Glad to see someone doing this. Shame can be a powerful tool, if accompanied by volume and repetition. The legacy media is failing at one of its core purposes: afflicting the powerful.
“A nation of sheep will beget a government of wolves.” - Edward R Murrow
I feel vindicated by the NY Times' one chicken rating. In pointing to the Times' misleading headlines and its "both-diderism"and "sane-washing", the study confirms my pained observations throughout the ten years of the Trump catastrophe.
Paul Krugman left the Times because it not only had cancelled his newsletter but his editors had started pressuring to soften his criticisms:
“I’ve always been very, very lightly edited on the column,” he said. “And that stopped being the case. The editing became extremely intrusive. It was very much toning down of my voice, toning down of the feel, and a lot of pressure for what I considered false equivalence.” And, increasingly, attempts “to dictate the subject.”
This should have been a far bigger story than it was. It is clear evidence that the Times is promoting faux balance and caving to pressure from the right.
Hi, Margaret! I feel like I have known you my entire life, though we have never met. I have recently been asked to write more on the media's capitulation to Donald Trump. I posted the piece below on Substack recently and, after just reading your piece today, thought I would share it with you. I doubt you would have seen it, you're so busy.
Thank you for all you are doing to hold the media accountable to their constitutional obligation. The media seems little interested at the moment, one after the other rushing to surrender their precious right to a free press to Donald Trump.
And — they (the media) seem clueless as to what is really going on. It's as if they are in receipt of a memo telling them what the news is rather than they themselves finding the story. And — what the hell does both sides have to do with the news? The facts?
First, they (the administration) insisted that the media print/tell their lies. Now, they insist that no one can print/tell the truth or facts. The media needs to start yelling and screaming the truth about what the administration is doing to America.
Margaret Sullivan: as a science journalist, i'm beginning to understand why we -- journalists in general -- are SO POORLY PAID: it's so we newsies can be bought, for a pittance, actually, to trumpet the slave masters' words, wants and wishes. (that said, i have never received any sort of payment or bribe for my writing, and i never will. it's easier to continue to be impoverished and invisible than it is to wrest oneself and one's morals free of the obscenely rich white mens' pocketbooks and crimes.)
looking at the Media Capitulation Index that you linked in your piece, i'm surprised that the NYTimes was only awarded one chicken. considering all their blatant brown-nosing, i would award the NYTimes at least THREE chickens (capitulating).
The Times' coverage of the genocide in Gaza deserves 3 chickens based on their terrible biased sourcing and the ties their editors had to the murderous isreali government. Writing articles about how the ultra-rich live and play in the midst of poverty and inflation is another reason to disdain them.
I thank you, first, for leaving your thoughts open to all, since I am a migrant from Venezuela due to the "Troubles" there. There's no chance right now that I can start paying anything since I am 85 and lost my Venezuelan Social Security to the government.
I admire what you and others are doing and read voraciously. Born, raised and educated in the States, I'm one of the Kennedy Generation. I went to Venezuela for 3 years to work in the barrios and ended up a citizen there. It is now my homeland.
I think the right paths are open for a better future -- sometimes we don't know what we have 'til we lose it. Capitalistic Capitalism took over economically, and I could see this coming since the '80s when kids in the States graduating from the top universities began their working careers earning around $60,000 a year. I always remember the observation I made to myself on reading that: "This will lead to trouble in the future." It has, hasn't it.
However, such powerful thoughts are being published now that little by little - though it may take longer than most think (Once bit, twice shy.). - I observe reactions and feel that in the long run, we who believe in democracy will become stronger and more versed in democracy's laws and functions. Right now, between HCR, Joyce Vance, Krugman and RR and others like you, I feel as though I'm taking courses in History, Economics and Social Science that we all need.
One of the big problems most of you have is working on your written presentation of knowledge. I worked in the barrios, though I have a Master's in History -- and I know the importance of being able to speak and explain in common language and using common factors. Let me know if some of you would be interested in looking into this problem. I consider it the key to expanding your opinions to a great number of voters who I believe are not being reached. I can't get around much, and don't have many contacts in the States now, but I live in Mexico and have a computer. Meanwhile, as we say in Venezuela, Gracias por tus esfuerzos y ADELANTE, que p'atrás espanta! Juanita Buchholz
The family heir who owns the Dallas Morning News announced today he not sell to the Alden outfit that has destroyed so many newspapers even though Alden's offer was $13 million more than Hearst's offer to buy the paper. Great to see this in Dallas.
Margaret-I commend to your attention Vermont journalist John Walters, who is not only chronicling the circumstances in Vermont, but is participating in the nascent effort to form a new national nonprofit approach to journalism. Here is a link to his latest piece:
When the obituary for our democratic republic is written, it will indicate that while corporate media did not hold the knife, it certainly held the victim down.
When entertainment owns the “news”, is it even news? I’m reminded of Hanah Arendt, “It isn’t that people will believe the lies, it’s that the begin not to not what to believe, so that they can’t tell the difference anymore. People lose the ability to know real from fiction, and thus right from wrong.”
Peter Pomerantsov wriote a recent history of what this all means from his time as a tv producer in Russia from Yeltsin to Putin, “Nothing is true, and everything is possible”, this at a time when journalists and powerful were falling out of their high rise apartment windows, mysterious car accidents, and straight up murders on the streets of Moscow or in their doorways. Is that where we are headed as a country?
Reuters, the AP, The Guardian are still there, holding the line. And Their still is the BBC, DW, and Australia 60 minutes and others for a wider opinion.
Several years ago, I was senior fellow at the Council for Excellence in Government. One of the debates that took place among the “students” taking the federal leadership course dealt with corporate responsibility. One side recognized a societal role for corporations while the other side held the only mission of a corporation was to maximize investor returns. I was floored that the majority of the attendees were adherents of the second proposition. We are witnessing the result of that belief: no societal benefit beyond turning a profit. The Supreme Court gave corporations the rights of individuals without any of the responsibility. Thus, we are reaping what was sown. So when we ask ourselves what can be done, the answer is very little. Shame is a vanishing quality in our country, rendered so by the felon in the White House and his ilk. With corporate control of the media, profit will vastly outweigh social responsibility.
It’s not like you to leave something unexplained. What’s this about: (definitely not to be confused with Bari Weiss’s similarly named company founded in 2021)?
Wondering the same, does the article “the” in front of “free press” really differentiate it from “free press”? Copyright laws don’t apply here? Makes me more leary of BW knowing she hijacked a reputable media organization’s name.
Thank you for your clear, insightful reporting on an issue that is more important than most of us realize during this all-fronts assault on freedom of the press and thereby democracy itself.
Glad to see someone doing this. Shame can be a powerful tool, if accompanied by volume and repetition. The legacy media is failing at one of its core purposes: afflicting the powerful.
“A nation of sheep will beget a government of wolves.” - Edward R Murrow
Thanks, Al. You are right.
I feel vindicated by the NY Times' one chicken rating. In pointing to the Times' misleading headlines and its "both-diderism"and "sane-washing", the study confirms my pained observations throughout the ten years of the Trump catastrophe.
Paul Krugman left the Times because it not only had cancelled his newsletter but his editors had started pressuring to soften his criticisms:
“I’ve always been very, very lightly edited on the column,” he said. “And that stopped being the case. The editing became extremely intrusive. It was very much toning down of my voice, toning down of the feel, and a lot of pressure for what I considered false equivalence.” And, increasingly, attempts “to dictate the subject.”
https://www.cjr.org/analysis/paul-krugman-leaving-new-york-times-heavy-hand-editing-less-frequent-columns-newsletter.php
This should have been a far bigger story than it was. It is clear evidence that the Times is promoting faux balance and caving to pressure from the right.
Hi, Margaret! I feel like I have known you my entire life, though we have never met. I have recently been asked to write more on the media's capitulation to Donald Trump. I posted the piece below on Substack recently and, after just reading your piece today, thought I would share it with you. I doubt you would have seen it, you're so busy.
Thank you for all you are doing to hold the media accountable to their constitutional obligation. The media seems little interested at the moment, one after the other rushing to surrender their precious right to a free press to Donald Trump.
Judge
https://open.substack.com/pub/judgeluttig327269/p/americas-free-press?r=lnjnn&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web
Thank you, your honor! And welcome; I see you just subscribed. I will read with interest and appreciate the link.
And — they (the media) seem clueless as to what is really going on. It's as if they are in receipt of a memo telling them what the news is rather than they themselves finding the story. And — what the hell does both sides have to do with the news? The facts?
First, they (the administration) insisted that the media print/tell their lies. Now, they insist that no one can print/tell the truth or facts. The media needs to start yelling and screaming the truth about what the administration is doing to America.
Margaret Sullivan: as a science journalist, i'm beginning to understand why we -- journalists in general -- are SO POORLY PAID: it's so we newsies can be bought, for a pittance, actually, to trumpet the slave masters' words, wants and wishes. (that said, i have never received any sort of payment or bribe for my writing, and i never will. it's easier to continue to be impoverished and invisible than it is to wrest oneself and one's morals free of the obscenely rich white mens' pocketbooks and crimes.)
looking at the Media Capitulation Index that you linked in your piece, i'm surprised that the NYTimes was only awarded one chicken. considering all their blatant brown-nosing, i would award the NYTimes at least THREE chickens (capitulating).
The Times' coverage of the genocide in Gaza deserves 3 chickens based on their terrible biased sourcing and the ties their editors had to the murderous isreali government. Writing articles about how the ultra-rich live and play in the midst of poverty and inflation is another reason to disdain them.
I thank you, first, for leaving your thoughts open to all, since I am a migrant from Venezuela due to the "Troubles" there. There's no chance right now that I can start paying anything since I am 85 and lost my Venezuelan Social Security to the government.
I admire what you and others are doing and read voraciously. Born, raised and educated in the States, I'm one of the Kennedy Generation. I went to Venezuela for 3 years to work in the barrios and ended up a citizen there. It is now my homeland.
I think the right paths are open for a better future -- sometimes we don't know what we have 'til we lose it. Capitalistic Capitalism took over economically, and I could see this coming since the '80s when kids in the States graduating from the top universities began their working careers earning around $60,000 a year. I always remember the observation I made to myself on reading that: "This will lead to trouble in the future." It has, hasn't it.
However, such powerful thoughts are being published now that little by little - though it may take longer than most think (Once bit, twice shy.). - I observe reactions and feel that in the long run, we who believe in democracy will become stronger and more versed in democracy's laws and functions. Right now, between HCR, Joyce Vance, Krugman and RR and others like you, I feel as though I'm taking courses in History, Economics and Social Science that we all need.
One of the big problems most of you have is working on your written presentation of knowledge. I worked in the barrios, though I have a Master's in History -- and I know the importance of being able to speak and explain in common language and using common factors. Let me know if some of you would be interested in looking into this problem. I consider it the key to expanding your opinions to a great number of voters who I believe are not being reached. I can't get around much, and don't have many contacts in the States now, but I live in Mexico and have a computer. Meanwhile, as we say in Venezuela, Gracias por tus esfuerzos y ADELANTE, que p'atrás espanta! Juanita Buchholz
The family heir who owns the Dallas Morning News announced today he not sell to the Alden outfit that has destroyed so many newspapers even though Alden's offer was $13 million more than Hearst's offer to buy the paper. Great to see this in Dallas.
Margaret-I commend to your attention Vermont journalist John Walters, who is not only chronicling the circumstances in Vermont, but is participating in the nascent effort to form a new national nonprofit approach to journalism. Here is a link to his latest piece:
https://thevpo.org/2025/07/28/local-news-matters-in-lieu-of-news-you-should-view/
Thank you, Margaret. I look forward to reading this important report.
When the obituary for our democratic republic is written, it will indicate that while corporate media did not hold the knife, it certainly held the victim down.
Well said, as always, Lex.
Thank you Margaret Sullivan!
When entertainment owns the “news”, is it even news? I’m reminded of Hanah Arendt, “It isn’t that people will believe the lies, it’s that the begin not to not what to believe, so that they can’t tell the difference anymore. People lose the ability to know real from fiction, and thus right from wrong.”
Peter Pomerantsov wriote a recent history of what this all means from his time as a tv producer in Russia from Yeltsin to Putin, “Nothing is true, and everything is possible”, this at a time when journalists and powerful were falling out of their high rise apartment windows, mysterious car accidents, and straight up murders on the streets of Moscow or in their doorways. Is that where we are headed as a country?
Reuters, the AP, The Guardian are still there, holding the line. And Their still is the BBC, DW, and Australia 60 minutes and others for a wider opinion.
Several years ago, I was senior fellow at the Council for Excellence in Government. One of the debates that took place among the “students” taking the federal leadership course dealt with corporate responsibility. One side recognized a societal role for corporations while the other side held the only mission of a corporation was to maximize investor returns. I was floored that the majority of the attendees were adherents of the second proposition. We are witnessing the result of that belief: no societal benefit beyond turning a profit. The Supreme Court gave corporations the rights of individuals without any of the responsibility. Thus, we are reaping what was sown. So when we ask ourselves what can be done, the answer is very little. Shame is a vanishing quality in our country, rendered so by the felon in the White House and his ilk. With corporate control of the media, profit will vastly outweigh social responsibility.
I just subscribed! Voices must remain more vocal and visible!We must keep afflicting the powerful predators of freedom!
It’s not like you to leave something unexplained. What’s this about: (definitely not to be confused with Bari Weiss’s similarly named company founded in 2021)?
It’s just that there are two outfits with the same name, Free Press. They have quite different approaches.
Wondering the same, does the article “the” in front of “free press” really differentiate it from “free press”? Copyright laws don’t apply here? Makes me more leary of BW knowing she hijacked a reputable media organization’s name.
Thank you for your clear, insightful reporting on an issue that is more important than most of us realize during this all-fronts assault on freedom of the press and thereby democracy itself.
Good news and bad news!
I donated to Free Press.
(Bad news is I still have to subscribe to you although it's on the list.)
🥲