Agree with all of your points. The problem is the vast majority of the mainstream media is owned by right wing leaning people who have no issue with spinning outright lies that fit their agenda. In addition, there is no reaching the people who watch Fox News. They have bought into the cult and will believe anybody on Fox as opposed to anyone else. One would hope that broadcast stations like ABC, CBS and NBC would use your template but again, look at their ownership. The only way to overcome some of this is to convince the people who own these networks, newspapers and other media that they will lose money through declining viewership if they continued to allow lies to be presented without correction.
Thank you so very much for this article. We definitely agree . MS NOW is doing their job. The reporting has been outstanding. CBS the Golden globes was pretty awful. They were listing the winners like making book on a bet who would win. The news anchor, he was awful. He called an African American person who has written a book I have. My grand uncle came from, Germany 🇩🇪, in 1939, his family were escaping Hitler. This is the same year Poland, was attacked. They were part, Jewish. My cousin said their father always feared for his life. Again many thanks.
We no longer watch any network news including CNN. We watch Colbert, Kimmel, Jon Stewart and Lawrence O'Donnell - plus I subscribe to several newsletters, yours being one of them. Keep up the excellent work.
All good recommendations that I wish were more widely adopted. But I continue to believe that, as with other such analyses, it ignores the REAL problem--the pervasive availability, viewership and readership of dishonest, unethical right-wing media, notably Pox News that is ever-present in public spaces and homes throughout red states. Given our right to freedom of the press, I don't know of any way to curtail this scourge. Every other mainstream and independent media outlet could follow all of Mark's recommendations and it won't significantly improve our public discourse and MAGA insanity as long as significant numbers of people willingly swallow the bilge shoved down their throats from right-wing media.
Thank you. This is all so true. One quibble: as people flee the mainstream media, and viewership and readership plummet, where are the profits in an already challenged sector?
There is profit in decline. Look at what Alden Global Capital is doing with the newspapers it has acquired. It has cut staff and jacked up subscription prices. The papers may not be around in a decade, but until then Alden is making big bucks. It will be worth it -- for Alden.
Actually it is good of you to call out CNN for as I read this I thought of how often they give a megaphone to one of the most grandiose liars not in the administration or on fox. He is their own paean to listening to both sides and presenting diverse views, Scott Jennings. Not only does he lie, distort, and suck up to the administration, he is a rude piece of feces, willing to interupt incessantly and a master of feigned facial expressions of surprise and incredulity. He is an unreliable reporter of facts. I'm amazed they bother, and CNN is scraping the bottom of the outhouse barrel when the put him on. It feels insulting to informed viewers and they could easily do better or not bother. (Anderson Cooper, can you hear us?)
Yes, Scott Jennings is such a partisan hack mouthpiece today, he wasn't as horrible in the run-up to 2020 election and AFTER trump lost to Biden. Then once trump won again in 2024, he went full trump mode. I've come to the conclusion, he's looking to run for high office. Another greedy, unctuous sycophant looking to cash in for power & $$$$$.
Thanks, Mark. So setting aside Substacks, which MAJOR media outlets come closest to doing it the way you think it should be done. Help us out and name names.
here's the real question: how much would it cost to establish an actual radically truthful news outlet? is there an alternative funding model to get such an outlet started? (is there a way to have that outlet be somehow bound to the radical transparency model so that it could be sued by said alternative funders if it diverts from said model?)
Great observations, Mark. I completely agree that lying needs to be confronted head one and in real time, regardless of who is spewing it. Left. Right. Center. Democrat. Republican. Libertarian. Federal. State. Local.
All must be questioned, challenged, and called out.
From your Stop the Presses column last April 20 or 21 (5 ways media can seek redemption).
I'm sure you remember it, but you've been writing steadily and undoubtedly have many subscribers who might not have seen it.
1. Say directly that Trump is overthrowing democracy. Lose the weasel-wording.
The drip-drip-drip of news stories can be exhausting, and some people tune out. The media must get them to understand that all the individual outrages add up to one huge threat to the future of our families and our country. Most people aren’t getting that message when the New York Times’ euphemism desk describes Trump’s authoritarianism as “a maximalist view of his powers,” or when the Washington Post refers to “Trump’s ever-shifting relationship with the Constitution.”
What’s happening now is one of the worst crises in American history. So act like it, media. Write sweeping stories with straightforward headlines that use words like “dictatorship,” “authoritarian,” and “lawless.”
A New York Times headline over the weekend saying that Trump was “Defying the Law and the Courts” gave us some hope that major media might finally be waking up. That story was the first time the Times had used the term “convicted felon” to describe Trump in nearly three months.
2. Cover the mass protests as major news.
It’s frustrating when journalists are bored by seeing people get off their couches and into the streets to express their love for their country. Shallow journalists would rather write about tweets than about a crowd of protesters stretching many blocks down New York’s Fifth Avenue.
An example of media myopia came after the April 5 Hands off rallies when National Public Radio’s public editor, Kelly McBride, defended NPR’s coverage by saying the protests by 3 million people were no big deal. “I went to watch the demonstration in Manhattan so I could judge the newsworthiness myself,” she wrote. “As a news event, it wasn’t very compelling.”
Her logic was mind-blowingly flawed. “Statistically,” she wrote, “most news consumers are not protesting: Of the 300+ million people in the U.S., approximately 3 million protested last Saturday at 1,400 locations.” By that logic, the media shouldn’t cover the NBA playoffs because hardly any news consumers are playing in it.
Protests this past weekend were probably smaller in total numbers, but they were still very well attended at hundreds of locations. Coverage was mixed: hard to find on the New York Times website, but fairly prominent in the Washington Post, NPR, and other outlets.
This outpouring of patriotism is an antidote to widespread disaffection with politics. It’s exciting – and newsworthy.
3. Treat White House briefings as the travesty they are.
Trump and his lying press secretary, Karoline Leavitt, are harassing the Associated Press and other mainstream outlets, using access as a weapon. And they’re getting away with it because the White House Correspondents’ Association hasn’t found an effective response. Meanwhile, Trump is bringing in ringers – right-wing pseudo-journalists who say things to Leavitt like “You look great. You’re doing a great job.”
Yet mainstream reporters keep joining the circus. When they play their part and fail to push back aggressively on Trump’s blatant lies, they’re doing worse than nothing. Their presence at his briefings provides an air of legitimacy, of normalcy.
News outlets should do one of these three things:
Boycott the briefings.
Send interns to the briefings to roll tape but not ask questions.
Send top reporters to the briefings and have them aggressively dispute Team Trump’s lies, including interrupting the liars in the middle of sentences. If the reporters get kicked out, they get kicked out. But they’ll be fighting for the truth, not serving as scenery for Trump’s dishonesty.
Whatever the journalists do, it can’t go on like this.
4. Show how Trump’s cuts will hurt people.
The news of Trump’s political vandalism isn’t just a Washington story, and it doesn’t affect only federal workers. Interview someone whose life was saved because of an early warning about a tornado – the type of warning that may come later or not at all because of National Weather Service cuts. Talk to a victim of a credit card scam who got a refund because of action by the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, which Trump is eviscerating. Highlight a child who is thriving in school because of the Head Start program, which Trump has targeted for extinction.
Put a human face on the story.
5. Emphasize that fascism is bad for the economy.
This is not hard to do, considering how Trump’s tariffs are battering the previously healthy financial picture. It’s not just that Trump’s policies are incompetent – it’s that his regime is riddled with corruption, which is toxic to the free enterprise system. People may not fully realize the threat of a dictatorship, but they know when their grocery prices go up. It’s up to the media to tell them why prices are going up.
The point of journalism is to deliver facts that improve people’s lives. Tolerance for dishonesty, corruption, and authoritarianism does just the opposite. When the nation’s founders put press freedom in the Constitution, they created both a right and an obligation for journalists. It’s getting late for corporate media to do their duty.
Check out DeceivedNation.com - an all volunteer effort spearheaded by the people who got George Santos kicked out of Congress. We are about to jump in to help fight this fight. Let’s connect in February once we are past the starting gate.
As a J school grad, THANK YOU. This is what I wish I was taught in school. We need journalism training to include training on how to stand up to power with confidence.
Agree with all of your points. The problem is the vast majority of the mainstream media is owned by right wing leaning people who have no issue with spinning outright lies that fit their agenda. In addition, there is no reaching the people who watch Fox News. They have bought into the cult and will believe anybody on Fox as opposed to anyone else. One would hope that broadcast stations like ABC, CBS and NBC would use your template but again, look at their ownership. The only way to overcome some of this is to convince the people who own these networks, newspapers and other media that they will lose money through declining viewership if they continued to allow lies to be presented without correction.
I sincerely hope that some "incredibly rich people" are reading this and will get in touch with you, Mark.
In the case of CBS it goes beyond profit to being an active outlet for the regime’s propaganda.
Thank you so very much for this article. We definitely agree . MS NOW is doing their job. The reporting has been outstanding. CBS the Golden globes was pretty awful. They were listing the winners like making book on a bet who would win. The news anchor, he was awful. He called an African American person who has written a book I have. My grand uncle came from, Germany 🇩🇪, in 1939, his family were escaping Hitler. This is the same year Poland, was attacked. They were part, Jewish. My cousin said their father always feared for his life. Again many thanks.
We no longer watch any network news including CNN. We watch Colbert, Kimmel, Jon Stewart and Lawrence O'Donnell - plus I subscribe to several newsletters, yours being one of them. Keep up the excellent work.
Thank you.
Me too. I haven't watched a single network news broadcast since Nov. 4, 2024. I record a local one and fast-f through it for the weather forecast.
CBS has become a black hole to me (except for Colbert).
All one needs to know about the current administration can be learned by asking Noem's dog. Oh, wait...
Too funny!
All good recommendations that I wish were more widely adopted. But I continue to believe that, as with other such analyses, it ignores the REAL problem--the pervasive availability, viewership and readership of dishonest, unethical right-wing media, notably Pox News that is ever-present in public spaces and homes throughout red states. Given our right to freedom of the press, I don't know of any way to curtail this scourge. Every other mainstream and independent media outlet could follow all of Mark's recommendations and it won't significantly improve our public discourse and MAGA insanity as long as significant numbers of people willingly swallow the bilge shoved down their throats from right-wing media.
Note that I said legitimate media have defeat the liars, not ignore them. They have to expose the lies of rival media like Fox.
Time to bring back the Fairness Doctrine.
Thank you. This is all so true. One quibble: as people flee the mainstream media, and viewership and readership plummet, where are the profits in an already challenged sector?
There is profit in decline. Look at what Alden Global Capital is doing with the newspapers it has acquired. It has cut staff and jacked up subscription prices. The papers may not be around in a decade, but until then Alden is making big bucks. It will be worth it -- for Alden.
So it's kind of like venture capital? Buy assets and strip them?
Actually it is good of you to call out CNN for as I read this I thought of how often they give a megaphone to one of the most grandiose liars not in the administration or on fox. He is their own paean to listening to both sides and presenting diverse views, Scott Jennings. Not only does he lie, distort, and suck up to the administration, he is a rude piece of feces, willing to interupt incessantly and a master of feigned facial expressions of surprise and incredulity. He is an unreliable reporter of facts. I'm amazed they bother, and CNN is scraping the bottom of the outhouse barrel when the put him on. It feels insulting to informed viewers and they could easily do better or not bother. (Anderson Cooper, can you hear us?)
Yes, Scott Jennings is such a partisan hack mouthpiece today, he wasn't as horrible in the run-up to 2020 election and AFTER trump lost to Biden. Then once trump won again in 2024, he went full trump mode. I've come to the conclusion, he's looking to run for high office. Another greedy, unctuous sycophant looking to cash in for power & $$$$$.
Thanks, Mark. So setting aside Substacks, which MAJOR media outlets come closest to doing it the way you think it should be done. Help us out and name names.
Good idea, thanks!
here's the real question: how much would it cost to establish an actual radically truthful news outlet? is there an alternative funding model to get such an outlet started? (is there a way to have that outlet be somehow bound to the radical transparency model so that it could be sued by said alternative funders if it diverts from said model?)
If rich people contact me, I will work up a budget! It would take millions per year to do it right.
Great observations, Mark. I completely agree that lying needs to be confronted head one and in real time, regardless of who is spewing it. Left. Right. Center. Democrat. Republican. Libertarian. Federal. State. Local.
All must be questioned, challenged, and called out.
Keep up the great work.
From your Stop the Presses column last April 20 or 21 (5 ways media can seek redemption).
I'm sure you remember it, but you've been writing steadily and undoubtedly have many subscribers who might not have seen it.
1. Say directly that Trump is overthrowing democracy. Lose the weasel-wording.
The drip-drip-drip of news stories can be exhausting, and some people tune out. The media must get them to understand that all the individual outrages add up to one huge threat to the future of our families and our country. Most people aren’t getting that message when the New York Times’ euphemism desk describes Trump’s authoritarianism as “a maximalist view of his powers,” or when the Washington Post refers to “Trump’s ever-shifting relationship with the Constitution.”
What’s happening now is one of the worst crises in American history. So act like it, media. Write sweeping stories with straightforward headlines that use words like “dictatorship,” “authoritarian,” and “lawless.”
A New York Times headline over the weekend saying that Trump was “Defying the Law and the Courts” gave us some hope that major media might finally be waking up. That story was the first time the Times had used the term “convicted felon” to describe Trump in nearly three months.
2. Cover the mass protests as major news.
It’s frustrating when journalists are bored by seeing people get off their couches and into the streets to express their love for their country. Shallow journalists would rather write about tweets than about a crowd of protesters stretching many blocks down New York’s Fifth Avenue.
An example of media myopia came after the April 5 Hands off rallies when National Public Radio’s public editor, Kelly McBride, defended NPR’s coverage by saying the protests by 3 million people were no big deal. “I went to watch the demonstration in Manhattan so I could judge the newsworthiness myself,” she wrote. “As a news event, it wasn’t very compelling.”
Her logic was mind-blowingly flawed. “Statistically,” she wrote, “most news consumers are not protesting: Of the 300+ million people in the U.S., approximately 3 million protested last Saturday at 1,400 locations.” By that logic, the media shouldn’t cover the NBA playoffs because hardly any news consumers are playing in it.
Protests this past weekend were probably smaller in total numbers, but they were still very well attended at hundreds of locations. Coverage was mixed: hard to find on the New York Times website, but fairly prominent in the Washington Post, NPR, and other outlets.
This outpouring of patriotism is an antidote to widespread disaffection with politics. It’s exciting – and newsworthy.
3. Treat White House briefings as the travesty they are.
Trump and his lying press secretary, Karoline Leavitt, are harassing the Associated Press and other mainstream outlets, using access as a weapon. And they’re getting away with it because the White House Correspondents’ Association hasn’t found an effective response. Meanwhile, Trump is bringing in ringers – right-wing pseudo-journalists who say things to Leavitt like “You look great. You’re doing a great job.”
Yet mainstream reporters keep joining the circus. When they play their part and fail to push back aggressively on Trump’s blatant lies, they’re doing worse than nothing. Their presence at his briefings provides an air of legitimacy, of normalcy.
News outlets should do one of these three things:
Boycott the briefings.
Send interns to the briefings to roll tape but not ask questions.
Send top reporters to the briefings and have them aggressively dispute Team Trump’s lies, including interrupting the liars in the middle of sentences. If the reporters get kicked out, they get kicked out. But they’ll be fighting for the truth, not serving as scenery for Trump’s dishonesty.
Whatever the journalists do, it can’t go on like this.
4. Show how Trump’s cuts will hurt people.
The news of Trump’s political vandalism isn’t just a Washington story, and it doesn’t affect only federal workers. Interview someone whose life was saved because of an early warning about a tornado – the type of warning that may come later or not at all because of National Weather Service cuts. Talk to a victim of a credit card scam who got a refund because of action by the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, which Trump is eviscerating. Highlight a child who is thriving in school because of the Head Start program, which Trump has targeted for extinction.
Put a human face on the story.
5. Emphasize that fascism is bad for the economy.
This is not hard to do, considering how Trump’s tariffs are battering the previously healthy financial picture. It’s not just that Trump’s policies are incompetent – it’s that his regime is riddled with corruption, which is toxic to the free enterprise system. People may not fully realize the threat of a dictatorship, but they know when their grocery prices go up. It’s up to the media to tell them why prices are going up.
The point of journalism is to deliver facts that improve people’s lives. Tolerance for dishonesty, corruption, and authoritarianism does just the opposite. When the nation’s founders put press freedom in the Constitution, they created both a right and an obligation for journalists. It’s getting late for corporate media to do their duty.
What can 1 person with no ties to media do?
Many RW's say major/corporate media is "liberal" so they don't believe anything it says. Does this make it harder to reach them from the outset?
Thanks.
Check out DeceivedNation.com - an all volunteer effort spearheaded by the people who got George Santos kicked out of Congress. We are about to jump in to help fight this fight. Let’s connect in February once we are past the starting gate.
As a J school grad, THANK YOU. This is what I wish I was taught in school. We need journalism training to include training on how to stand up to power with confidence.