During this season of giving thanks, I wanted to share my gratitude to PRESS RUN readers. When I started this newsletter last year, I hoped there would be an audience for a proudly liberal discussion about our media; those who want to hold the press accountable and seek a voice in our public debate.
The response has been amazing and humbling. I'm thankful not only for the support, and especially for those who have purchased subscriptions which sustain PRESS RUN, but also for the community that has formed here and the insightful conversations that regularly take place, as we've shifted to the Biden era in American politics.
So thank you all once again, and thank you for supporting an independent voice like mine. For this thread, I'm curious to hear what folks are especially appreciative of this year.
I'm grateful that you continually call out the MSM for their inherently pro-Corporate, pro-GOP bias.
Just finished "The Afghanistan Papers", by Craig Whitlock, and had my mind blown. Reminding your readers about exactly how awful Trump and Pompeo's sellout to the Taliban actually was would've lent much strength to your rebuttals of conservative faux outrage over the withdrawal.
In any case Eric, you're well worth the subscription! Thank you, and may you live to be a thousand years old!
I’m thankful for you Eric and your passion for the subject, which I am passionate about as well. I’m also thankful for the level of discourse among the audience that posts here. I’m a political animal and for good or bad I challenge posts that I vehemently disagree with. In fact I’ve been tossed off Twitter several times for reasons I cannot comprehend. But tough. I admit since trump I have been in a constant state of shock and anger. I’m grateful for this one space where there’s no need to react angrily and I am always learning stuff. Keep it up.
Press Run has been a godsend, and its community of commenters has been a welcome addition to my cyber circle. But I am grateful that the truly awful effects of the Big Lie were thwarted by some decent Republicans - like Brad Raffensperger and a handful of Trump appointed judges who put their oath of office above obeisance to the malignant narcissist who is determined to burn everything down. Hoping everyone enjoys the holiday with family and friends, I proudly echo the excellent advice we get every time we log in: "Be kind."
This works both ways Eric. I feel as though I have found a safe haven with you and PressRun pals. Can’t tell you how grateful I am for you all. The best to everyone for this amazing - in so many ways - 2021 Thanksgiving.
I am deeply thankful for "Press Run." You are the only honest journalist I can discover in the public discourse. I am outraged by the laziness and bias of the mainstream media. To my mind, if our democracy fails to survive, it will be in large measure their fault.
Aside from you, Mr. Boehlert?! Seriously, your regular Monday appearance on Stephanie Miller's show girds me for the week's upcoming inanity. But in the gracious spirit of this post, I have to say science and smart people. It's breathtaking how far we've come since Jan/Feb 2020 because smart people and science have worked tirelessly - and often thanklessly - to get us here.
I'm grateful to be living here, as rancorous and sometimes stupid as this country is. I lived almost 6 years in Egypt where people have no rights and it is very dangerous to speak openly about anything critical of the government. I spent 4 years with PTSD while Trump was president because it reminded me of how fragile our democracy really is, and how close we came to losing it.
I'm grateful for the vaccines and no longer having covid as my Sword of Damocles. I'm glad I am alive and grateful that the former governor did a good thing and granted clemency to a friend who had been in prison for 40 years. I am grateful that the Innocence Project
is working to exonerate him.
Most of all, I'm grateful for my family. And that we are all Democrats.
The vaccines and the Biden Administration's aggressive approach to them top my list. The two shots plus booster and mask-wearing mean I can pretty much live my life with not nearly as much anxiety as earlier in the pandemic. PRESS RUN has also given me critical insight I lacked. I'm thankful for better understanding what's happening in these dire times. And the song recommendations are a bonus.
As a subscriber I am grateful for your rational, truthful, insightful, courageous, intuitive, and intelligent voice. You expose the hypocrisy and dumbfuckery of the corporate media and the mendacity of everything Right-wing!
Dr. Anthony Fauci, for his graceful handling of the idiots and lemmings and relentless pursuit of the truth amid the most challenging circumstances imaginable. All of the real journalists, and count yrself one sir; and the former Repubs who are forming a backbone of resistance to the selfish corruption infecting half of our Congress, for doing their best to hold every public servant to account. Very thankful for all of my friends, and acquaintances who daily do their best to be tolerant, to be informed, and always strive to do the Right Thing, because that is who they are. Family, who are every one friends far beyond our common bloodline. And very, very thankful to still have hope, with a lot of help from those who know who they are.
What I am thankful for is knowing this Thursday friends will gather and double down on celebrating that we can be together. Our Freindsgiving this year will be a glimmer of hope in a very dark time for this country.
When I was a teenager I read through the whole set of Great Books of the Western World and in my innocence I never believed I'd see Gibbons Fall of the Roman Empire happen in real life. But is is happening before our very eyes.
I'm thankful for the guy in the photo, and his vice president, and the 220 Democrats in the House and the 48 in the Senate. I'm thankful that all three members of my congressional delegation are not only Democrats, but also women. I'm thankful for Eric Boehlert, and for Jay Rosen, and Doug J. Balloon, and Matt Negrin, and all of those who regularly remind us that our political media are the greatest threat to civilization today, in the hopes that we can do something about it. I'm thankful for this site, and everyone who comments here. I'm thankful for my family and friends, above all.
Amen to that! I am so thankful to Biden and all the other elected Dems who keep on working to make our country and democracy stronger despite all the threats to their lives from the right and the trashing and mocking by our mainstream “liberal” media.
All of the adults in my family have now had their booster shots and the kids have just got their first vaccines. I am very thankful that our government is still working well enough for that to have happened so smoothly.
I am also thankful that my kids and grandkids now live nearby so we don’t have to travel for Thanksgiving. On Wednesday evening I will be sitting on the couch with a glass of wine and my feet up, watching news reports about traffic congestion and crowds at the airport and feeling very thankful I don’t have to go through that anymore!
Above all, the vaccines! But also hugs. Those who have significant others may not be aware how frequently the romantically unattached are hugged by friends and family in the course of a normal year. I hadn't realized it until the pandemic wiped out friendly hugs. The first one after a long year was the best, as a vaccinated friend and I stood on the corner of 52nd Street and simultaneously cried out, "We can hug!"
Grateful that I'm about to be 7 years cancer-free. Grateful that I have a job (and health insurance). Grateful for excellent commentators and advocates like you. And grateful that Joe Biden is in the White House, instead of The Former Guy.
Grateful for my health and COVID vaccines and Press Run! It is a fabulous run down of what is happening to our media. We need radio stations and New stations that tell the facts similar to Democracy Now - Al Jezeera is also good - but maybe a different name and it could have been something in America :) Keep up the good work and let's keep fighting the good fight - not ready to give up just yet.
P.S. I have a added a lot of your music recommendations to my library.
I have one for you that you may or may not like. But they are coming back after a long hiatus. They are all fabulous musicians. The group is Porcupine Tree. "Even Less", "Trains", "Dark Matter", ".3", "Start of Something Beautiful" , "lazarus", "Waiting", "Shesmovedon" are all great songs. Try and find the live you-tube versions so you can watch them play.
Thank you, you have helped keep me sane. I finally got rid of both the Washington Post and NYT and now only read Reuters and AP—it’s refreshing to read news that is written by journalists, not opinion pieces meant to sell papers. Granted there still are occasions that there is some slant in the AP, but I now longer read the news in the morning and almost immediately feel angry. Our local paper is good (which is why we support it) but can only cover so much.
I’m grateful for so many things this year. Grateful that my family is in good health even though we had a bunch of scary moments (Covid and non-Covid related). Grateful I got back most of my hearing through hearing aids and hopeful more people will be able to soon enough. Grateful that while the country is still (and always will be) divided, you can have an opinion without getting beat up over it. Grateful for the 3 concerts and 2 Broadway shows we’ve been to since August. Grateful that the world is finally taking a stand on climate change.
I’m also most grateful to you Eric and your column. We don’t always agree and that’s ok. Wishing you a bountiful thanksgiving and wishing you all the best.
The only thing in the maelstrom of today's Press cluelessness that keeps me sane. Without you, @JayRosen_NYU, and @Froomkin we'd be clueless ourselves.
Your newsletter is invaluable for those of us who want our press to be independent and objective. Thank you for your work in trying to keep them honest.
So grateful for your ‘daily truth and reason’ email. I will subscribe in the new year. I have budgeted it in. I am a senior citizen who left the US after a year of the Trump nightmare. I only returned to help with grand babies during this ghastly pandemic. Then a miracle happened! President Biden.
You express my sentiments everyday about the beltway press. I remember years ago a tv news director telling me ‘“if it bleeds, it leads”
I am sickened by this country’s press and it’s antics. I had to rely on foreign news channels in Europe and Canada for fair reporting about this country.
And then you started this. What a relief.
Bravo and thank you, thank you, I’m so grateful!
I look forward to participating in this community that you have created in the new year.
I am thankful for the way Eric always signs off his introduction to a newsletter with "Be kind". So many people have become free to express their anger and hatred of other people without being tethered to the value of kindness. Rage is everywhere, as we all know, and our culture, and institutions, and people who are different, are the targets. It is looking like a runaway train. Somehow we must find a way to put on the brakes. Keep being kind, Eric.
In addition to my health and family, I'm thankful for so many strong, smart, fearless Democrats in D.C. fighting to save our Democracy. Adam Schiff, Nancy Pelosi, AOC, Jamie Raskin, Bennie Thompson and countless others have the weight of the world on their shoulders right now. The stress must be unfathomable even without the threats being made on their lives.
We are all lucky to have you doing what you do best and that’s exposing the hypocrites that claim to love this country but still do not or can not understand what our constitution actually stands for. Thanks.
I am most thankful to the Biden administration and the progressives in congress to continually push to support the working families of the country. The roll-out of the vaccinations and the support therein, the rescue plan, the bi-partisan infrastructure bill, and now the BBB bill (hopefully). I have hope that the work will continue to move the voting rights bills through congress and am thankful for the continued support shown for these crucial bills. The mid terms will be critical so we cannot let our guard down. Keep up the great work.. The battle continues.
I'm grateful that you continually call out the MSM for their inherently pro-Corporate, pro-GOP bias.
Just finished "The Afghanistan Papers", by Craig Whitlock, and had my mind blown. Reminding your readers about exactly how awful Trump and Pompeo's sellout to the Taliban actually was would've lent much strength to your rebuttals of conservative faux outrage over the withdrawal.
In any case Eric, you're well worth the subscription! Thank you, and may you live to be a thousand years old!
You are an invaluable resource in the fight for democracy. I'm thankful for the education and everything you do to hold corporate media to account.
I’m thankful for you Eric and your passion for the subject, which I am passionate about as well. I’m also thankful for the level of discourse among the audience that posts here. I’m a political animal and for good or bad I challenge posts that I vehemently disagree with. In fact I’ve been tossed off Twitter several times for reasons I cannot comprehend. But tough. I admit since trump I have been in a constant state of shock and anger. I’m grateful for this one space where there’s no need to react angrily and I am always learning stuff. Keep it up.
Press Run has been a godsend, and its community of commenters has been a welcome addition to my cyber circle. But I am grateful that the truly awful effects of the Big Lie were thwarted by some decent Republicans - like Brad Raffensperger and a handful of Trump appointed judges who put their oath of office above obeisance to the malignant narcissist who is determined to burn everything down. Hoping everyone enjoys the holiday with family and friends, I proudly echo the excellent advice we get every time we log in: "Be kind."
I’m thankful for you, Eric.
Thanks so much for everyone who posted kind words about Press Run. It means a lot to me.
Have a Happy Holiday!
I often quote you. (proper citation of course) Thank you very much for your work. Happy Thanksgiving Everyone.
This works both ways Eric. I feel as though I have found a safe haven with you and PressRun pals. Can’t tell you how grateful I am for you all. The best to everyone for this amazing - in so many ways - 2021 Thanksgiving.
Keep it up.
I am deeply thankful for "Press Run." You are the only honest journalist I can discover in the public discourse. I am outraged by the laziness and bias of the mainstream media. To my mind, if our democracy fails to survive, it will be in large measure their fault.
+’careerism’…😟
Aside from you, Mr. Boehlert?! Seriously, your regular Monday appearance on Stephanie Miller's show girds me for the week's upcoming inanity. But in the gracious spirit of this post, I have to say science and smart people. It's breathtaking how far we've come since Jan/Feb 2020 because smart people and science have worked tirelessly - and often thanklessly - to get us here.
I'm grateful to be living here, as rancorous and sometimes stupid as this country is. I lived almost 6 years in Egypt where people have no rights and it is very dangerous to speak openly about anything critical of the government. I spent 4 years with PTSD while Trump was president because it reminded me of how fragile our democracy really is, and how close we came to losing it.
I'm grateful for the vaccines and no longer having covid as my Sword of Damocles. I'm glad I am alive and grateful that the former governor did a good thing and granted clemency to a friend who had been in prison for 40 years. I am grateful that the Innocence Project
is working to exonerate him.
Most of all, I'm grateful for my family. And that we are all Democrats.
The vaccines and the Biden Administration's aggressive approach to them top my list. The two shots plus booster and mask-wearing mean I can pretty much live my life with not nearly as much anxiety as earlier in the pandemic. PRESS RUN has also given me critical insight I lacked. I'm thankful for better understanding what's happening in these dire times. And the song recommendations are a bonus.
yes to vaccine!!
Thank YOU for offering us insight into what is really happening in the press!! I love your newsletter, and I like hearing you on Stephanie's show.
Mr Boehlert always has a great angle on politics. I really enjoy reading the perspectives he highlights.
As a subscriber I am grateful for your rational, truthful, insightful, courageous, intuitive, and intelligent voice. You expose the hypocrisy and dumbfuckery of the corporate media and the mendacity of everything Right-wing!
Dr. Anthony Fauci, for his graceful handling of the idiots and lemmings and relentless pursuit of the truth amid the most challenging circumstances imaginable. All of the real journalists, and count yrself one sir; and the former Repubs who are forming a backbone of resistance to the selfish corruption infecting half of our Congress, for doing their best to hold every public servant to account. Very thankful for all of my friends, and acquaintances who daily do their best to be tolerant, to be informed, and always strive to do the Right Thing, because that is who they are. Family, who are every one friends far beyond our common bloodline. And very, very thankful to still have hope, with a lot of help from those who know who they are.
I’m grateful my family is healthy and I haven’t lost anyone to Covid.
Grateful for your voice
I never lose. I either win or I learn. —Nelson Mandela
. Onward . We are, in the huge starry MultiVerse (ManyPoem Place), one damned family. We really suck at it so far.
WHAT are we missing? Not IQ so much as EQ. [Emotional Intelligence]
Blue = EQ. Together, feather by feather,
we will mend, defend, & tend our Better Angels
What I am thankful for is knowing this Thursday friends will gather and double down on celebrating that we can be together. Our Freindsgiving this year will be a glimmer of hope in a very dark time for this country.
When I was a teenager I read through the whole set of Great Books of the Western World and in my innocence I never believed I'd see Gibbons Fall of the Roman Empire happen in real life. But is is happening before our very eyes.
gosh wasn't last year's Thanksgiving bleak? so glad to have family around again this year
You give me a glimmer of hope in the darkness that has descended on us since Trump.
I'm thankful for the guy in the photo, and his vice president, and the 220 Democrats in the House and the 48 in the Senate. I'm thankful that all three members of my congressional delegation are not only Democrats, but also women. I'm thankful for Eric Boehlert, and for Jay Rosen, and Doug J. Balloon, and Matt Negrin, and all of those who regularly remind us that our political media are the greatest threat to civilization today, in the hopes that we can do something about it. I'm thankful for this site, and everyone who comments here. I'm thankful for my family and friends, above all.
Amen to that! I am so thankful to Biden and all the other elected Dems who keep on working to make our country and democracy stronger despite all the threats to their lives from the right and the trashing and mocking by our mainstream “liberal” media.
All of the adults in my family have now had their booster shots and the kids have just got their first vaccines. I am very thankful that our government is still working well enough for that to have happened so smoothly.
I am also thankful that my kids and grandkids now live nearby so we don’t have to travel for Thanksgiving. On Wednesday evening I will be sitting on the couch with a glass of wine and my feet up, watching news reports about traffic congestion and crowds at the airport and feeling very thankful I don’t have to go through that anymore!
"the 48 in the Senate" LOL I'm thankful for people with a sense of humor. It's the only thing keeping me sane.
Hear hear! 👍
Being able to check off each one of Maslow's hierarchy of needs. And if he were around today he’d add the vaccine to it.
The vaccine pretty much falls into Safety, doesn't it? Maybe it's even one of the base Physiological needs.
Above all, the vaccines! But also hugs. Those who have significant others may not be aware how frequently the romantically unattached are hugged by friends and family in the course of a normal year. I hadn't realized it until the pandemic wiped out friendly hugs. The first one after a long year was the best, as a vaccinated friend and I stood on the corner of 52nd Street and simultaneously cried out, "We can hug!"
Thankful for my healthy and happy family - all 4 generations!! Thank YOU for doing all you can to improve our failing media!!
Grateful for a second chance, at getting my mission on this planet done.
Grateful that I'm about to be 7 years cancer-free. Grateful that I have a job (and health insurance). Grateful for excellent commentators and advocates like you. And grateful that Joe Biden is in the White House, instead of The Former Guy.
Thanks, Eric, for keeping it ad-free and real.
Grateful for my health and COVID vaccines and Press Run! It is a fabulous run down of what is happening to our media. We need radio stations and New stations that tell the facts similar to Democracy Now - Al Jezeera is also good - but maybe a different name and it could have been something in America :) Keep up the good work and let's keep fighting the good fight - not ready to give up just yet.
Thank you.
Thanks for giving us the perspective of the Biden administration that it deserves.
My family is solid Trumpers and I need to be reminded that things are not as awful as they hear it is from the mainstream media.
P.S. I have a added a lot of your music recommendations to my library.
I have one for you that you may or may not like. But they are coming back after a long hiatus. They are all fabulous musicians. The group is Porcupine Tree. "Even Less", "Trains", "Dark Matter", ".3", "Start of Something Beautiful" , "lazarus", "Waiting", "Shesmovedon" are all great songs. Try and find the live you-tube versions so you can watch them play.
Thank you, you have helped keep me sane. I finally got rid of both the Washington Post and NYT and now only read Reuters and AP—it’s refreshing to read news that is written by journalists, not opinion pieces meant to sell papers. Granted there still are occasions that there is some slant in the AP, but I now longer read the news in the morning and almost immediately feel angry. Our local paper is good (which is why we support it) but can only cover so much.
Thank you for this newsletter. It’s always excellent and makes me feel like I’m not insane.
Thank you for honest journalism..
I wish the MSM would stop covering Trumps every word .The people want accountability for all the things he has done to our Democracy.
Agree-! Plus his ‘ubiquitous image’ is what worries me too… all over some sites (see: RAWSTORY)… :/ It’s like a never-ending, normalized reality show.
Covid vaccines is what I’m grateful for. Miigwech for your work. Please don’t stop what you’re doing. Love your picks in music!
Thank you for the work you do to hold the MSM accountable
I’m grateful for so many things this year. Grateful that my family is in good health even though we had a bunch of scary moments (Covid and non-Covid related). Grateful I got back most of my hearing through hearing aids and hopeful more people will be able to soon enough. Grateful that while the country is still (and always will be) divided, you can have an opinion without getting beat up over it. Grateful for the 3 concerts and 2 Broadway shows we’ve been to since August. Grateful that the world is finally taking a stand on climate change.
I’m also most grateful to you Eric and your column. We don’t always agree and that’s ok. Wishing you a bountiful thanksgiving and wishing you all the best.
Thanks for being kind.
concerts and Broadway! love both
Thank you Eric for following the story and bringing us not only the facts but The Good Stuff and The Fun Stuff!
I am thankful for your attention to the press, music selections and the dose of sanity in your newsletter and Twitter feed. Thanks so much!
Daily tonic of sanity — newsletter and Twitter feed. Thank you Eric
H-LL yaaaasssss
The only thing in the maelstrom of today's Press cluelessness that keeps me sane. Without you, @JayRosen_NYU, and @Froomkin we'd be clueless ourselves.
yes, they’re essential
Your newsletter is invaluable for those of us who want our press to be independent and objective. Thank you for your work in trying to keep them honest.
So grateful for your ‘daily truth and reason’ email. I will subscribe in the new year. I have budgeted it in. I am a senior citizen who left the US after a year of the Trump nightmare. I only returned to help with grand babies during this ghastly pandemic. Then a miracle happened! President Biden.
You express my sentiments everyday about the beltway press. I remember years ago a tv news director telling me ‘“if it bleeds, it leads”
I am sickened by this country’s press and it’s antics. I had to rely on foreign news channels in Europe and Canada for fair reporting about this country.
And then you started this. What a relief.
Bravo and thank you, thank you, I’m so grateful!
I look forward to participating in this community that you have created in the new year.
‘Antics’ - you said it!
I'm thankful for this moment. For friends, family, good health and good fortune. Also thankful for PRESS RUN. Keep up the good work.
I am thankful for the way Eric always signs off his introduction to a newsletter with "Be kind". So many people have become free to express their anger and hatred of other people without being tethered to the value of kindness. Rage is everywhere, as we all know, and our culture, and institutions, and people who are different, are the targets. It is looking like a runaway train. Somehow we must find a way to put on the brakes. Keep being kind, Eric.
And thank you for your ever astute and thoughtful critiques of the media as it blunders along on what seems a crooked path to oblivion.
In addition to my health and family, I'm thankful for so many strong, smart, fearless Democrats in D.C. fighting to save our Democracy. Adam Schiff, Nancy Pelosi, AOC, Jamie Raskin, Bennie Thompson and countless others have the weight of the world on their shoulders right now. The stress must be unfathomable even without the threats being made on their lives.
We are lucky to have them.
I wonder too, how they do it…?!
I know. I don't think I could sleep at night.
We are all lucky to have you doing what you do best and that’s exposing the hypocrites that claim to love this country but still do not or can not understand what our constitution actually stands for. Thanks.
I am most thankful to the Biden administration and the progressives in congress to continually push to support the working families of the country. The roll-out of the vaccinations and the support therein, the rescue plan, the bi-partisan infrastructure bill, and now the BBB bill (hopefully). I have hope that the work will continue to move the voting rights bills through congress and am thankful for the continued support shown for these crucial bills. The mid terms will be critical so we cannot let our guard down. Keep up the great work.. The battle continues.