A few people here have asked my view of the turmoil at the Washington Post, since I was the media columnist there from 2016 to 2022. Here's my new piece in the Guardian on that, and thanks for your interest.
Trump's day-after conviction "press conference," which is how some media referred to it despite the fact he took no questions, was rambling, vengeful, and alarming in its incoherence. Yet, it was left to late-night television hosts to show just how bananas it was. Why? I understand the media needed to cover his response to the verdicts, but where were the analysts and editorialists? Were they not concerned by Trump's unhinged performance?
First, thanks for this media critique Margaret. We desperately need more media critics and fact checkers like you. But as good as you are, this is a Herculean task. So I wonder what concrete steps can be taken to get you and other media leaders in a position to help and set the example? Can we make a list together?
One idea: I’m wondering why news leaders, like the NYTs and the Washington Post, seemingly refuse to create and fund an ombudsman division
with a specific truth-telling mission? A daily column that the public and other media sources could grow to trust and expect might be a good bare minimum start.
On this note, I hope any high priority “ideas list” promulgated and debated would include considerably more focus on judicial appointments, judicial elections and judicial decisions. That all-important, often over-looked branch of government, clearly needs more public and media scrutiny at the local, state and national levels. Rights and issues, like free and fair elections, the right to choose, gun control and immigration, will no doubt loom large for the next generation and beyond. After all, the unprecedented Trump trial and jury verdict will also be far better understood and fully appreciated by the public if judges, juries and the judicial process, not to mention the laws, are all seen as fair. This is a multi-dimensional historical story that must be carefully told.
In short, I think Aristotle saw Trump’s face centuries ago, when he wisely observed: “Man is a political being …. (and if you) separate him from law and justice and he is the worst.”
Thanks for the powerful Raskin and Arendt quotes, Margaret. Much appreciated.
I'd like to add Maria Ressa's: "Without facts, you can’t have truth. Without truth, you can’t have trust. Without trust, we have no shared reality, no democracy."
I characterize Trump’s communication approach and behavior as “outrage marketing.” His preposterous lies & ridiculous statements create daily tsunamis of clicks and views and ratings and $$$. The media outlets (all of them) CANNOT pass this up! It’s ratings, views and money to THEIR bottom lines. This isn’t false equivalence (what a euphemism!), it’s profit-making. Can our media outlets look away from their bottom lines for this election? I’m afraid not. Terrifying. Even we liberals amplify the outrageous lies.
Thank you for being a lighthouse in stormy media waters.
I ask other newsletter readers to consider, if you unsubscribe from some news outlet for their weak or misleading coverage, consider shifting the money to a more reliable outlet to support them. IMO, news providers who don’t have stockholders are more likely to live up to the term “independent press”. You can search up “independent news media” and maybe “nonprofit news media” and do a little homework. How do they get their money? What are their reporting guidelines? (If they don’t have a detailed public description, uh oh!)
Point of technical information. When the NYT let 100 copy editors go before the pandemic, the task of writing headlines fell to editors, rather than the desk. I was encouraged to suggest possible headlines for my freelance stories. I’d get a playback (the edited version) with a headline on top and sometimes a tweet. That initial Trump headline could have been suggested by the writer or written by the editor, neither of whom may have been around during an earlier NYC era.
The Republican blind, unethical, and unrealistic push for power is actually a typical coercive mind control methodology used in dictator-led countries world wide. The current brainwashing epidemic we see in our country is consistently seen in cults or autocratic societies. It is not openly discussed nor is it acknowledged by most Americans. It is time to open the Pandora's Box and deal with this cult-like brainwashing sweeping across our country.
Examples include the Jim Jones cult of 900 people who believed and trusted this man. He ordered them to drink Kool Aid laced with poison. They all died. In 1969, Charles Manson convinced his group of followers to perform at least nine ritual, gruesome, and revolting murders. The graphic photos and TV coverage was horrifying - like a pride of frenzied lions tearing flesh from their screaming prey. And of course Adolf Hitler, who converted the minds of a nation-wide population to become mass murderers, committing feverish killings of six million human beings.
While these examples may seem extreme, these Trump followers have deviated so far from reality that they are well on their way to fanatic violence and self sacrifice. During the Jan. 6th resurrection, five people died that day or the day afterward. Little is mentioned of their deaths because they were over-shadowed by the enormity of the mutiny, the rebellion's destruction, and the attempt to overthrow our government. These people would still be alive today if not for Trump. Then too, our country lost over one million souls to COVID - some of them because Trump told his followers to inject bleach to cure this disease. Who knows how many have died due to this wildly insane suggestion. (Politico, April, 2021)
Donald Trump's cult leadership personality has amassed a large following in the United States. These "followers" are now at the last stage of cult conversion - total, self sacrifice devotion to a leader. And like so many other cult leaders, he is a delusional monster, a perpetual liar, and a violent, narcissistic individual. His talks about a bloodbath if he looses the 2024 election, and he should be taken seriously.
He could say anything and commit any crime - and his followers will accuse others and deny reality. He calls the insurrectionists "patriots" when in fact they were dismantling and sabotaging the U.S. Capitol, defecating on the floor of a sacred U.S. landmark, destroying valuable artifacts, and attempting to stop the legal election certification. They think Trump is "saving America" when in reality, he is focused on his own survival and doesn't care who falls in the process.
Years and years ago, Trump was likely caught in a typical Russian spy trap. For most Americans, they just cannot comprehend this previous statement or the fact that for Russia, the Cold War DID NOT END. The Moscow Business Survival Guide created a "helpful hint for all those (foreigners) who dare to work with us. It says 'The most fundamental concepts that have guided your judgement for a lifetime are not even known, much less understood, here'." I cannot in one short message, explain the vast differences between Russia's leadership and government to the American democratic public. I can only tell you that the Moscow Business Survival Guide was correct.
Putin has hated the United States since childhood. His life is dedicated to the destruction of our country and our way of life. Trump on the other hand, is a STUPID American who went to Russia once too often and was caught either by beautiful KGB "professional" women (sex), or by the conniving Russian business men (money). There are many examples of both included in the book From Democracy to Democrazy (by Graham). Other books to read are The Cult of Trump and Putin's People. Assuming Trump was entrapped by the Russians, and I am personally 110% sure this happened - then he is following directions from Putin. If he runs afoul of Putin, then his life or the lives of his family are in danger. Not long ago, Cassidy Hutchinson mentioned that "Trump is terrified of being poisoned." (The Hill, October 5, 2023) Poison is a lethal murder method often associated with Russian contract killings. For Trump to even make this statement is almost an admission of guilt. Trump lives in fear - and will do and say anything to ensure his own safety and that of his family.
I lived and worked in six dictatorship countries over a period of about twenty years - and especially experienced the transition from the Yeltsin years to Putin's all-encompassing absolute rule by fear. The same type of fear/threats Trump has now unleashed in the U.S., and that prevented his impeachment process from succeeding even though the evidence was indisputable - just like the black and white, solid evidence in the Hush Money Trial is now disputed by just about every Republican in the country! The Hush Money Trial was not a Biden-led sham or a political refute. It was honest, home-grown justice. The many Republican faces who are speaking out against the Justice System in the U.S. or the Trump Hush Money Trial, are NOT supporting democracy but rather "brain-washed stooges" repeating what they are told to repeat even if it has no connection with actuality or truth - just like true cult members.
As for blame, let's chose William Barr instead of Garland. The Mueller Report was created to investigate Trump and his relationship with Russia. William Barr, the AG at the time, prevented the American public to absorb the full impact of the 2-year and $32 million dollar investigation. "March 24, 2019 may go down as one of the most artfully deceptive and effective undertakings in the history of spin control. In this masterpiece of disinformation, Barr completely stole Mueller's thunder, misrepresented it, and presented Trump forces (including the Russians) with a victory they then used to label the entire Trump-Russia scandal as a hoax." (Unger, American Kompromat). It was not a hoax, but the real thing - a man wrongly maneuvered (by the Russians) into the Presidency of the United States is probably working for the Russians.
Trump's massive and many-sided destructiveness has surpassed plain lying to the American public. He has hypnotized and brainwashed Republicans like they are walking-talking zombies. Our country is in trouble and more so than most Americans comprehend. The only way to combat this rendition of The Walking Dead movie is to seek the truth. Both Putin and Trump are consummate liars, but their web of lies cannot withstand the light of truth.
Marcos Raskin was totally correct that - “Democracy needs a ground to stand upon — and that ground is the truth.”
Replicating a comment I made on Brad DeLong's posting about the speech.
Someone on the Internet said, (that's to avoid a charge of plagiarism. I don't remember where.) something like "joe biden has to be a lincoln or an fdr in a speech but if he gave one speech like any Trump speech, it would be all over the headlines
Actually he would be finished.
Marc Sobel
May 31
Will any mainstream major medium use the word "incoherent?"
First screen on web site:
NYT "Trump Spews False Claims and Fury in Wake of Conviction"
WaPo "From Trump Tower lobby, a gusher of falsehoods about the trial"
LA Times paywalled
Dallas Morning News no mention of rant
USA today no mention
NY Post no mention
Tampa Bay times no mention
Chicago Tribune headline on front page to off page article "Trump delivers rambling response to guilty verdict, falsely blasting ‘rigged trial,’ slamming Cohen"
Newsday Trump, in defiant speech, vows to appeal conviction in hush money trial
Minneapolis Star Tribune headline on front screen scrolled way down to off page article Trump tries to move past his guilty verdict by attacking the criminal justice system
So would anyone know how cray cray the speech was?
I couldn't agree more with everything you write here. As soon as the verdict came down, I immediately started fretting about how the MSM would focus on everything but this clear victory for the rule of law and our judicial system (after largely dismissing the case to begin with as a trivial hush money matter, which was itself irresponsible and wrong).
Speaking of headlines that missed the mark, this one at the top of the Post home page Friday morning prompted me to write my own piece on the topic: "Even as Trump found guilty, his attacks take toll on judicial system." To me, that was as absurd as a headline after the Battle of Gettysburg that might have read: "Even as Lee repelled at Gettysburg, his attacks take toll on Union war effort." Actually, such a headline might have been written at the time, given the manner in which the Northern press during the Civil War behaved in much the way the mainstream press is behaving in the fight to save our democracy in 2024.
I blame hereditary generations being in control. The same weakness fuels massive corporate greed. While the first and second generations of publishers who built journalistic empires like the NYT into formidable Fourth Estate bulwarks against the degradation of Democracy, their dedication to purpose and patriotism can’t be replicated by nepotism alone.
Excellent, Margaret. Circulating. Wondering what you think about change of editorship at Washington Post. Such an important position given the election. I’m-at least initially—in favor of Matt Murray given his experience covering politics. We need this now.
A few people here have asked my view of the turmoil at the Washington Post, since I was the media columnist there from 2016 to 2022. Here's my new piece in the Guardian on that, and thanks for your interest.
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/article/2024/jun/04/washington-post-sally-buzbee-will-lewis
https://www.prospectmagazine.co.uk/ideas/media/phone-hacking/66047/did-washington-post-publisher-pervert-the-course-of-justice-under-murdoch
Trump's day-after conviction "press conference," which is how some media referred to it despite the fact he took no questions, was rambling, vengeful, and alarming in its incoherence. Yet, it was left to late-night television hosts to show just how bananas it was. Why? I understand the media needed to cover his response to the verdicts, but where were the analysts and editorialists? Were they not concerned by Trump's unhinged performance?
First, thanks for this media critique Margaret. We desperately need more media critics and fact checkers like you. But as good as you are, this is a Herculean task. So I wonder what concrete steps can be taken to get you and other media leaders in a position to help and set the example? Can we make a list together?
One idea: I’m wondering why news leaders, like the NYTs and the Washington Post, seemingly refuse to create and fund an ombudsman division
with a specific truth-telling mission? A daily column that the public and other media sources could grow to trust and expect might be a good bare minimum start.
On this note, I hope any high priority “ideas list” promulgated and debated would include considerably more focus on judicial appointments, judicial elections and judicial decisions. That all-important, often over-looked branch of government, clearly needs more public and media scrutiny at the local, state and national levels. Rights and issues, like free and fair elections, the right to choose, gun control and immigration, will no doubt loom large for the next generation and beyond. After all, the unprecedented Trump trial and jury verdict will also be far better understood and fully appreciated by the public if judges, juries and the judicial process, not to mention the laws, are all seen as fair. This is a multi-dimensional historical story that must be carefully told.
In short, I think Aristotle saw Trump’s face centuries ago, when he wisely observed: “Man is a political being …. (and if you) separate him from law and justice and he is the worst.”
Trump counts. Beware!
Thanks for the powerful Raskin and Arendt quotes, Margaret. Much appreciated.
I'd like to add Maria Ressa's: "Without facts, you can’t have truth. Without truth, you can’t have trust. Without trust, we have no shared reality, no democracy."
Great!
Thanks. And her Harvard commencement speech was also inspiring. https://www.youtube.com/live/1snjxJR_gLk?feature=shared&t=10100
I characterize Trump’s communication approach and behavior as “outrage marketing.” His preposterous lies & ridiculous statements create daily tsunamis of clicks and views and ratings and $$$. The media outlets (all of them) CANNOT pass this up! It’s ratings, views and money to THEIR bottom lines. This isn’t false equivalence (what a euphemism!), it’s profit-making. Can our media outlets look away from their bottom lines for this election? I’m afraid not. Terrifying. Even we liberals amplify the outrageous lies.
Thank you for being a lighthouse in stormy media waters.
I ask other newsletter readers to consider, if you unsubscribe from some news outlet for their weak or misleading coverage, consider shifting the money to a more reliable outlet to support them. IMO, news providers who don’t have stockholders are more likely to live up to the term “independent press”. You can search up “independent news media” and maybe “nonprofit news media” and do a little homework. How do they get their money? What are their reporting guidelines? (If they don’t have a detailed public description, uh oh!)
Point of technical information. When the NYT let 100 copy editors go before the pandemic, the task of writing headlines fell to editors, rather than the desk. I was encouraged to suggest possible headlines for my freelance stories. I’d get a playback (the edited version) with a headline on top and sometimes a tweet. That initial Trump headline could have been suggested by the writer or written by the editor, neither of whom may have been around during an earlier NYC era.
For those who may have missed it elsewhere, I built a quick montage ( https://x.com/_silversmith/status/1797584137131638878 ) to debunk Trump's claim he'd never said "Lock her up" from Daniel Dale's Fact Check of that lie. ( https://www.cnn.com/2024/06/02/politics/fact-check-trump-false-claim-lock-up-hillary-clinton/index.html )
That CNN's own producers didn't build that same montage, when Dale had done all the legwork? Is inexcusable, IMO.
The Republican blind, unethical, and unrealistic push for power is actually a typical coercive mind control methodology used in dictator-led countries world wide. The current brainwashing epidemic we see in our country is consistently seen in cults or autocratic societies. It is not openly discussed nor is it acknowledged by most Americans. It is time to open the Pandora's Box and deal with this cult-like brainwashing sweeping across our country.
Examples include the Jim Jones cult of 900 people who believed and trusted this man. He ordered them to drink Kool Aid laced with poison. They all died. In 1969, Charles Manson convinced his group of followers to perform at least nine ritual, gruesome, and revolting murders. The graphic photos and TV coverage was horrifying - like a pride of frenzied lions tearing flesh from their screaming prey. And of course Adolf Hitler, who converted the minds of a nation-wide population to become mass murderers, committing feverish killings of six million human beings.
While these examples may seem extreme, these Trump followers have deviated so far from reality that they are well on their way to fanatic violence and self sacrifice. During the Jan. 6th resurrection, five people died that day or the day afterward. Little is mentioned of their deaths because they were over-shadowed by the enormity of the mutiny, the rebellion's destruction, and the attempt to overthrow our government. These people would still be alive today if not for Trump. Then too, our country lost over one million souls to COVID - some of them because Trump told his followers to inject bleach to cure this disease. Who knows how many have died due to this wildly insane suggestion. (Politico, April, 2021)
Donald Trump's cult leadership personality has amassed a large following in the United States. These "followers" are now at the last stage of cult conversion - total, self sacrifice devotion to a leader. And like so many other cult leaders, he is a delusional monster, a perpetual liar, and a violent, narcissistic individual. His talks about a bloodbath if he looses the 2024 election, and he should be taken seriously.
He could say anything and commit any crime - and his followers will accuse others and deny reality. He calls the insurrectionists "patriots" when in fact they were dismantling and sabotaging the U.S. Capitol, defecating on the floor of a sacred U.S. landmark, destroying valuable artifacts, and attempting to stop the legal election certification. They think Trump is "saving America" when in reality, he is focused on his own survival and doesn't care who falls in the process.
Years and years ago, Trump was likely caught in a typical Russian spy trap. For most Americans, they just cannot comprehend this previous statement or the fact that for Russia, the Cold War DID NOT END. The Moscow Business Survival Guide created a "helpful hint for all those (foreigners) who dare to work with us. It says 'The most fundamental concepts that have guided your judgement for a lifetime are not even known, much less understood, here'." I cannot in one short message, explain the vast differences between Russia's leadership and government to the American democratic public. I can only tell you that the Moscow Business Survival Guide was correct.
Putin has hated the United States since childhood. His life is dedicated to the destruction of our country and our way of life. Trump on the other hand, is a STUPID American who went to Russia once too often and was caught either by beautiful KGB "professional" women (sex), or by the conniving Russian business men (money). There are many examples of both included in the book From Democracy to Democrazy (by Graham). Other books to read are The Cult of Trump and Putin's People. Assuming Trump was entrapped by the Russians, and I am personally 110% sure this happened - then he is following directions from Putin. If he runs afoul of Putin, then his life or the lives of his family are in danger. Not long ago, Cassidy Hutchinson mentioned that "Trump is terrified of being poisoned." (The Hill, October 5, 2023) Poison is a lethal murder method often associated with Russian contract killings. For Trump to even make this statement is almost an admission of guilt. Trump lives in fear - and will do and say anything to ensure his own safety and that of his family.
I lived and worked in six dictatorship countries over a period of about twenty years - and especially experienced the transition from the Yeltsin years to Putin's all-encompassing absolute rule by fear. The same type of fear/threats Trump has now unleashed in the U.S., and that prevented his impeachment process from succeeding even though the evidence was indisputable - just like the black and white, solid evidence in the Hush Money Trial is now disputed by just about every Republican in the country! The Hush Money Trial was not a Biden-led sham or a political refute. It was honest, home-grown justice. The many Republican faces who are speaking out against the Justice System in the U.S. or the Trump Hush Money Trial, are NOT supporting democracy but rather "brain-washed stooges" repeating what they are told to repeat even if it has no connection with actuality or truth - just like true cult members.
As for blame, let's chose William Barr instead of Garland. The Mueller Report was created to investigate Trump and his relationship with Russia. William Barr, the AG at the time, prevented the American public to absorb the full impact of the 2-year and $32 million dollar investigation. "March 24, 2019 may go down as one of the most artfully deceptive and effective undertakings in the history of spin control. In this masterpiece of disinformation, Barr completely stole Mueller's thunder, misrepresented it, and presented Trump forces (including the Russians) with a victory they then used to label the entire Trump-Russia scandal as a hoax." (Unger, American Kompromat). It was not a hoax, but the real thing - a man wrongly maneuvered (by the Russians) into the Presidency of the United States is probably working for the Russians.
Trump's massive and many-sided destructiveness has surpassed plain lying to the American public. He has hypnotized and brainwashed Republicans like they are walking-talking zombies. Our country is in trouble and more so than most Americans comprehend. The only way to combat this rendition of The Walking Dead movie is to seek the truth. Both Putin and Trump are consummate liars, but their web of lies cannot withstand the light of truth.
Marcos Raskin was totally correct that - “Democracy needs a ground to stand upon — and that ground is the truth.”
Elizabeth
www.democrazy2020.org
Elizabeth www.democrazy2020.org
Replicating a comment I made on Brad DeLong's posting about the speech.
Someone on the Internet said, (that's to avoid a charge of plagiarism. I don't remember where.) something like "joe biden has to be a lincoln or an fdr in a speech but if he gave one speech like any Trump speech, it would be all over the headlines
Actually he would be finished.
Marc Sobel
May 31
Will any mainstream major medium use the word "incoherent?"
First screen on web site:
NYT "Trump Spews False Claims and Fury in Wake of Conviction"
WaPo "From Trump Tower lobby, a gusher of falsehoods about the trial"
LA Times paywalled
Dallas Morning News no mention of rant
USA today no mention
NY Post no mention
Tampa Bay times no mention
Chicago Tribune headline on front page to off page article "Trump delivers rambling response to guilty verdict, falsely blasting ‘rigged trial,’ slamming Cohen"
Newsday Trump, in defiant speech, vows to appeal conviction in hush money trial
Minneapolis Star Tribune headline on front screen scrolled way down to off page article Trump tries to move past his guilty verdict by attacking the criminal justice system
So would anyone know how cray cray the speech was?
I couldn't agree more with everything you write here. As soon as the verdict came down, I immediately started fretting about how the MSM would focus on everything but this clear victory for the rule of law and our judicial system (after largely dismissing the case to begin with as a trivial hush money matter, which was itself irresponsible and wrong).
Speaking of headlines that missed the mark, this one at the top of the Post home page Friday morning prompted me to write my own piece on the topic: "Even as Trump found guilty, his attacks take toll on judicial system." To me, that was as absurd as a headline after the Battle of Gettysburg that might have read: "Even as Lee repelled at Gettysburg, his attacks take toll on Union war effort." Actually, such a headline might have been written at the time, given the manner in which the Northern press during the Civil War behaved in much the way the mainstream press is behaving in the fight to save our democracy in 2024.
https://craiglazzeretti.substack.com/p/yanks-in-disarray-how-press-coverage?r=tm6pf
Hi, Margaret—If, as you say “everybody” (now including you) complains about NYT headlines, why The Gray Lady continues to ignore this problem?
I blame hereditary generations being in control. The same weakness fuels massive corporate greed. While the first and second generations of publishers who built journalistic empires like the NYT into formidable Fourth Estate bulwarks against the degradation of Democracy, their dedication to purpose and patriotism can’t be replicated by nepotism alone.
I totally agree. The current publisher has turned the editorial page into an utter disaster area. Where are today’s James Reston and Tom Wicker?
Excellent, Margaret. Circulating. Wondering what you think about change of editorship at Washington Post. Such an important position given the election. I’m-at least initially—in favor of Matt Murray given his experience covering politics. We need this now.
Have written a Guardian column on that. Should publish soon and I’ll share it here
Great, Margaret. Will look forward to reading it.
Posted above and also here to you, Mary: https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/article/2024/jun/04/washington-post-sally-buzbee-will-lewis