This piece was outstanding, Mary, and not just for its excellent coverage of an important topic. It was excellent because of your willingness to look at ‘big picture media’ in a way no one else spends much time on. We’re in serious trouble, and a solution will require operating in a fashion unfamiliar to most Americans.
thank you for writing this... the censorship of the press (and i include Colbert and Kimmel in this even though they are not "press" they certainly have been censored) and the call for extermination of the "unfit" are again... right from the pages of the fascists of the past... convince people that "others" are the fault of all their issues and use a combination of "burden to society", eugenics, and "inferior people" as an excuse to imprison people, deport people, or kill them.. i predict that the next step with the homeless will be to round them up and put them in trump's detention camps... and as the economy does a slow dive, and those who have limited means will suffer the most, they will be fed with a mix of "things are really great..." along with "its the fault of the democrats, trans, leftists, immigrants, (fill in the blank..) ". and the sad part is people will believe that...
If Corporations are merging into giant right wing ideology; as they are, then do what I’m doing. I don’t watch tv. Except for Ali Velshi, Rachel Maddow and Lawrence O’Donnel. If MSNBC is taken off the air I will continue reading your columns, Heather Cox Richardson and watching and reading Meidas Touch Network. I will subscribe to Netflix and won’t watch any regular television programming except for PBS as long as they remain on air.
Preach. But as a person who worked in publishing for her entire career, I must say it has been ever thus. One of my jobs was at a magazine at the heart of the civil rights battle of the day, and I will never forget the editor in chief ranting at the staff that we should never imagine we were selling a cause, because what we were really selling was soap.
but did your editor tell you to lie? did you lie? did you propose murdering people? your argument is weak at best... i hear all the time that "both sides are guilty". sure, and the person who runs a stop sign and a person who murders a grocery store clerk while committing a robbery are both guilty of breaking the law... but they are not equivalent
Substack is most definitely the way to go. Almost all contributors have a free option so you can try it out before you make a decision to subscribe. Subscriptions are not expensive. You can get an entire year on most for a small percentage of what you pay for Hulu, Disney, Paramount, etc. monthly. One warning tho—it is addictive! I’ve never been a Facebook user but I find it difficult to shut my iPad down to go to bed when I’m down the Substack rabbit hole. Several contributors have hour-long videos. Others have short news stories. You can choose what you like best. As Mikey used to say in the cereal commercial, “try it, you’ll like it!”
I have just watched the Charlie Kirk revival in Arizona. The prayers, the quoted bible verses, the content alluding to "perfect family values, the fake tears, the pomp and the godly atmosphere that came with the words of Trump and his cabinet left me angry, mystified, and laughing. What a conservative kickoff this was for the next election. Trump kept to his script until he couldn't and then he unleashed his meanest words and forgot where he was. How we need independent media. CNN panel who rehashed every minute of this 2 hr. spectacle were unknown to me which said volumes about why "the regular's weren't there. Keep writing, Mary! Oh, how we need independent writers without fear of Trump retaliation .
Thank you. Best statement I’ve read in quite a while. We have seen way too frequently the choices that media owners make and the lack of options for the surviving good editors.
Will this madness end? Are we shouting in the wind? With JD Vance next in line, more debased and soulless than Trump, what is our future? Is America dying? Is it on its last gasp? Where are the heroes? Young people will not know what they have lost as it slips away and they become good Americans and Christians, following their leaders into the past.
If it isn’t obvious by now, patriotism is so passé. A better measure is a bank account. Free speech. Sure. There is nothing free in the media. It is about sales and share. The WaPo had it right, and then they forgot: Democracy does die in darkness.
This piece was outstanding, Mary, and not just for its excellent coverage of an important topic. It was excellent because of your willingness to look at ‘big picture media’ in a way no one else spends much time on. We’re in serious trouble, and a solution will require operating in a fashion unfamiliar to most Americans.
thank you for writing this... the censorship of the press (and i include Colbert and Kimmel in this even though they are not "press" they certainly have been censored) and the call for extermination of the "unfit" are again... right from the pages of the fascists of the past... convince people that "others" are the fault of all their issues and use a combination of "burden to society", eugenics, and "inferior people" as an excuse to imprison people, deport people, or kill them.. i predict that the next step with the homeless will be to round them up and put them in trump's detention camps... and as the economy does a slow dive, and those who have limited means will suffer the most, they will be fed with a mix of "things are really great..." along with "its the fault of the democrats, trans, leftists, immigrants, (fill in the blank..) ". and the sad part is people will believe that...
If Corporations are merging into giant right wing ideology; as they are, then do what I’m doing. I don’t watch tv. Except for Ali Velshi, Rachel Maddow and Lawrence O’Donnel. If MSNBC is taken off the air I will continue reading your columns, Heather Cox Richardson and watching and reading Meidas Touch Network. I will subscribe to Netflix and won’t watch any regular television programming except for PBS as long as they remain on air.
Trump is targeting PBS, NPR, MSNBC and The NY Times because integrity and honesty is still important.
Preach. But as a person who worked in publishing for her entire career, I must say it has been ever thus. One of my jobs was at a magazine at the heart of the civil rights battle of the day, and I will never forget the editor in chief ranting at the staff that we should never imagine we were selling a cause, because what we were really selling was soap.
One of my editors used to shut down challenges with "Today's paper, tomorrow's trash" - which was his code for "Because I say so."
but did your editor tell you to lie? did you lie? did you propose murdering people? your argument is weak at best... i hear all the time that "both sides are guilty". sure, and the person who runs a stop sign and a person who murders a grocery store clerk while committing a robbery are both guilty of breaking the law... but they are not equivalent
You’re clearly on the hunt for someone to rant at, but I’m afraid you chose badly. You don’t understand what editors do.
Independent journalism (e.g. Substack) is the platform for the muckrakers of the 21st century.
Substack is most definitely the way to go. Almost all contributors have a free option so you can try it out before you make a decision to subscribe. Subscriptions are not expensive. You can get an entire year on most for a small percentage of what you pay for Hulu, Disney, Paramount, etc. monthly. One warning tho—it is addictive! I’ve never been a Facebook user but I find it difficult to shut my iPad down to go to bed when I’m down the Substack rabbit hole. Several contributors have hour-long videos. Others have short news stories. You can choose what you like best. As Mikey used to say in the cereal commercial, “try it, you’ll like it!”
I have just watched the Charlie Kirk revival in Arizona. The prayers, the quoted bible verses, the content alluding to "perfect family values, the fake tears, the pomp and the godly atmosphere that came with the words of Trump and his cabinet left me angry, mystified, and laughing. What a conservative kickoff this was for the next election. Trump kept to his script until he couldn't and then he unleashed his meanest words and forgot where he was. How we need independent media. CNN panel who rehashed every minute of this 2 hr. spectacle were unknown to me which said volumes about why "the regular's weren't there. Keep writing, Mary! Oh, how we need independent writers without fear of Trump retaliation .
Thanks for watching so I didn’t have to…
I was only able to watch about 30 mins, most of that was vitriolic ramblings of a mad person.
Thank you. Best statement I’ve read in quite a while. We have seen way too frequently the choices that media owners make and the lack of options for the surviving good editors.
Will this madness end? Are we shouting in the wind? With JD Vance next in line, more debased and soulless than Trump, what is our future? Is America dying? Is it on its last gasp? Where are the heroes? Young people will not know what they have lost as it slips away and they become good Americans and Christians, following their leaders into the past.
If it isn’t obvious by now, patriotism is so passé. A better measure is a bank account. Free speech. Sure. There is nothing free in the media. It is about sales and share. The WaPo had it right, and then they forgot: Democracy does die in darkness.