it would hurt white terrorists' feelings.
We are (so far) a free people, in a free society in a free country. But that freedom comes with plenty of responsibility. People who think and read know this. Democracy would be all but impossible without a free press, but...Letters to the editors may help. Reasonable voices can and do make some difference. But ultimately, the media and press will listen to their financial people before they'll make any changes, because we also live in a capitalist society. Eric B and some others do get noticed by those in the msm. So let's all keep the pressure on to make 'em play fair and do journalism the way it's supposed to be done.
Here here - "We have a Republic if you can keep it". - Benjamin Franklin
That is why I urge people to read reporters and pundits who are fact-based and not afraid to speak out against their colleagues. Money matters and clicks = money to the people running media outlets so the more of us who go to major media outlets and ignore the spinmeisters but click on the truth-tellers, the more the people in charge will notice that the public wants to hear that, not right wing propaganda.
"Democracy dies in Darkness". Too bad WAPO doesn't follow their own advice.
I am sorry it pushed you to have to drop out, but I certainly understand your reasonings. I am getting there. I don't watch any news on the weekends. That is a big move for me. Baby steps, I guess
Check out this transcript of LawrenceO’Donnell’s show from the 23rd. Scroll down to 22:20:37. He is not regurgitating the media’s conventional wisdom. Neither is Joy Reid or Rachel. Nicolle Wallace also goes against the media in crowd’s preferred narrative.
What can the average person DO about mass media reframing/misinformation which you point out so capably pretty much daily? We do hope that the Times and other Beltway press read your blog critiques. They are excellent.
i think just keep up public pressure, altho i know that sounds frustratingly vague. NYT got hammered on Twitter for this Fla story, so I guarantee writers/editors saw it. Q is will it change behavior. the press, in general, is way more fearful of GOP media critiques, even tho they're rarely based in fact. but if they come to understand there's a price to pay for awul journalism in the eyes of progressives, it might help.
also, as noted supporting independent media is important.
p.s. wish i had better answer. it's frustrating, i know.
Good answer. I just emailed msnbc about my disappointment in their reporting and let them know they are losing this 20 + years fan. Felt good. They need to be deluged by those of us seeking the truth, not cotton candy. Empowering.
What was your complaint based on? I just wonder because I was furious of Engel the other day. He was seeing into the future and past at the same time. Talking about how Biden horribly mishandled the evacuation. He was abandoning all those who helped our soldiers for 20yrs and it was going to cost him in an election. Other Dems or him personally. All the while 66% plus percent of Americans backed Biden. No mention as to why we even had a quick approaching deadline. Why? Trump,, no mention of this situation Biden was forced to handle to save military lives along with innocent civilians. NOT to mention that clusterf***, that Trump and Miller caused by not working the Visas as they were supposed to or how they said they did. Everything that has slowed down the evacuation was brought about by those two, specifically. They didn't want the brown people coming to America.
Sounds like we saw the same thing, I saw him on msnbc advocating vs doing objective reporting at the start of the evacuation.
He did it again tonight. He’s too close to the story. Can’t be objective.
Yes, he did. I sat there and listened to him. Shock might describe my take on it, again.
I don’t think it will change their behavior, sadly. The media, especially the NYT, does not take responsibility or admit error, whether it’s “but her emails” or not calling Trump a liar (“we will leave that for our readers to decide” said the awful Dean Baquet). The Grey Lady never fully took responsibility for Judith Miller and its cheerleading for the Iraq War. And they are getting worse.
Sorry to be a bore, but if the media can’t call Trump a killer, I doubt that they’ll come down on DeSantis or Abbott or a bunch of other murderous governors. Likewise, they seem awfully reluctant to call out, say, Harley, Jordan, McCarthy, Godard, Brooks, Boebert, et al, for 6 January. Or even to note that Team Trump had been undermining the election since at least last summer and arguably fall 2016.
Wish, hope Eric’s right — maybe he is. Would love to be wrong… the nation needs me to be wrong but…
Thank you for addressing my question, Eric. We know the worst thing that we can do is feel small and helpless and do nothing—so any empowering steps and advice, like what you just gave, help. Thank you for your blog and the terrific job you're doing!
I am small (4'10), but my voice makes up for what I lack in height.. Speaking the truth is always louder than what people think it is.
We have to convince our friends and relatives to find information from reliable sources. Press Run, Freespeech.tv, Thom Hartman, Randi Rhodes, Progressive Voices (channel 127 on SiriusXM). There are progressive news sources just not on traditional TV and in print.
Amen. Eric is on the Stephanie Miller show every week on Mondays!
Stephanie often says; forgive the paraphrasing, “what happened to rooting for America?” Indeed.
Eric's critiques are the best. Eric and the commenters here help me stay sane, or as sane as one can be in this environment.
Find the best people you can and read them. Clicks matter. For example WaPo articles on its many page have gone off the rails since the evacuation but Jennifer Rubin, as well as Greg Sargent and Paul Waldman of the Post’s Plum Line have been posting articles on weekdays that are pushing back against the conventional wisdom. Don’t expect to find their articles on their main page. I just go straight to to Rubin’s page
https://www.washingtonpost.com/people/jennifer-rubin/
and the the Plum Line Page:
https://www.washingtonpost.com/plum-line/
Margaret Sullivan doesn’t post as frequently but she does some great media criticism such as this recent article “ The Afghan debacle lasted two decades. The media spent two hours deciding whom to blame.”
https://www.washingtonpost.com/people/margaret-sullivan/
The more of who read those kinds of articles but ignore the “Biden is doomed” and other faux balance garbage the more influence journalists who are willing to criticize their colleagues will have. The powers that be will notice. If it weren’t for those writers I would not renew my WaPo subscription.
Agreed.
The truth is out there and — obviously? — searching online is the cleanest way to find reliable sources.
I dis the mainstream but like any rule, there’s exceptions. The Times and WaPo come through on occasion. The Times, for me, has the best one-stop Covid data site. WaPo, today, had a great piece on the collapse of Kabul; implicitly raises more questions about Afghanistan’s future than you’d get from the usual reporting.
And a plug of sorts: as far as it goes, TPM is terrific.
Quit paying for their subscriptions. Random individual cancellations won't ring a bell, mass cancelations will. It cannot be a one a day cancelation. It has to be large amounts from the same areas. When you are asked why you are cancelling, tell them the truth.
Finding alternative, better sources.
Of course. However, this does not address the root mass media issue. That's what I am asking Eric to address.
I think Eric might be too nice to answer the question the way it should be but he does come very, very close.
The root problem is, the owners of the media companies have decided to put money in front of the truth. The writers and broadcasters are trying to increase salaries at "raise time" at the same time trying to be noticed as great reporters and broadcasters. Their conceit comes at a cost. The cost is the truth. Look at Tucker. He was not a front-runner until Trump and Covid were the big stories. From there, his lying has gotten him attention all over the airwaves. Stop covering these people.
https://www.miamiherald.com/news/coronavirus/
I canceled my NYT and WAPO subscriptions last year. I had enough back then. I considered it money well saved for a better use. I know, Press Run Media for a year!
If he was running Crimea instead of Florida the US would be accusing him of war crimes.
yep. NYT would never *dream* of suggesting DeSantis was guilty of criminal negligence
guilty of anything. Again, they are putting their eggs in the DeSantis 2024 Presidential Campaign basket. Thinking ahead where the $ will be.
And creating a self - fulfilling prophesy.
DeSantis and other like-minded governors bear much of the responsibility for the nation's maddening, preventable plight. It's as if we've entered Bizarro World, featured decades ago in Superman comics, featuring an alternate Earth, where everything was opposite. DeSantis is praised for policies that have killed and harmed thousands. And certain media rewards this unspeakable behavior. Bad is now good.
And the Washington Post today decided to kiss up to Dana Loesch with a flattering profile of the NRA's hit lady...
After their tongue bath about Axis MAGA Haberman last week.
Oh hell, just gag me now. I cannot stand her. Ick
LOL! I know the feeling!
The Media ignores anything pertaining to the truth the times, wapo an all the conservative press. We all know how they report things it depends on the party if R then they speak quiet if D then they are loud. The American people have to choose who they listen too. We know when it's a lie or cover-up or conservative BS. We just have to pick and choose who speaks TRUTH.
I think the most disgusting aspect of your commentary on this Times' piece is why the paper is pursuing this narrative. Once again it's all about the media themselves, so they can have access, so in the case of the Miami office, they can be relocated to DC for the glory of covering (God forbid) President DeSantis. Our news media is severely broken and the only solution is to stop buying the physical paper and subscribing to the digital version. All the Times, WPO, and other mainstream outlets understand is money. If they have the access, they make the money. It's that simple but sadly this paradigm is helping to bring down our democracy. Contribute to Press Run and other progressive outlets. Only when the people understand the truth and put pressure on the mainstream media will things finally change.
I just read Playbook this morning (I’m more to be pitied than censured, as the old song goes), the “Driving the Day” top notes has two paragraphs on Hurricane Ida, and eight paragraphs on Afghanistan.
And that’s all you need to know about our elite and failed political press.
I just counted again: Playbook gave their story of their sale to Axel-Springer 6 paragraphs, because a major American City being clobbered by a category 4 hurricane is local weather (2 paragraphs), but the press preening is national news, and includes this self-serving passage:
“Asked why he had chosen Politico over Axios, [Axel Springer chief executive MATHIAS] DÖPFNER told me in a telephone interview, ‘It’s an easy decision that you go for the No. 1.’”
OK, now a day later and the word “hurricane” appears twice in Playbook (and one of them is in a photo caption and there are no items - none). The vast rest of it is on the Afghanistan “disaster."
Meanwhile FL teachers are unvaccinated, and dying:
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2021/aug/13/four-florida-broward-country-teachers-died-days-before-school-year-begins