I’m handing out pro-democracy grades to the media

The Guardian gets an A, the NY Times gets a C, CBS gets an F

It alarms me when people complain that you can’t trust anything in the media. That’s what MAGA wants – to erode the entire concept of facts and cause us to disengage from politics, leaving all the power to them.

Despite the right-wing pressure on news outlets, some do a good job of battling disinformation and exposing Donald Trump’s power grabs. Others do a terrible job. People often ask me what journalism I trust. So today I’m handing out letter grades to some major players.

These grades are just my opinions, based on whether the outlets follow the facts to expose the assault on our democratic system.

The Guardian: A

It’s a sad sign of the failure of U.S. mainstream media that one of the most credible news outlets on American politics is run by a British-based trust. In its news and commentary, the Guardian understands what authoritarianism looks like and calls it out every day.

ProPublica: A

This news outlet is scrupulously fact-based and nonpartisan. It exposed Supreme Court corruption when the rest of the media failed to do so for decades.

The New Republic: A

This site provides news analysis, not straight news. It’s actively anti-fascist, which means anti-Trump. TNR is scrupulously fact-based, and Greg Sargent is one of the most clear-minded political observers around.

MSNBC: B+

This outlet would get a better grade if it fired Joe Scarborough and John Kasich. But on the plus side, it features stalwarts Lawrence O’Donnell, Ali Velshi, Rachel Maddow, Chris Hayes, and Nicolle Wallace. Picking up Washington Post refugee Carol Leonnig was another plus. Losing Mehdi Hasan was a minus. MSNBC is in the process of spinning off from NBC and being renamed MS NOW.

Associated Press: B+

When I was a daily newspaper editor for four decades, we relied on the AP but treated it as “commodity news” – nothing special. These days the AP is writing courageous stories about MAGA misconduct, with headlines like “How Donald Trump is weaponizing the government to settle personal scores and pursue his agenda.”

PBS: B+

The “PBS News Hour” does a solid job night after night, and programs such as “FRONTLINE” have informed the public on Trump’s abuses of power.

The Bulwark: B

This outlet demonstrates that the real struggle in politics today is not left vs. right but decency vs. indecency. The Bulwark’s leadership can fairly be described as center-right, but they’re principled enough to know the difference between sincere conservative values and the Republican Party’s plunge into a corrupt cult of personality.

New York Times: C

I’ve written a lot about how the Times has normalized Trump and minimized his threat over the last decade. In recent months, while the Times has published strong stories about how he’s building a dictatorship, it still won’t explicitly say that’s what Trump is doing.

USA Today: C

The Gannett news chain’s flagship property is carefully fact-based, but its news coverage is risk-averse. It seems designed not to make anyone mad at a time when the best truth-telling definitely angers people. On the positive side for USA Today is columnist Rex Huppke. Call me biased (he’s a friend of mine), but I admire Rex’s ability to find unique takes on the political mess we’re in.

NPR: C

National Public Radio’s political coverage has often been an exercise in bothsidesism. In a typical segment in recent years, an NPR host interviews a Republican liar, lets them lie with little or no pushback, and then thanks them for the interview. Since the GOP-led Congress cut off NPR’s federal funds, I’ve noticed a bit more aggressive reporting, but it’s still not as tough as it needs to be.

NBC: C-

Of the three legacy networks, NBC does the best. That’s not saying much. “Meet the Press” often comes across as an opportunity for Republicans to lie and for host Kristen Welker to push back gently. It’s a rite of mutual self-promotion. And then the show invites the same confederacy of liars to keep coming back.

The Atlantic: C-

The Signal scandal involving Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth dropped into the Atlantic’s lap, but it handled the story well. Unfortunately, it also publishes some god-awful stuff, such as “Don’t Bet Against Bari Weiss.”

CNN: C-

This network still does bluntly honest reporting on Trump’s horrible conduct, but it also panders to the right. Just last week when Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene of Jewish space lasers fame slightly distanced herself from MAGA orthodoxy, CNN host Wolf Blitzer told her: “You‘re a courageous politician, but more important, a loving mother.” (My further thoughts about CNN are here.)

Politico: D+

This outlet energetically reports news developments, but sometimes publishes claims it couldn’t possibly believe are true. A glaring example came after the assassination attempt against Trump in Butler, Pa., when Politico repeated Trump insiders’ BS spin that he was a changed man, with a “new softness.” Politico’s use of anonymous sources is also a problem. It spread an unidentified Trump staffer’s lie that “people working on Project 2025 are blacklisted” from being hired in a second Trump administration. If only that had been true.

Axios: D+

Axios tends to be a friendly place for Republican politicians. It wrote last week: “Trump told reporters earlier on Sunday that troop deployments were needed because ‘Portland is burning to the ground,’ a claim local officials reject.” Couldn’t Axios have just said it was a lie instead of citing “local officials” as if it were open to debate whether or not Portland was burning to the ground?

Wall Street Journal: D+

The news side has credibility, and its report on Trump’s birthday letter to Jeffrey Epstein was such a scoop that Trump sued over it. But WSJ’s opinion side has long been horrendous. Lately it’s faulted Trump for his economic recklessness, but it seems to have no problem with Trump’s authoritarianism if the editors think it will help rich people make more money.

Washington Post: D-

I pity the ethical, hard-working reporters who are still producing decent stories for WaPo. The Post’s reputation has been ruined by owner Jeff Bezos’ vandalism of his opinion section to suck up to Trump. (I wrote a complete takedown back in July.)

ABC: D-

Disney, ABC’s parent, should be ashamed of itself for giving Trump a $15 million settlement for his library instead of fighting his weak lawsuit over comments by host George Stephanopoulos. Disney further lowered itself by folding to right-wing pressure and taking Jimmy Kimmel’s show off the air – an action that was reversed only after widespread consumer anger.

NewsNation: F

This network features disreputable news personalities like Chris Cuomo and Bill O’Reilly. It claims to be unbiased, but there’s a reason Trump’s immigration thugs let NewsNation ride along on their recent military-style raid on an apartment building in Chicago.

CBS: F

Hiring Bari Weiss as editor-in-chief was just the latest sign that CBS is in Trump’s pocket under new owner David Ellison. It’s “good night and bad luck” to the network made famous by Edward R. Murrow and Walter Cronkite.

Fox News: F

Fox had to pay $787 million to settle a lawsuit after it was caught redhanded spreading lies about the 2020 election. The Murdochs’ network is toxic sludge poisoning our democracy.

There are many other news outlets…

…I didn’t have room for here. The outlet that sponsors this newsletter, COURIER, is making a difference with fact-based, values-focused journalism delivered on a variety of platforms. Giving COURIER a letter grade would be a conflict of interest for me – and not credible. So give them a try and decide for yourself.

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