I think I'm the only news outlet in our small city who has provided stories ahead of these rallies (vs. after it happens), including airing the interview I do with the organizer before the rally happens. Our radio station is in a very red county and I see the gap in coverage so I try where I can to balance things out. I'm a one-person newsroom, but I try. Thanks for these columns!
I'm not holding my breath waiting for the invitation from the NYT to a roundtable of old white progressives who also go to diner's and are fed up with Trump, the Republican Party and the tech bros that are funding this debacle. I'm also not holding my breath for a front page story in the Times on Sunday that accurately reports the numbers for No KIngs 2.0 in NYC or nationwide. The corporate media is a lost cause.
They did the last time, I think via the Alt National Parks account. Maddow reported a total of about 5 million, and she anticipates many many more this time around as there are now 2400 events, vs 1500 last time
Your observations are spot on. There is a huge story in the way that people of conscience are coping with the affront of a corrupt and hostile government. I am 69 this year and I get information exclusively from my phone. I ended subscriptions that I had enjoyed for decades because the coverage of what matters was so vapid. I feel like I am leading my friends to the well on a daily basis because they are still following "the news". This is not normal! Thank you for noticing!
I enjoyed the report on YouTube from the Oregonian, interviewing the guy who has been wearing the inflatable frog costume to protest ICE. It was wonderful to hear him expain his motivation: "I'm here protesting the inhumane way that ICE and DHS is treating our immigrants, whether they are here legally or not, they should be treated as a human being because that's what they are."
Thank you for this information. I cancelled cable some time ago and subscribe only to Substack news. I’m 71–how times have changed. I don’t believe one word that comes from MSM. They have sold out.
I do watch and respect the entire afternoon crew at MSNBC. All have their strengths -and weaknesses- but they pull no punches. Jen Psaki is especially calmly journalistic.
Same here, but I worry that I am creating an echo chamber. I miss hearing about the good things that are happening, but I'm not willing to listen to the lies while waiting for the occasional truth.
I’ve never been to a protest in my 59 years on this earth I will be at the one on the 18th I was just mulling it over until Republicans started calling it a “hate America protest” now I’m there. There is nothing more American than protesting. Redress of grievances!!
From southern Virginia - Yes, my husband, (a decorated Viet Nam vet) and I will attend a No Kings rally here. We are beyond appalled and heartbroken that the GOP and the mainstream media has turned their backs on the experiment called “democracy.” If there is such a place like hell they will eventually meet there, not soon enough.
A Facebook friend posted this these observations that I think illustrates your point:
LIFE IN THE FAR NORTH IS THREATENED
Personal Observation: I have been in Northern NH, Vermont, and Maine for the past three weeks. Though it has been beautiful and I have had a wondrous time, I need to share some observations I made here.
1. The first thing I heard about was that two addition major health providers were leaving New Hampshire. That adds to several who left last year. Now people up this way do not know what they will do. Many of the folks who live up north here(close to the border) must be self-sufficient to make it. The changes in Medicare-Medicaid will make it impossible for a large number of people.
2. Commerce is seriously hurting because Canadians are not coming. Many areas of retail and service have been crushed by the tariffs, including farming and lumbering. Several shop owners shared their sad situations. Many have had to let workers go as the tourist are not showing up.
3. Everywhere I went, everyday I experienced the anxiety of residents. Their wells have dried up or are so low they MUST conserve and cannot wash their clothes or waste water on showering. Last week there was a hot spell for three or four days. The temperature went up to 88 degrees. The week before, there was a hard frost when the temperature went well below freezing.
4. This is an ultra-conservative area yet many, many have taken advantage of the tax credit for utilizing solar energy. Now, that is over! The current Administration will not honor the energy bills passed during the Biden years.
I am not seeing anything even remotely resembling empathetic coverage of the last 9 months. For context, I’m middle age, live in the Midwest and have a blue collar job. I lean left and am infuriated by the way our Constitution (and ideals) are being pissed on. You’d think the wistful think pieces would write themselves. You wouldn’t even have to meet me in a diner to get my take!
Seriously, I can’t decide if it’s a lack
Of courage or a craven move for clicks and reads. For better or worse, the media knows stories about Trump and his followers will play.
For No Kings Day, I haven’t seen anything other than a newsletter that circulates here in my city. Not even local network news has covered it.
Your contrast between how the MAGA voters are constantly asked about the nature and extent of their thoughts and feelings about Trump and the almost total lack of coverage of the rest of us was illuminating. Seems to me that this is either some form of horrified fascination with a creature from the Black Lagoon, or a deliberate obfuscation of our current situation out of fearful deference. Robert Reich has his finger on our pulse and serves as a kind of solitary lightning rod for our fears and anxieties. When all this is over, people like him and you will have earned your laurels. A thousand thanks.
It's deliberate narrative management from media executives - to demonize the left and excuse and empathize with the right. It's not an accident. It's not reluctant. It's systematic propaganda by our oligarch rulers.
Maybe not all that systematic, because functioning systems tend to be more or less invisible, free of clanging and banging, and thus not easy to detect. These new media moguls are by contrast a clown car of Hegsethian bootlickers and adjacent characters. Reactive, as much as strategic.
Margaret Sullivan: no news of the protests here! (well, except for the MAGA lies that these protests are "hate rallies".)
i am one of those people who is unable to recognize my own country, who is afraid and disoriented by what is happening.
after all this hell is over (if it ever ends, cuz the planet may end first), i expect there will be no one remaining who knows how to conduct real, respectable journalism. (the bothsidesism used now was often used when covering evolution a couple decades ago, as if the creationists are capable of presenting a rational and equivalent point of view.) as it stands now, i get my most of news from overseas since the american press is only suitable for lining the trays in my parrots' cages.
My husband and I are both 72 years old with health issues. We are both planning on being at NO KINGS DAY PROTEST. I have never been to a protest in my life. My husband has. He spent lots or time protesting in high school years (late 60’s- early 70’s). I’ve never been so upset with what’s going on in our country. I’m a mother and grandmother. I want my grandchildren to grow up with as much freedom as I did.
WE ARE LOSING OUR DEMOCRACY!!! WHERE IS THE NEWS COVERAGE… THIS IS APPALLING!!
You are correct. How many times have we seen journalists/reporters stick a microphone in someones face and asked them questions like, "What has Trump done to make America great again?" And they almost always say things like, "Oh, I can't think of any one thing, but there's lots of things."
Trump is a carnival barker that could sell ice to Eskimos. Unfortunately, these people vote while so many others sit it out.
My husband and my first protest was Hands Off. We participated in the first No Kings and we'll be out an hour early again on Saturday to get close parking, as he now has trouble pushing my wheelchair longer distances. We actually spent a bit of money to protest, a folding camping chair for my husband to use. We wave our signs but don't have the energy to shout. There's a row of us mobility challenged every time. So far, our location hasn't had more than a handful of counter protesters, who drifted through the crowd to no reaction, and left fairly quickly.
I’m recovering from being dead in the beginning of August. I’m going to be out on the 18th for my country. I going to bring my sign and a chair. We are GRANTIFA!!
Thank you! I’ve been a protester before (like your husband), but us grandparents are out there for our grown children and grandchildren now! I can’t leave this screwed up government for them to cope with.
Reliance on MSM is no where near what it was in the past. I think many of the people that read this newsletter are of a "certain age" and our go to was institutional, main stream, old school media. It seems that people who don't want "news" but prefer propoganda are all in with Fox and its copycats. People that want actual reporting are finding it in all different places that don't always include NYT, WaPo, WSJ, et al.
Talk to people under 30, hell 40, and they are not as concerned with "institutional" media. They grew up in an era of internet memes, manipulated images, doing things for the lulz, and not trusting.
“A failure of mission.” Yes it is, if the mission of corporate media is journalism. Sadly, it no longer is. The mission is profit, ego gratification, propaganda, political favor, in various percentages. What used to be called “yellow journalism.
There is one upside: 🫤
“By giving us the opinions of the uneducated, journalism keeps us in touch with the ignorance of the community.” - Oscar Wilde
Thank you, Margaret. Every time I turn the pages of the NYT (yes, paper...yes, that old) and see one more full-page article about the feelings of random or chosen Trump supporters I am aghast at the lack of coverage of those who wake up each day worried about their family and friends who Trump, Stephen Miller, Russell Vought, et al, have marked with a bullseye of hatred.
I think I'm the only news outlet in our small city who has provided stories ahead of these rallies (vs. after it happens), including airing the interview I do with the organizer before the rally happens. Our radio station is in a very red county and I see the gap in coverage so I try where I can to balance things out. I'm a one-person newsroom, but I try. Thanks for these columns!
Thanks for your work!
Been there, done that. Thanks and Hang in there .
Thank you!
I'm not holding my breath waiting for the invitation from the NYT to a roundtable of old white progressives who also go to diner's and are fed up with Trump, the Republican Party and the tech bros that are funding this debacle. I'm also not holding my breath for a front page story in the Times on Sunday that accurately reports the numbers for No KIngs 2.0 in NYC or nationwide. The corporate media is a lost cause.
No Kings organizers will need to engage independent crowd counters for us to get an accurate picture of attendance.
They did the last time, I think via the Alt National Parks account. Maddow reported a total of about 5 million, and she anticipates many many more this time around as there are now 2400 events, vs 1500 last time
You were unfortunately proven correct.
Your observations are spot on. There is a huge story in the way that people of conscience are coping with the affront of a corrupt and hostile government. I am 69 this year and I get information exclusively from my phone. I ended subscriptions that I had enjoyed for decades because the coverage of what matters was so vapid. I feel like I am leading my friends to the well on a daily basis because they are still following "the news". This is not normal! Thank you for noticing!
I enjoyed the report on YouTube from the Oregonian, interviewing the guy who has been wearing the inflatable frog costume to protest ICE. It was wonderful to hear him expain his motivation: "I'm here protesting the inhumane way that ICE and DHS is treating our immigrants, whether they are here legally or not, they should be treated as a human being because that's what they are."
https://youtube.com/shorts/H2eSVJ2R6uA?si=L8gatbL41uj4Wpxa
The Oregonian reports on YouTube are a good source for what's happening on the ground in Portland.
Thank you for this information. I cancelled cable some time ago and subscribe only to Substack news. I’m 71–how times have changed. I don’t believe one word that comes from MSM. They have sold out.
I do watch and respect the entire afternoon crew at MSNBC. All have their strengths -and weaknesses- but they pull no punches. Jen Psaki is especially calmly journalistic.
Same here, but I worry that I am creating an echo chamber. I miss hearing about the good things that are happening, but I'm not willing to listen to the lies while waiting for the occasional truth.
There's also an interview of Chicken Guy: https://www.wweek.com/culture/2025/10/09/an-interview-with-the-portland-chicken/
He's a pretty impressive millennial.
I’ve never been to a protest in my 59 years on this earth I will be at the one on the 18th I was just mulling it over until Republicans started calling it a “hate America protest” now I’m there. There is nothing more American than protesting. Redress of grievances!!
Welcome!
From southern Virginia - Yes, my husband, (a decorated Viet Nam vet) and I will attend a No Kings rally here. We are beyond appalled and heartbroken that the GOP and the mainstream media has turned their backs on the experiment called “democracy.” If there is such a place like hell they will eventually meet there, not soon enough.
Mainstream media are making themselves irrelevant
While right wing media lives… What’s that all about?
I’ll see you all in the streets on Saturday! BTW, no one is paying me to protest.
A Facebook friend posted this these observations that I think illustrates your point:
LIFE IN THE FAR NORTH IS THREATENED
Personal Observation: I have been in Northern NH, Vermont, and Maine for the past three weeks. Though it has been beautiful and I have had a wondrous time, I need to share some observations I made here.
1. The first thing I heard about was that two addition major health providers were leaving New Hampshire. That adds to several who left last year. Now people up this way do not know what they will do. Many of the folks who live up north here(close to the border) must be self-sufficient to make it. The changes in Medicare-Medicaid will make it impossible for a large number of people.
2. Commerce is seriously hurting because Canadians are not coming. Many areas of retail and service have been crushed by the tariffs, including farming and lumbering. Several shop owners shared their sad situations. Many have had to let workers go as the tourist are not showing up.
3. Everywhere I went, everyday I experienced the anxiety of residents. Their wells have dried up or are so low they MUST conserve and cannot wash their clothes or waste water on showering. Last week there was a hot spell for three or four days. The temperature went up to 88 degrees. The week before, there was a hard frost when the temperature went well below freezing.
4. This is an ultra-conservative area yet many, many have taken advantage of the tax credit for utilizing solar energy. Now, that is over! The current Administration will not honor the energy bills passed during the Biden years.
Thank you. I did not know anything about this.
Why the media covers this president and his regime as normal is baffling. Cowards all!
It's not cowardice. It's complicity. Oligarchs *prefer* fascism.
I am not seeing anything even remotely resembling empathetic coverage of the last 9 months. For context, I’m middle age, live in the Midwest and have a blue collar job. I lean left and am infuriated by the way our Constitution (and ideals) are being pissed on. You’d think the wistful think pieces would write themselves. You wouldn’t even have to meet me in a diner to get my take!
Seriously, I can’t decide if it’s a lack
Of courage or a craven move for clicks and reads. For better or worse, the media knows stories about Trump and his followers will play.
For No Kings Day, I haven’t seen anything other than a newsletter that circulates here in my city. Not even local network news has covered it.
Your contrast between how the MAGA voters are constantly asked about the nature and extent of their thoughts and feelings about Trump and the almost total lack of coverage of the rest of us was illuminating. Seems to me that this is either some form of horrified fascination with a creature from the Black Lagoon, or a deliberate obfuscation of our current situation out of fearful deference. Robert Reich has his finger on our pulse and serves as a kind of solitary lightning rod for our fears and anxieties. When all this is over, people like him and you will have earned your laurels. A thousand thanks.
It's deliberate narrative management from media executives - to demonize the left and excuse and empathize with the right. It's not an accident. It's not reluctant. It's systematic propaganda by our oligarch rulers.
Yes. Reporters don’t cover what they want to, they cover what they’re told to. Everone has to eat.
Maybe not all that systematic, because functioning systems tend to be more or less invisible, free of clanging and banging, and thus not easy to detect. These new media moguls are by contrast a clown car of Hegsethian bootlickers and adjacent characters. Reactive, as much as strategic.
Margaret Sullivan: no news of the protests here! (well, except for the MAGA lies that these protests are "hate rallies".)
i am one of those people who is unable to recognize my own country, who is afraid and disoriented by what is happening.
after all this hell is over (if it ever ends, cuz the planet may end first), i expect there will be no one remaining who knows how to conduct real, respectable journalism. (the bothsidesism used now was often used when covering evolution a couple decades ago, as if the creationists are capable of presenting a rational and equivalent point of view.) as it stands now, i get my most of news from overseas since the american press is only suitable for lining the trays in my parrots' cages.
My husband and I are both 72 years old with health issues. We are both planning on being at NO KINGS DAY PROTEST. I have never been to a protest in my life. My husband has. He spent lots or time protesting in high school years (late 60’s- early 70’s). I’ve never been so upset with what’s going on in our country. I’m a mother and grandmother. I want my grandchildren to grow up with as much freedom as I did.
WE ARE LOSING OUR DEMOCRACY!!! WHERE IS THE NEWS COVERAGE… THIS IS APPALLING!!
I think a good story would be people like you who’ve never protested before but are starting Saturday.
You are correct. How many times have we seen journalists/reporters stick a microphone in someones face and asked them questions like, "What has Trump done to make America great again?" And they almost always say things like, "Oh, I can't think of any one thing, but there's lots of things."
Trump is a carnival barker that could sell ice to Eskimos. Unfortunately, these people vote while so many others sit it out.
My husband and my first protest was Hands Off. We participated in the first No Kings and we'll be out an hour early again on Saturday to get close parking, as he now has trouble pushing my wheelchair longer distances. We actually spent a bit of money to protest, a folding camping chair for my husband to use. We wave our signs but don't have the energy to shout. There's a row of us mobility challenged every time. So far, our location hasn't had more than a handful of counter protesters, who drifted through the crowd to no reaction, and left fairly quickly.
Thank you so much! Your effort is much appreciated!
I’m recovering from being dead in the beginning of August. I’m going to be out on the 18th for my country. I going to bring my sign and a chair. We are GRANTIFA!!
Thank you! I’ve been a protester before (like your husband), but us grandparents are out there for our grown children and grandchildren now! I can’t leave this screwed up government for them to cope with.
Reliance on MSM is no where near what it was in the past. I think many of the people that read this newsletter are of a "certain age" and our go to was institutional, main stream, old school media. It seems that people who don't want "news" but prefer propoganda are all in with Fox and its copycats. People that want actual reporting are finding it in all different places that don't always include NYT, WaPo, WSJ, et al.
Talk to people under 30, hell 40, and they are not as concerned with "institutional" media. They grew up in an era of internet memes, manipulated images, doing things for the lulz, and not trusting.
Capitalism has all but killed actual reporting.
Truth!
“A failure of mission.” Yes it is, if the mission of corporate media is journalism. Sadly, it no longer is. The mission is profit, ego gratification, propaganda, political favor, in various percentages. What used to be called “yellow journalism.
There is one upside: 🫤
“By giving us the opinions of the uneducated, journalism keeps us in touch with the ignorance of the community.” - Oscar Wilde
Perfect, Al.
I am upgrading to paid today. Margaret is a treasure, along with Robert Reich. Must reading.
Thank you!
I also upgraded to paid moments after reading this article.
Appreciated!
Great quote!
Thank you, Margaret. Every time I turn the pages of the NYT (yes, paper...yes, that old) and see one more full-page article about the feelings of random or chosen Trump supporters I am aghast at the lack of coverage of those who wake up each day worried about their family and friends who Trump, Stephen Miller, Russell Vought, et al, have marked with a bullseye of hatred.
Thanks, Randy. And for your kind message upon subscribing. I like your phrase “truth salve.” We need the large size.