Enough! Don't the bosses of our media outlets understand that their capitulation to fascist lies is not just disgraceful it is downright dangerous? But how can we expect better when the mainstream outlets are owned by corporations intent only on padding their bottom lines, even if it means having to jettison the pursuit of truth and morality to do so.
Thank goodness for honest voices like yours on Substack, Mark. They are needed now, in these dark times, more than ever.
I had always thought that 'freedom of the press' would mean that our journalists would do better when push came to shove. Some of them have. Some are huge disappointments.
the main street media is becoming a one dimensional flapping rag. Independent media is the only way you are going to get two sides of the coin. IF you are a self respecting free thinking journalist don't apply at WaPo, MSNBC where they won't tolerate your opinion. And for God's sake don't quote Charlie Kirk.
I continually vacillate between our leaders and our media when pondering who ruined this country. After reading your piece about journalists fired for telling the truth, it is pretty clear. It seems it’s the media, the same people I’ve been begging to look into our schools for thirty years - our schools that have way too many fascists running them.
In 2001, a Tribune reporter told me—a teacher rated excellent but fired for refusing to return an audiotape proving my principal’s wrongdoing—that I must have done something wrong since they need good teachers. When I proved that the state of Illinois was withholding my dismissal hearing decision for a year when the law mandated they deliver it in 30 days, and said, “You THINK I did something wrong, but they ARE violating the law, she agreed to phone them. Her call to the state scared them. It resulted in me getting the decision 19 months late. Now I have the altered documents they were trying to hide by denying me a decision. But they succeeded at holding it past my First Amendment federal lawsuit so that judge decided I wasn’t fired for speaking out, but the late decision clearly proved I was. So the state helped my district deny me my day in court.
That journalist never followed up. She handed them my power.
Did journalism school teach prejudice should govern whether you pursue a story? Seems they did, since teachers all over this nation experienced the same prejudice. Take a look at WhiteChalkCrime.com and EndTeacherAbuse.org to find hundreds of ignored, dedicated teachers.
Firing journalists over saying not nice, but true words makes me think it wasn’t prejudice that silenced most of our called-to-teach teachers who used to raise up citizens. It was journalists are to be on the side of the powerful and make sure the less powerful don’t count. She definitely did that.
You can blame this on Trump and Bezos since that is definitely their way but it’s nothing new. It’s the same thing that happened to teachers. Now it’s moving up the power ladder.
First they came for the teachers and journalists didn’t report that so now they’re coming for the journalists. Power works that way.
I say those reporters who are now in the boat in which they helped put teachers should investigate what they’ve blown off for years before power moves further up the ladder. It will if we don’t stop it at its root.
Think what you will about the importance of education. I get most people don’t know its power because it’s spiritual power. It was what balanced souls so they’d cooperate. Spending years with great role models does that to people. Now our children get puppets; the people who can tolerate working for fascists.
One day, when someone finally looks into our schools, they are going to understand how democracy imploded. All will be obvious!
My memoir/exposé, A Graver Danger, reveals how democracy’s foundation has been hollowed out. When you read what they did to teachers like me you’ll understand. You’ll figure out that school shootings are red flags, warning us. We needed warmings since journalists were never going to take our schools on.
And you’ll find in my book the altered document that would be a felony if the fascists running education weren’t so powerful. My hope is those fired journalist will help me expose our schools now that “Second they came for the journalists.”
this is so outrageous, these firings of journalists who were simply trying to do their jobs, as you say. heard a podcast yesterday that showcased Fox's coverage of the shooting and its aftermath, and they're foaming at the mouth. "Where's Obama?" Rachel Campos Duffy shrieked, saying all this racial stuff had started with him. or was that Megyn Kelly, who also felt the need to tar Obama for his "expensive suits"(!). I have known for years how the right has worked the refs for decades, hair on fire at how unfairly they were treated in the media, and that NYT and other major outlets has incrementally edged further and further in their direction, even adopting their scorn for the Democratic Party (Dems ain't perfect, but you know what I'm talking about). anyway, the appeasement continues, and we are all less safe because of it. Attiah will land somewhere good. I don't mean to underplay the horror of being fired like this, but she'll be fine. so will Dowd, whose firing was outrageous. less so the little fish who fall afoul of this march into hagiography for Charlie Kirk, of all people.
I am not surprised that the corporate world, and especially the media, has a acceded to the demands of Trump and his Maga crew in suppressing free speech, sanewashing this insane leader and overall demonstrating an incredible lack of principle and courage by their collaboration. What has amazed me is that they continue to do it for someone whose approval ratings are in the 30’s and sinking fast. Are they not aware the majority this country do not believe in the fascist/racist/ economic disaster direction he is taking us? Are they not aware that one year from now the House of Representatives will switch to Democratic control and that two years after that the White House? How are they going to explain their collaborationist behavior when the country is finally liberated from the Maga occupation? The fact is that they will not be able to explain it. The new administration will certainly bring them to account. However, we don’t have to wait that long to demonstrate the power of the people to make them pay for their cowardly collaboration. We merely have to hit them where they are most vulnerable: in their pocketbooks. We do this by not buying their products-and not for a day but until each of them changes their behavior. To that end I would recommend that we Immediately boycott all companies that have demonstrated this collaborationist behavior. These would Include among others:
1 . MSNBC, CBS, NBC, ABC, CNN
2. The New York Times, Washington Post and all mainstream newspapers
3. Amazon
4. Google
5. Target
6. Tesla
7. Meta
In this media/consumer driven age, this boycott will not be easy. But resistance to oligarchal fascism never is. True patriots know this resistance takes sacrifice. Money and the lack of it are the oligarch’s achilles heel. If we keep our money out of their hands they will fold.
I just canceled my Wash Post subscription. The firing of Karen Attiah is too much. On top of that, the Post keeps repeating the unfounded claims from Gov. Cox, Vance, Trump, et. al, that the suspect expressed “leftist ideology.” Nothing to substantiate that has been presented. What has been found is that he is deep in gamer culture, which is NOT liberal, and appears to be aligned with Nick Fuentes, whose followers considered Kirk not extreme enough.
The Matthew Dowd firing was a real head scratcher. What he said was true and logical, whether or not he knew Kirk had been killed. Along with Ezra Klein, David French in the NYT wrote a column that made Kirk sound like Bill Kristol. We have two separate sets of rules: right wingers get to threaten, dox, fabricate and persecute as they please while non-MAGA folks are held to the most ridiculous standards of political correctness. I was pleased to see the NYT point out Kirk's disgusting statements in both his obituary and a piece on where he stood on cultural issues.
Jeez. I knew about Matthew Dowd but hadn't heard about Karen Attiah. My WaPo sub ran out earlier this year; I'd stopped auto-renewal after their disgraceful anonymous trashing of President Biden in the spring of 2024. They keep trying to lure me back -- 50¢ a week!! -- but I'm not tempted.
The 1st Amendment says that *Congress* shall make no law abridging freedom of the press. The founders didn't reckon with the power of corporations, billionaires, and mega-multimillionaires to abridge freedom of the press. Are "we the people" finally catching on?
First of all, Dowd is not a journalist, but a former flak and current (now former) talking head. Second, his excuse of not knowing Kirk was hit when he made the comment doesn't hold water. It was witnessed by hundreds and went viral within seconds. So the guy's a liar. Finally, saying nasty things about someone who just got murdered is not brave. It's being an idiot.
Rationalizations R Us, eh? Dowd just pointed out some "inconvenient truths." Given the sanewashing and whitewashing that followed Kirk's murder, this was a welcome clue that some people had kept their heads.
In case you weren't aware Dowd apologized. So even he recognized the inappropriateness of piling on a murder victim. If only you could too, but as we are seeing, many are too hate-filled to exercise common decency.
Enough! Don't the bosses of our media outlets understand that their capitulation to fascist lies is not just disgraceful it is downright dangerous? But how can we expect better when the mainstream outlets are owned by corporations intent only on padding their bottom lines, even if it means having to jettison the pursuit of truth and morality to do so.
Thank goodness for honest voices like yours on Substack, Mark. They are needed now, in these dark times, more than ever.
They are on the side of the fascists.
Exactly! They may claim otherwise, but their actions prove they are working hand-in-glove with the fascists.
I'm not sure they realize what side they're on. They still believe in "objectivity." Muwahaha . . .
I had always thought that 'freedom of the press' would mean that our journalists would do better when push came to shove. Some of them have. Some are huge disappointments.
Excellent piece.
the main street media is becoming a one dimensional flapping rag. Independent media is the only way you are going to get two sides of the coin. IF you are a self respecting free thinking journalist don't apply at WaPo, MSNBC where they won't tolerate your opinion. And for God's sake don't quote Charlie Kirk.
I continually vacillate between our leaders and our media when pondering who ruined this country. After reading your piece about journalists fired for telling the truth, it is pretty clear. It seems it’s the media, the same people I’ve been begging to look into our schools for thirty years - our schools that have way too many fascists running them.
In 2001, a Tribune reporter told me—a teacher rated excellent but fired for refusing to return an audiotape proving my principal’s wrongdoing—that I must have done something wrong since they need good teachers. When I proved that the state of Illinois was withholding my dismissal hearing decision for a year when the law mandated they deliver it in 30 days, and said, “You THINK I did something wrong, but they ARE violating the law, she agreed to phone them. Her call to the state scared them. It resulted in me getting the decision 19 months late. Now I have the altered documents they were trying to hide by denying me a decision. But they succeeded at holding it past my First Amendment federal lawsuit so that judge decided I wasn’t fired for speaking out, but the late decision clearly proved I was. So the state helped my district deny me my day in court.
That journalist never followed up. She handed them my power.
Did journalism school teach prejudice should govern whether you pursue a story? Seems they did, since teachers all over this nation experienced the same prejudice. Take a look at WhiteChalkCrime.com and EndTeacherAbuse.org to find hundreds of ignored, dedicated teachers.
Firing journalists over saying not nice, but true words makes me think it wasn’t prejudice that silenced most of our called-to-teach teachers who used to raise up citizens. It was journalists are to be on the side of the powerful and make sure the less powerful don’t count. She definitely did that.
You can blame this on Trump and Bezos since that is definitely their way but it’s nothing new. It’s the same thing that happened to teachers. Now it’s moving up the power ladder.
First they came for the teachers and journalists didn’t report that so now they’re coming for the journalists. Power works that way.
I say those reporters who are now in the boat in which they helped put teachers should investigate what they’ve blown off for years before power moves further up the ladder. It will if we don’t stop it at its root.
Think what you will about the importance of education. I get most people don’t know its power because it’s spiritual power. It was what balanced souls so they’d cooperate. Spending years with great role models does that to people. Now our children get puppets; the people who can tolerate working for fascists.
One day, when someone finally looks into our schools, they are going to understand how democracy imploded. All will be obvious!
My memoir/exposé, A Graver Danger, reveals how democracy’s foundation has been hollowed out. When you read what they did to teachers like me you’ll understand. You’ll figure out that school shootings are red flags, warning us. We needed warmings since journalists were never going to take our schools on.
And you’ll find in my book the altered document that would be a felony if the fascists running education weren’t so powerful. My hope is those fired journalist will help me expose our schools now that “Second they came for the journalists.”
this is so outrageous, these firings of journalists who were simply trying to do their jobs, as you say. heard a podcast yesterday that showcased Fox's coverage of the shooting and its aftermath, and they're foaming at the mouth. "Where's Obama?" Rachel Campos Duffy shrieked, saying all this racial stuff had started with him. or was that Megyn Kelly, who also felt the need to tar Obama for his "expensive suits"(!). I have known for years how the right has worked the refs for decades, hair on fire at how unfairly they were treated in the media, and that NYT and other major outlets has incrementally edged further and further in their direction, even adopting their scorn for the Democratic Party (Dems ain't perfect, but you know what I'm talking about). anyway, the appeasement continues, and we are all less safe because of it. Attiah will land somewhere good. I don't mean to underplay the horror of being fired like this, but she'll be fine. so will Dowd, whose firing was outrageous. less so the little fish who fall afoul of this march into hagiography for Charlie Kirk, of all people.
I am not surprised that the corporate world, and especially the media, has a acceded to the demands of Trump and his Maga crew in suppressing free speech, sanewashing this insane leader and overall demonstrating an incredible lack of principle and courage by their collaboration. What has amazed me is that they continue to do it for someone whose approval ratings are in the 30’s and sinking fast. Are they not aware the majority this country do not believe in the fascist/racist/ economic disaster direction he is taking us? Are they not aware that one year from now the House of Representatives will switch to Democratic control and that two years after that the White House? How are they going to explain their collaborationist behavior when the country is finally liberated from the Maga occupation? The fact is that they will not be able to explain it. The new administration will certainly bring them to account. However, we don’t have to wait that long to demonstrate the power of the people to make them pay for their cowardly collaboration. We merely have to hit them where they are most vulnerable: in their pocketbooks. We do this by not buying their products-and not for a day but until each of them changes their behavior. To that end I would recommend that we Immediately boycott all companies that have demonstrated this collaborationist behavior. These would Include among others:
1 . MSNBC, CBS, NBC, ABC, CNN
2. The New York Times, Washington Post and all mainstream newspapers
3. Amazon
4. Google
5. Target
6. Tesla
7. Meta
In this media/consumer driven age, this boycott will not be easy. But resistance to oligarchal fascism never is. True patriots know this resistance takes sacrifice. Money and the lack of it are the oligarch’s achilles heel. If we keep our money out of their hands they will fold.
I just canceled my Wash Post subscription. The firing of Karen Attiah is too much. On top of that, the Post keeps repeating the unfounded claims from Gov. Cox, Vance, Trump, et. al, that the suspect expressed “leftist ideology.” Nothing to substantiate that has been presented. What has been found is that he is deep in gamer culture, which is NOT liberal, and appears to be aligned with Nick Fuentes, whose followers considered Kirk not extreme enough.
Excellent column! Thank you for speaking the truth.
The Matthew Dowd firing was a real head scratcher. What he said was true and logical, whether or not he knew Kirk had been killed. Along with Ezra Klein, David French in the NYT wrote a column that made Kirk sound like Bill Kristol. We have two separate sets of rules: right wingers get to threaten, dox, fabricate and persecute as they please while non-MAGA folks are held to the most ridiculous standards of political correctness. I was pleased to see the NYT point out Kirk's disgusting statements in both his obituary and a piece on where he stood on cultural issues.
Jeez. I knew about Matthew Dowd but hadn't heard about Karen Attiah. My WaPo sub ran out earlier this year; I'd stopped auto-renewal after their disgraceful anonymous trashing of President Biden in the spring of 2024. They keep trying to lure me back -- 50¢ a week!! -- but I'm not tempted.
The 1st Amendment says that *Congress* shall make no law abridging freedom of the press. The founders didn't reckon with the power of corporations, billionaires, and mega-multimillionaires to abridge freedom of the press. Are "we the people" finally catching on?
How the fuck do we counter this BS.
First of all, Dowd is not a journalist, but a former flak and current (now former) talking head. Second, his excuse of not knowing Kirk was hit when he made the comment doesn't hold water. It was witnessed by hundreds and went viral within seconds. So the guy's a liar. Finally, saying nasty things about someone who just got murdered is not brave. It's being an idiot.
Rationalizations R Us, eh? Dowd just pointed out some "inconvenient truths." Given the sanewashing and whitewashing that followed Kirk's murder, this was a welcome clue that some people had kept their heads.
In case you weren't aware Dowd apologized. So even he recognized the inappropriateness of piling on a murder victim. If only you could too, but as we are seeing, many are too hate-filled to exercise common decency.