I would *strongly* suggest that we start treating the NYT -- and, indeed, *ALL* Billionaire-owned so-called "legacy media" -- like the people of the Soviet Union treated Pravda, Izvestia and all of the other Soviet propaganda organs: Don't try to read the words on the page, because it's all bullshit. Instead, one must read *between* the lines and try to get a general sense of what might be true or false. Such a method will probably never get you 100% accuracy, but it will be more so than the sanewashing and wishcasting that they're trying to foist on us right now. 😒
I subscribed online to both the NYT and WaPo after the 2016 election, because I was so sure that Clinton would win, and thought there must be something missing from my news feed that I didn’t see TFG’s election as a real possibility.
I cancelled the NYT a year later in 2017, after one too many Cletus Safaris. WaPo was still pretty good during TFG’s 1st term, though, when Marty Baron was still EIC. After he retired at the end of February 2021, shortly after Biden’s inauguration, their coverage started to shift to the right. It got exponentially worse earlier this year, when Bezos hired Murdoch crony Will Lewis as publisher.
I’ve since canceled WaPo as part of the mass exodus after their non-endorsement. My subscription expires in 5 days, and they’re begging me to come back for just $30/year.
Nope. I did what I could to stay informed, but I have to take a break for my own mental health, and rely on better news sources going forward.
I, too, cancelled on WaPo. I exited during their OLD-OLD-OLD campaign against Biden. It breaks my heart! I've been reading that paper since the 80's. It *was* a truly great newspaper, and it has been destroyed, replaced with very smarmy, subtly-misinforming, billionaire-endorsed stuff.
It breaks my heart too. There are people in the comments saying this will hurt the news reporters more than Bezos - and that’s true - but their national political coverage already went to shit after Marty retired. Even in “straight” political coverage, they constantly gave TFG a pass by sanewashing him, while constantly criticizing Biden and then Harris.
1st, she didn’t immediately sit for an interview while she was busy with a few other things (rounding up delegates, picking a VP, holding rallies and the DNC, and preparing for the debate). Then, she sat for an interview, but didn’t provide detailed policies (when she had totally set forth her policies). Then, she was only doing interviews with “friendly” media. By the time she did a sit-down with Fox News, the goal posts had been moved so far, they weren’t even in the same state, much less the same stadium.
They still have some great investigative reporting - their Pulitzer Prize-winning series on assault rifles was excellent - but that’s not enough for me at this point. Will Lewis was ostensibly brought on to bring on subscribers lost during the Biden Administration, which Lewis apparently thought he could do by getting TFG re-elected. And that’s a bad business model considering who actually reads WaPo, and I’m not going to reward them for it.
It's hard to say, but I do scan a few law journals now and then, and something like overturning Sullivan would be a huge deal. Yes, I'm not that thorough about my surveys of the current literature, but... if there was a serious effort at ditching Sullivan I think I would have seen more discussion about what should replace it. There have been articles about Sullivan in the last few years, but nothing I've seen that's putting forward a new regime.
If I had to guess, that's because the Dominion v Fox settlement was three quarters of a billion dollars. I think that probably put the fear of $$ into the right wing. They know they lie like crazy, and they want to keep making money off of that. If the rules change, lying becomes too expensive. Trump is probably too stupid to realize the implications of overturning Sullivan, but SCOTUS isn't, and those 6 conservatives like the positive coverage they receive.
I don't THINK the truly deluded right wingers would be able to change enough minds to kill Sullivan in the next 4 years, but don't forget that the Supremes are going to have a conservative majority for a lot longer than 4 years. If I had to guess, I'd say that it's 90% Sullivan makes it through the next Trump admin. Maybe 75% that it survives the next 20 years. Those are just guesses though.
"Will I root for NYTimes when they fight Trump? Sure."
This presumes that the NYT WILL fight Trump. This appears - based on all the furious sanewashing they did of him during the last 12 years - to be based on wishful thinking more than evidence. They might fight Trump if he threatens their very existence ... but they certainly won't be fighting him out of some imagined duty to the American public. They abdicated that responsibility years ago.
If I was to write an article along the lines of Grossman's I'd argue that "We should support the NYT ... WHEN THEY HAVE EARNED THAT SUPPORT". And they most certainly have not done that.
The Grey Lady led the pack in sanewashing trump. So afraid to be painted as biased that they published lies as facts and treated facts as opinions. I feel no need to support them when they certainly haven’t been supporting their readers.
I'm done supporting people who want to see me and mine rounded up and exterminated. I did subscribe to the New York times online for years, but I let the subscription go a year or so ago when they started going off the rails. You've been in my heart, CD, and I want you to know that there are people out here who aren't trans but are horrified by what's happening. I felt this way last as a young lesbian under Ronald Reagan's second term. The conservatives back then were laser focused on hating gays and lesbians. Transgender folks weren't even on the radar yet, but it's a disappointment to me to see how fresh that hate is, even after 40 years.
I gave it a heart ❤️ for the title alone, and now I'll read your article. BTW I'm continuing to get right-wing Substack followers. Fuck that shit too, I am not going to read about why I need to listen and understand why people voted for trump.
Dear Crip Dyke...you write so lucidly and elegantly. Really appreciate you.
I would *strongly* suggest that we start treating the NYT -- and, indeed, *ALL* Billionaire-owned so-called "legacy media" -- like the people of the Soviet Union treated Pravda, Izvestia and all of the other Soviet propaganda organs: Don't try to read the words on the page, because it's all bullshit. Instead, one must read *between* the lines and try to get a general sense of what might be true or false. Such a method will probably never get you 100% accuracy, but it will be more so than the sanewashing and wishcasting that they're trying to foist on us right now. 😒
Well said, CD.
I subscribed online to both the NYT and WaPo after the 2016 election, because I was so sure that Clinton would win, and thought there must be something missing from my news feed that I didn’t see TFG’s election as a real possibility.
I cancelled the NYT a year later in 2017, after one too many Cletus Safaris. WaPo was still pretty good during TFG’s 1st term, though, when Marty Baron was still EIC. After he retired at the end of February 2021, shortly after Biden’s inauguration, their coverage started to shift to the right. It got exponentially worse earlier this year, when Bezos hired Murdoch crony Will Lewis as publisher.
I’ve since canceled WaPo as part of the mass exodus after their non-endorsement. My subscription expires in 5 days, and they’re begging me to come back for just $30/year.
Nope. I did what I could to stay informed, but I have to take a break for my own mental health, and rely on better news sources going forward.
I, too, cancelled on WaPo. I exited during their OLD-OLD-OLD campaign against Biden. It breaks my heart! I've been reading that paper since the 80's. It *was* a truly great newspaper, and it has been destroyed, replaced with very smarmy, subtly-misinforming, billionaire-endorsed stuff.
It breaks my heart too. There are people in the comments saying this will hurt the news reporters more than Bezos - and that’s true - but their national political coverage already went to shit after Marty retired. Even in “straight” political coverage, they constantly gave TFG a pass by sanewashing him, while constantly criticizing Biden and then Harris.
1st, she didn’t immediately sit for an interview while she was busy with a few other things (rounding up delegates, picking a VP, holding rallies and the DNC, and preparing for the debate). Then, she sat for an interview, but didn’t provide detailed policies (when she had totally set forth her policies). Then, she was only doing interviews with “friendly” media. By the time she did a sit-down with Fox News, the goal posts had been moved so far, they weren’t even in the same state, much less the same stadium.
They still have some great investigative reporting - their Pulitzer Prize-winning series on assault rifles was excellent - but that’s not enough for me at this point. Will Lewis was ostensibly brought on to bring on subscribers lost during the Biden Administration, which Lewis apparently thought he could do by getting TFG re-elected. And that’s a bad business model considering who actually reads WaPo, and I’m not going to reward them for it.
"Will I lift a finger to actively support them? Probably not."
I would (and often do) lift a metaphorical finger to the NYT. Does that count?
Perfect. I will shed no tears for the NYT. Like much of our society, what it used to be (gold standard) it is no more.
Getting used to it, what we knew is GONE BABY GONE
the US kind of went off the gold standard in the 1920s, about the same time the NYTimes did.
Editrix and others - any opinion on how safe NYT v Sullivan is in 2nd Trump term?
It's hard to say, but I do scan a few law journals now and then, and something like overturning Sullivan would be a huge deal. Yes, I'm not that thorough about my surveys of the current literature, but... if there was a serious effort at ditching Sullivan I think I would have seen more discussion about what should replace it. There have been articles about Sullivan in the last few years, but nothing I've seen that's putting forward a new regime.
If I had to guess, that's because the Dominion v Fox settlement was three quarters of a billion dollars. I think that probably put the fear of $$ into the right wing. They know they lie like crazy, and they want to keep making money off of that. If the rules change, lying becomes too expensive. Trump is probably too stupid to realize the implications of overturning Sullivan, but SCOTUS isn't, and those 6 conservatives like the positive coverage they receive.
I don't THINK the truly deluded right wingers would be able to change enough minds to kill Sullivan in the next 4 years, but don't forget that the Supremes are going to have a conservative majority for a lot longer than 4 years. If I had to guess, I'd say that it's 90% Sullivan makes it through the next Trump admin. Maybe 75% that it survives the next 20 years. Those are just guesses though.
Thanks!
"Will I root for NYTimes when they fight Trump? Sure."
This presumes that the NYT WILL fight Trump. This appears - based on all the furious sanewashing they did of him during the last 12 years - to be based on wishful thinking more than evidence. They might fight Trump if he threatens their very existence ... but they certainly won't be fighting him out of some imagined duty to the American public. They abdicated that responsibility years ago.
If I was to write an article along the lines of Grossman's I'd argue that "We should support the NYT ... WHEN THEY HAVE EARNED THAT SUPPORT". And they most certainly have not done that.
I read Grossman's article, and agree. Well said, CD.
The Grey Lady led the pack in sanewashing trump. So afraid to be painted as biased that they published lies as facts and treated facts as opinions. I feel no need to support them when they certainly haven’t been supporting their readers.
I'm done supporting people who want to see me and mine rounded up and exterminated. I did subscribe to the New York times online for years, but I let the subscription go a year or so ago when they started going off the rails. You've been in my heart, CD, and I want you to know that there are people out here who aren't trans but are horrified by what's happening. I felt this way last as a young lesbian under Ronald Reagan's second term. The conservatives back then were laser focused on hating gays and lesbians. Transgender folks weren't even on the radar yet, but it's a disappointment to me to see how fresh that hate is, even after 40 years.
I gave it a heart ❤️ for the title alone, and now I'll read your article. BTW I'm continuing to get right-wing Substack followers. Fuck that shit too, I am not going to read about why I need to listen and understand why people voted for trump.