I grew up reading both the Baltimore News American (a Hearst paper) and the Baltimore Sun. I early learned the difference between reliable news reporting and sensationalism.
In my twenties I worked in the English department of a liberal-arts college. Five days a week I had access to the WaPo, the NYT, the WSJ, and more. I cut my journalistic teeth on such sources.
Now? I can't think of an American newspaper I'd support. It was fairly recently that I discovered (for lack of a better term) maverick journalists such as you, Robin Snyder, and Heather Cox Richardson.
I appreciate not only your analysis of current events, but also your exposing where mainstream media falls short. As the internet has expanded, rumors and misinformation have snowballed - it's all too easy for formerly trustworthy news sources (yeh, CNN, looking at you) to forego truth in favor of profit.
Thank you for all your work. I can't afford to subscribe to each journalist on Substack, but I couldn't do without your column (articl?l each day. First subscription I've signed up for in ages.
The only reason I ever look at mainstream corporate media these days is to understand what lies and sanewashing I need to be ready to counter. That has sadly been the case as you call out for the last 25+ years or more.
Mary thank you for clarifying the "erasure" of Trmp's punitive fine. Sources I read (on Substack) said it was repealed, but that the ruling of fraud stands. No mention of a reevaluation of Trmp's monetary liability. Yours is the first to clear that all up, even the reason for it for the first time. Why can't journalists just dig a little deeper, or dig in their heels for the truth??
I get the WSJ by mail. I of course don't agree with most of their editorial pages, but I expect that their reporting is pretty solid. I also don't hesitate to email them about issues, so I guess I will be contacting them again.
Working for a network TV show in the 60's gave me the insight then that tv and newspapers that I had thought were reliable news sources for news, were businesses who relied on numbers of subscribers to entice advertisers. As a New Yorker I was living the dream that the NY Daily News and Post might be slanted but the NY Times was the 'real deal'. Stories in the Inquirer began to be examined as fiction and suddenly there was a reality of right and left journalism which in time morphed into what we have today. No need to tell you the morbid details.As assassinations, the Vietnam war, the Pentagon Papers became stories it became more and more clear we could not rely on 'all the news that's fit to print'...Television opened up a way not to investigate the truth we read, as we relied on our 'channels of choice". So thank you for having the mind and time to delve into what cannot be a joyful job/enterprise/or maybe at this time a calling. Telling it how it is, is all we have left to win the hearts and minds of readers. And I do believe that your effort does and will continue to make a very positive contribution to educating the masses. Everyone is sick of mass media. Thank you.
Please don’t ever stop writing! I cancelled my cable tv a couple of months ago and have vowed to follow only independent media outlets, like public radio and NPR, and of course Substack contributors like you, Meidas+ and Legal AF. I can’t trust anyone with a sponsor that controls the content.
Since I found you, I've wanted to know more about you. I've felt a kindred spirit as you've shared recently about Marz. Today I know more, and dang, you are that little seed of hope, Mary. I worry so much about our nation and the world falling further into the abyss of truthiness, forgetting or ignoring what truthfulness and facts are. We need you and others like you more than ever. Thank you for your courage and candor.
I, like many others, grew up with the daily newspaper delivered to our door each morning by a young boy usually. This continued for at least my first 60 years with an extra NY Times Sunday edition which I spent pouring over for hours on that day of rest, but now, I've stopped subscribing to them about 20 yrs. ago. I lost trust and faith in their reporting just about the time Independent journalists were becoming more prominent and easier to read with the internet. You are a breath of fresh air with your words and I absolutely look forward to them each morning. You tell it like it is and I inevitably share your words each and every day! Hope Marz has a good night!
Ever so once in a while I catch someone saying something like ..”in two weeks …” and I tune in for the punch line already laughing…everyone loves a good story…and ‘early on’ if you’re half paying attention what’s obvious is the hype.
Trust was destroyed waaay back when and the newspaper had stiff competition when the internet hit…an ‘angle’ was needed..or several. Some say smoke screens ,chasing the ghosts, whatever , but a pattern does emerge and most catch inklings , cross reference, seek several sources confirming and can even then , be fooled.
Remember ..”don’t share it just because it’s juicy” ,yup been guilty too. Snopes, fact checkers , then there’s trials, fraud, history reveled , long lists. My God , who to believe , well most here know and are careful. Mary came out of the gate get-go style….oh it takes the good nose to know 👍😆 and 99% Trump, et al , lies, the spins are cons playing ,and there are plenty to lap it up.
My great grandchildren will read about them, the Mary’s, Heather’s , Ruth’s..(long list)..lead on ladies, and plenty gents in there too 👏👏👏🫶🫶🫶
It’s a horror story like wars always are. Hopefully the din dulls like before , and when it does this time I hope the lesson is solid.
One objection. You wrote: "As for the Wall Street Journal and Reuters? They should be ashamed. They’re not watchdogs."
I'm sorry but they are not "lapdogs," they are traitors. It is their duty to report these stories to us as accurately as possible so we the people can be informed. They are supremely derelict in this duty. And, in this time of undeclared war over the survival of our democracy, dereliction of duty is tantamount to treason.
I grew up reading both the Baltimore News American (a Hearst paper) and the Baltimore Sun. I early learned the difference between reliable news reporting and sensationalism.
In my twenties I worked in the English department of a liberal-arts college. Five days a week I had access to the WaPo, the NYT, the WSJ, and more. I cut my journalistic teeth on such sources.
Now? I can't think of an American newspaper I'd support. It was fairly recently that I discovered (for lack of a better term) maverick journalists such as you, Robin Snyder, and Heather Cox Richardson.
I appreciate not only your analysis of current events, but also your exposing where mainstream media falls short. As the internet has expanded, rumors and misinformation have snowballed - it's all too easy for formerly trustworthy news sources (yeh, CNN, looking at you) to forego truth in favor of profit.
Thank you for all your work. I can't afford to subscribe to each journalist on Substack, but I couldn't do without your column (articl?l each day. First subscription I've signed up for in ages.
Thank you, Kasey, for the insight and kind words
The only reason I ever look at mainstream corporate media these days is to understand what lies and sanewashing I need to be ready to counter. That has sadly been the case as you call out for the last 25+ years or more.
I was also distraught about how the Iraq War debacle was sold and spun. You were/are right! Keep up the good work!
Thank you! I dug through copy a few places to see committing fraud (aka cheating about money owed) is still on the judicial books.
Mary thank you for clarifying the "erasure" of Trmp's punitive fine. Sources I read (on Substack) said it was repealed, but that the ruling of fraud stands. No mention of a reevaluation of Trmp's monetary liability. Yours is the first to clear that all up, even the reason for it for the first time. Why can't journalists just dig a little deeper, or dig in their heels for the truth??
Thank you for your insight. Always a good read.
I get the WSJ by mail. I of course don't agree with most of their editorial pages, but I expect that their reporting is pretty solid. I also don't hesitate to email them about issues, so I guess I will be contacting them again.
I am a new reader and I can't thank you enough. It's refreshing to get the facts, ma'am, just the facts and you're commentary is spot on. Thank you!
Brilliant, and true.
Working for a network TV show in the 60's gave me the insight then that tv and newspapers that I had thought were reliable news sources for news, were businesses who relied on numbers of subscribers to entice advertisers. As a New Yorker I was living the dream that the NY Daily News and Post might be slanted but the NY Times was the 'real deal'. Stories in the Inquirer began to be examined as fiction and suddenly there was a reality of right and left journalism which in time morphed into what we have today. No need to tell you the morbid details.As assassinations, the Vietnam war, the Pentagon Papers became stories it became more and more clear we could not rely on 'all the news that's fit to print'...Television opened up a way not to investigate the truth we read, as we relied on our 'channels of choice". So thank you for having the mind and time to delve into what cannot be a joyful job/enterprise/or maybe at this time a calling. Telling it how it is, is all we have left to win the hearts and minds of readers. And I do believe that your effort does and will continue to make a very positive contribution to educating the masses. Everyone is sick of mass media. Thank you.
Please don’t ever stop writing! I cancelled my cable tv a couple of months ago and have vowed to follow only independent media outlets, like public radio and NPR, and of course Substack contributors like you, Meidas+ and Legal AF. I can’t trust anyone with a sponsor that controls the content.
Since I found you, I've wanted to know more about you. I've felt a kindred spirit as you've shared recently about Marz. Today I know more, and dang, you are that little seed of hope, Mary. I worry so much about our nation and the world falling further into the abyss of truthiness, forgetting or ignoring what truthfulness and facts are. We need you and others like you more than ever. Thank you for your courage and candor.
I, like many others, grew up with the daily newspaper delivered to our door each morning by a young boy usually. This continued for at least my first 60 years with an extra NY Times Sunday edition which I spent pouring over for hours on that day of rest, but now, I've stopped subscribing to them about 20 yrs. ago. I lost trust and faith in their reporting just about the time Independent journalists were becoming more prominent and easier to read with the internet. You are a breath of fresh air with your words and I absolutely look forward to them each morning. You tell it like it is and I inevitably share your words each and every day! Hope Marz has a good night!
And that's why I share everything you write. Thank you.
Ever so once in a while I catch someone saying something like ..”in two weeks …” and I tune in for the punch line already laughing…everyone loves a good story…and ‘early on’ if you’re half paying attention what’s obvious is the hype.
Trust was destroyed waaay back when and the newspaper had stiff competition when the internet hit…an ‘angle’ was needed..or several. Some say smoke screens ,chasing the ghosts, whatever , but a pattern does emerge and most catch inklings , cross reference, seek several sources confirming and can even then , be fooled.
Remember ..”don’t share it just because it’s juicy” ,yup been guilty too. Snopes, fact checkers , then there’s trials, fraud, history reveled , long lists. My God , who to believe , well most here know and are careful. Mary came out of the gate get-go style….oh it takes the good nose to know 👍😆 and 99% Trump, et al , lies, the spins are cons playing ,and there are plenty to lap it up.
My great grandchildren will read about them, the Mary’s, Heather’s , Ruth’s..(long list)..lead on ladies, and plenty gents in there too 👏👏👏🫶🫶🫶
It’s a horror story like wars always are. Hopefully the din dulls like before , and when it does this time I hope the lesson is solid.
Great piece. Should be read by all.
One objection. You wrote: "As for the Wall Street Journal and Reuters? They should be ashamed. They’re not watchdogs."
I'm sorry but they are not "lapdogs," they are traitors. It is their duty to report these stories to us as accurately as possible so we the people can be informed. They are supremely derelict in this duty. And, in this time of undeclared war over the survival of our democracy, dereliction of duty is tantamount to treason.