54 Comments
User's avatar
⭠ Return to thread
Michael Baker's avatar

I'm over 65 and get my news from Substack, Social Media (as a whole) and research. I unsubscribed from the Times and the Post and don't watch any broadcast or cable news. I follow many excellent journalists and historians. MSM is a horror show, rife with disinformation, misleading headlines, and purposely posting stories while ignoring others.

Expand full comment
Patty Mulvihill's avatar

I am in the same age group and Like you Michael I only get my news from extremely reputable Substack writers and independent news organizations like Courier and the Gander. Occasionally I will watch Lawrence O'Donnell on You Tube. MSM has really failed!!

Expand full comment
Theodora30's avatar

Last night Rachel Maddow did an excellent deep dive on the dangerous rules the Georgia election board have been passing. Her show often does that kind of thing and I find it very worthwhile.

I have not cancelled my WaPo subscription yet but now I just scan the headlines to see if there is anything worthwhile. However the layout of their webpage (and app) is so filled with fluff I know I often miss the substantive articles they do publish. You get two or three top stories which are often style-over-substance campaign reports, then a section of “better living” articles, then a collection of random articles all before getting to the opinions section. It’s like a lifestyle magazine with some news articles and opinions sprinkled in — more fluff than substance. I always read Jennifer Rubin and Catherine Rampell is usually good but the WaPo got rid of some of their best opinion writer. Margaret Sullivan, a very experienced journalists and media critic and former NY Times ombudsman is now at the Guardian and also has a substack. The WaPo’s Plum Line writers Greg Sargent and Paul Waldman were also pushed/bought out. Sargent is at the New Republic and has a podcast, Waldman has a substack and publishes in various outlets. All of them were far better informed, fair and intelligent writers than the people they were replaced by, most of the Republican-leaning.

The thing I like most is that the WaPo, unlike the NYTimes, allows comments on most articles. However it can’t handle a lot of traffic even on normal days. It is very slow to load, your comments freeze in the middle of posting them, reload and often get lost. If you go to the site in the middle of the night that doesn’t happen. The app has the same problem. Sadly the WaPo is getting very bush-league.

Expand full comment
Michael Baker's avatar

Did you see that Rich Lowry wrote an article, published in the Times, that "Trump can win on character". We're talking about one of the worst human beings on the planet. And the Times published it.

Expand full comment
Heidi Gaiser's avatar

I was just going to mention that exact column. I wanted to write a comment in the NYT excoriating Rich Lowry for his craven and disgusting stupidity and frankly, just call him a fucking moron, but it probably wouldn't have been accepted. I keep coming and going from the NYT because they print so many opinion pieces that have no basis in reality and tip-toe around their headlines the way Mark Jacob has often pointed out, but there are some fact-based columnists of integrity that I appreciate and the publication does some good journalism outside of the political sphere. I'm only giving them $4 a month right now, but not sure if being a subscriber and having a small voice is better, or is it better to not add to their subscriber tally?

Expand full comment
beckya57's avatar

I think it’s better to unsubscribe. I did so in 2016 over “but her emails.” It’s important to remember the NYT has been corrupt for decades. Remember the breathless Whitewater and Starr investigation coverage? And Judith Miller’s pimping of the Iraq War? They’ve consistently enabled bad faith RW attacks going back to at least the 1990’s.

Expand full comment
Joan (CA)'s avatar

I cancelled my subscription when The NY Times had so many negative articles about Biden and his debate performance . There were few negative articles about Trump. It wasn’t balanced. Now I read many substack newsletters plus my local newspaper (online).

Expand full comment
Anastasia Pantsios's avatar

I understand that opinion columns are just that: opinions. But increasingly over the last decade or so, I've seen too many "opinion" columns based on flat-out falsehoods. That should be disallowed. Also Rich Lowry is the guy who said in 2008 after the vice presidential debate that he saw "little starbursts" dancing around his living room when Sarah Palin winked and he felt like she was winking at him personally. I don't take seriously a guy who conflates politics with his sexual fantasies.

Expand full comment
bcwbcw bcwbcw's avatar

For those of you with NY Times delivery, I just want to mention that there is no limit to how many sequential six month "vacation holds" you can have, during which online access continues but billing does not. presently at 8 years. I "supported journalism" for a long time but too much is too much.

Expand full comment
Jack Kuenzie's avatar

Same dilemma. Four bucks is a bargain. But the editorial board's decisions and repeated efforts to normalize the horrors and weirdness on the right make me want to pull the ripcord about every three days.

Expand full comment
beckya57's avatar

Same age and doing the same things.

Expand full comment
Carol Norris's avatar

I'm with ya.

Expand full comment
Judy Rigali's avatar

I’m 78 and do the same!

Expand full comment
ElizabethP Barnes's avatar

I am with you: Over 65, unsubscribed from NYT and WaPo, and ignoring broadcast media as well. I get my news from trusted individual journalists, and others who have stepped into the space that used to owned by then-trusted mainstream media!

Expand full comment