I finally cancelled WAPO last month, subscribed to The Guardian instead. Still hanging onto NYT for the time being. Spending more time on Substack and Bluesky. But, frankly, finding it difficult to spend much time on any news source - the stress of staying informed is tremendous.
And, oh yes, I'm still with The Atlantic and don't see walking away from that any time soon. Can't handle watching the "news" shows any more. And I want to throw something at the national nightly news programs with their snippets of information that passes for real news.
Snippets of information that passes for real news… says Exactly what has been bothering me of main stream news! The watered down narrative to avoid getting the attention riled up serves no ones interest/benefit.
I cancelled WAPO during the presidential election, still have NYTimes. Substack and Blue Sky for sure. Al Jazeera for news in the Middle East. It’s hard to find real time coverage of Chicago, and other cities. It’s frustrating.
It is increasingly difficult for reporters to provide coverage in Chicago. They are being targeted with chemical projectiles. (This tactic was widespread during the so-called “BLM” protests. One local incident was captured live on air in Louisville. It was not the only one. Being investigated & put on desk duty until a few months ago was viewed as enough punishment.) Arresting other media occurred also and is now being used by the feds. https://www.nbcchicago.com/news/local/broadview-police-probe-federal-agent-who-shot-pepper-rounds-at-cbs-reporters-vehicle/3830881/
It was predictable. That’s why I commend Gov Pritzker for telling the people of Illinois in advance to remain peaceful ask for ID, badge numbers AND he emphasized using phones & video to document - narrate the video - post it to social media. Tell the world.
No more WAPO, NYT, also moved to the Guardian but even here opinion and headlines seem geared towards catastrophe clickbait. I view my news by starting with “world news” - which is sorted by continent/region. So I start with Africa and work my way down. There’s something oddly reassuring that all the news is bad. But I do reach a level of distress beyond which I stop reading. Substack help. My daughter recently sent me one featuring the “meanwhile, on the banks” concept. It has helped. I try to stop looking at the blood-filled river and remember to train my attention to the river banks where people are caring for others, organizing and making art, music.
I read you and other Substack writers, Steve…I echo what you describe above about WaPo and Times and nightly mainstream news…none of them so far that I have seen have reported a word about the horrific invasion of the Chicago apartment building this week… ICE has become a lawless-thug arm of the Trump regime…hard to fathom that this is in America… waiting for Governor Pritzker’s response! Thanks for your thoughtful reporting on the event above and going forward! We read you, Heather Cox Richardson, Jen Rubin, Norm Eisen, Joyce Vance, Robert Reich, Harry Litman, Jay Kuo, Jack Hopkins, Mary Geddrey, Steve Schmidt, Aaron Parnas, Preet Bahara,
God, Scott Dworkin, Meidas+, Dan Pfeiffer, JVL, Paul Krugman, Dan Rather to name most of whom we keep up with daily…exhausting, but we, in our late seventies, feel duty-bound to keep up with the trauma our country is enduring!! Thank you for keeping us informed with the truth!!
I sadly stopped my subscriptions to the Washington Post (my home newspaper for a lifetime) & The NYT. I pick things up here and there but read everyone ⬆️ on Substack. I also watch Christiane Amanpour & other PBS shows. Until the legacy newspapers get back to journalism I will not give them my money. The Washington Post stopped posting the lies the tangerine tyrant tells so maybe someone can get the diligent reporter to Substack.
An avid reader of the NYT from my early teens, I’m 75 now, I stopped subscribing about 3 years ago partly because of its non-stop reporting of Trumps non-news stunts. I cut my ties at the same time to cable. I contribute to and watch PBS and read the daily newsletter from our local NPR station in KCMO which also carries news items from the BBC. My paid subscriptions to Heather Cox Richardson and Joyce Vance help me get both an historical perspective and a legal analysis during these uncertain times.
I rely less and less on cnn, msnbc (still watch Maddow). Still read NY Times. Read many Substack articles along with The Atlantic. Since moving to the south, I watch very little local news, except the weather. Very sad what has happened to journalism ( as a Broadcast Journalism NYU graduate).
I cancelled my Wapo subscription the day that Bezos pulled their editorial supporting Harris in the presidential race. Never had an NYT news subscription - I find they have continued to mince words about Trump’s lies and downright unlawful behavior. I subscribe to America America, Joyce White Vance, Heather Cox Richardson, Dan Rather, Aaron Parnas, and The Bulwark. I rarely watch anything on tv/mainstream media. Thanks, Steven, for both informing and uplifting us with your writing.
I get most of my news from here on Substack, Heather Cox Richardson, the Bulwark, the Guardian and a couple of other YouTube channels. Walter Cronkite, Huntley and Brinkley are rolling over in their graves at what has happened to the media.
I haven't turned on Cable News since the election, and even recently dropped my cable altogether. I unsubscribed from the Post(50 years) after the Ann Telnaes debacle. Still reading the NYT, but there was minimal to no coverage of the Gestapo Raid on Chicago this week.
We no longer have a democracy, as 47 disregards the Constitution every day and in every way. The founders anticipated him, but not the feckless Congress who just rolled over.
I enjoyed Lawrence O’Donnell’s take-down of the NYTimes on Thursday night. The reluctance of Times editors to call a lie a lie is maddening. The Post, I fear, is a lost cause as long as Bezos has his checkbook at the ready. As a former journalists, with two degrees in journalism, I am deeply saddened by the state of my former profession. Truth-tellers are sanctioned or fired (a la the Kirk murder) and no one blinks an eye. I remain hopeful, though, that a wildly successful “No Kings Day” demonstration later this month will have a sufficient percentage of the American public to send a strong message to the Orange Buffoon and his clown car Cabinet.
The responses to your question are both illuminating and troubling. Like so many others, I have stopped watching cable news altogether. The only TV news I now watch is local. I still subscribe to the local newspaper. I dropped social media altogether after my Facebook account was taken over (probably as the result of a data breach on the website of one of the newspapers to which I subscribed). I note that many of your subscribers also subscribe to many of the same other Substacks. It's an information silo of sorts, but it's also a community. In these dark times community is important.
I canceled my subscription to the Washington Post when Bezos made clear his utter and contemptable capitulation in advance to the incoming regime. I canceled my subscription to the New York Times for the reasons you've cited. I'm appalled and disgusted that the 4th estate is incapable, not up to the moment and more concerned about acquiescence to the regime in return for financial favor than they are in their jobs.
I continue to subscribe to the Seattle Times (I live at the southern end of the Salish Sea) because it is family owned and not owned by a conglomerate that eagerly serves the regime.
I subscribe to the Atlantic, Guardian, read you, HCR but it does become overwhelming. I am on Bluesky and see many of the links others provide to what happened in Elgin. I refuse to watch my local ABC affiliate because it is owned by Sinclair media. I canceled my Paramount after the CBS/Paramount/Colbert b.s. I canceled Hulu. I'm not sure I'll go back to Hulu. I will never go back to ABC. Ever.
I used to watch CNN but when they platformed trump in the townhall way before the election my remote never stopped there again. And after Jake Tapper's ridiculous book on Biden and his 5 alarm fire (which NYT and WA PO freely engaged in as well) implying Biden was unfit, I will never watch CNN again. Ever.
I tried to not watch MSNBC because, of course, they have turned cowardly as well with their dismissal of Joy Reid and then Matthew Dowd. My husband likes them so it's often on.
I think MSNBC recognizes that part of its revenue is in stringing along people who love democracy but they are oligarchy like too and really are more concerned about access. When push comes to shove, they too will knuckle under to the gleeful sadist government.
I am utterly disgusted with journalists right now. There are no brave American journalists who hold those in power to account. If there are any who are brave, they get fired. Media ownership is too concentrated and too fixed on profit. All I have is my consumer power and I refuse to comply. I refuse to give it.
Yes, $$ is the goal and the problem. Print media is similar as is radio. We started down this road when entertainment conglomerates acquired news outlets. Mergers are more lucrative than good reporting; as is hot commentary. Besides they need the blessing of the FCC which is in trump’s pocket. Therefore, owners set parameters for the tone, the reporting and control editing.
I left CNN before Lou Dobbs had to. He was an early subscriber to conspiracy theories and got away with it for years. Appeared on 60 Minutes spreading manure about MX immigrants with leprosy endangering public health. (His wife was MX) Leslie Stahl was incensed. I don’t remember where I heard it but someone called those days “Truth Decay”.
It was MSNBC hosts and an NBC journalist or 2, who rebelled against being required by NBC to use Ronna Romney McDaniel as an analyst — at a time when resources & analysts were being cut. 3 days later Ronna was out. This month MSNBC is spunning off to a new part of the parent company, Comcast with CNBC but without NBC ‘sharing’ resources.
Depending on where you are there may be a non-profit news source. Our Gannet paper is mostly irrelevant. Gannet pushed the reporters out - they form the backbone of the newer nonprofit, Kentucky Lantern. Even the intern left the paper for the Lantern. There is ProPublica for investigative journalism. It partners with local sources too.
I read trusted journalists here on Substack. You, Mark Jacob, Heather Cox Richardson, Dan Rather. I do not read any news except The Guardian. I deleted all my social media accounts earlier this year - they are a huge time suck. If I want to see the weather, I watch my local station WGN here in Chicago. I don’t even watch the early morning shows like GMA or Today.
Cancelled NYTimes a couple of years ago. Cancelled WaPo this past spring when my subscription ran out. I subscribe to The Guardian. I read Al Jazeera at times. I read BBC, sometimes The Atlantic (although I find their coverage sometimes sensationalistic). ProPublica and of course Heather Cox Richardson. I subscribe to your substack, The Contrarian, Joyce White Vance, Democracy Docket, Adam Kinzinger, Qasim Rashid, Erin in the Morning for transgender news, Decoding Fox News, and my local paper, The Fresno Bee (not too happy with it lately). I seldom watch network or cable news for the reasons you cited. I read Dan Rather, Timothy Snyder, Ruth Ben-Ghiat, Joanne Freeman and Ashley Renee. I follow Threads for breaking news. Bluesky doesn't do it for me in the same way.
I follow Robin Snyder, JoJofromJerz, Dan Rather, Connie Schultz, Robert Reich and Jen Rubin/Contrarian , Joyce Vance and Mary Trump on SubStack in addition to you, Stephen. Also The Atlantic,NYT and LAT. These are all paid subscriptions and enough.
I watch Lawrence O'Donnell on MSNBC every weeknight. He is amazing.
I finally cancelled WAPO last month, subscribed to The Guardian instead. Still hanging onto NYT for the time being. Spending more time on Substack and Bluesky. But, frankly, finding it difficult to spend much time on any news source - the stress of staying informed is tremendous.
I understand.
And, oh yes, I'm still with The Atlantic and don't see walking away from that any time soon. Can't handle watching the "news" shows any more. And I want to throw something at the national nightly news programs with their snippets of information that passes for real news.
Snippets of information that passes for real news… says Exactly what has been bothering me of main stream news! The watered down narrative to avoid getting the attention riled up serves no ones interest/benefit.
I cancelled WAPO during the presidential election, still have NYTimes. Substack and Blue Sky for sure. Al Jazeera for news in the Middle East. It’s hard to find real time coverage of Chicago, and other cities. It’s frustrating.
It is increasingly difficult for reporters to provide coverage in Chicago. They are being targeted with chemical projectiles. (This tactic was widespread during the so-called “BLM” protests. One local incident was captured live on air in Louisville. It was not the only one. Being investigated & put on desk duty until a few months ago was viewed as enough punishment.) Arresting other media occurred also and is now being used by the feds. https://www.nbcchicago.com/news/local/broadview-police-probe-federal-agent-who-shot-pepper-rounds-at-cbs-reporters-vehicle/3830881/
It was predictable. That’s why I commend Gov Pritzker for telling the people of Illinois in advance to remain peaceful ask for ID, badge numbers AND he emphasized using phones & video to document - narrate the video - post it to social media. Tell the world.
Qasim Rashid on substack lives near Chicago and reports almost daily on what's happening in that area, as well as the Middle East.
No more WAPO, NYT, also moved to the Guardian but even here opinion and headlines seem geared towards catastrophe clickbait. I view my news by starting with “world news” - which is sorted by continent/region. So I start with Africa and work my way down. There’s something oddly reassuring that all the news is bad. But I do reach a level of distress beyond which I stop reading. Substack help. My daughter recently sent me one featuring the “meanwhile, on the banks” concept. It has helped. I try to stop looking at the blood-filled river and remember to train my attention to the river banks where people are caring for others, organizing and making art, music.
Interesting metaphor, Meanwhile on the river banks....
I rely heavily and faithfully on the across-the-board excellence of the content provided around the clock by MTN — the Meidas Touch Network.
100%… Same…
I read you and other Substack writers, Steve…I echo what you describe above about WaPo and Times and nightly mainstream news…none of them so far that I have seen have reported a word about the horrific invasion of the Chicago apartment building this week… ICE has become a lawless-thug arm of the Trump regime…hard to fathom that this is in America… waiting for Governor Pritzker’s response! Thanks for your thoughtful reporting on the event above and going forward! We read you, Heather Cox Richardson, Jen Rubin, Norm Eisen, Joyce Vance, Robert Reich, Harry Litman, Jay Kuo, Jack Hopkins, Mary Geddrey, Steve Schmidt, Aaron Parnas, Preet Bahara,
God, Scott Dworkin, Meidas+, Dan Pfeiffer, JVL, Paul Krugman, Dan Rather to name most of whom we keep up with daily…exhausting, but we, in our late seventies, feel duty-bound to keep up with the trauma our country is enduring!! Thank you for keeping us informed with the truth!!
Thank you for adding to my trusted reading list, I've followed most of them.
I sadly stopped my subscriptions to the Washington Post (my home newspaper for a lifetime) & The NYT. I pick things up here and there but read everyone ⬆️ on Substack. I also watch Christiane Amanpour & other PBS shows. Until the legacy newspapers get back to journalism I will not give them my money. The Washington Post stopped posting the lies the tangerine tyrant tells so maybe someone can get the diligent reporter to Substack.
Yay for Mary Geddrey!
An avid reader of the NYT from my early teens, I’m 75 now, I stopped subscribing about 3 years ago partly because of its non-stop reporting of Trumps non-news stunts. I cut my ties at the same time to cable. I contribute to and watch PBS and read the daily newsletter from our local NPR station in KCMO which also carries news items from the BBC. My paid subscriptions to Heather Cox Richardson and Joyce Vance help me get both an historical perspective and a legal analysis during these uncertain times.
I rely less and less on cnn, msnbc (still watch Maddow). Still read NY Times. Read many Substack articles along with The Atlantic. Since moving to the south, I watch very little local news, except the weather. Very sad what has happened to journalism ( as a Broadcast Journalism NYU graduate).
MSM has become so disappointing, hasn’t it?
I cancelled my Wapo subscription the day that Bezos pulled their editorial supporting Harris in the presidential race. Never had an NYT news subscription - I find they have continued to mince words about Trump’s lies and downright unlawful behavior. I subscribe to America America, Joyce White Vance, Heather Cox Richardson, Dan Rather, Aaron Parnas, and The Bulwark. I rarely watch anything on tv/mainstream media. Thanks, Steven, for both informing and uplifting us with your writing.
I get most of my news from here on Substack, Heather Cox Richardson, the Bulwark, the Guardian and a couple of other YouTube channels. Walter Cronkite, Huntley and Brinkley are rolling over in their graves at what has happened to the media.
I haven't turned on Cable News since the election, and even recently dropped my cable altogether. I unsubscribed from the Post(50 years) after the Ann Telnaes debacle. Still reading the NYT, but there was minimal to no coverage of the Gestapo Raid on Chicago this week.
We no longer have a democracy, as 47 disregards the Constitution every day and in every way. The founders anticipated him, but not the feckless Congress who just rolled over.
I enjoyed Lawrence O’Donnell’s take-down of the NYTimes on Thursday night. The reluctance of Times editors to call a lie a lie is maddening. The Post, I fear, is a lost cause as long as Bezos has his checkbook at the ready. As a former journalists, with two degrees in journalism, I am deeply saddened by the state of my former profession. Truth-tellers are sanctioned or fired (a la the Kirk murder) and no one blinks an eye. I remain hopeful, though, that a wildly successful “No Kings Day” demonstration later this month will have a sufficient percentage of the American public to send a strong message to the Orange Buffoon and his clown car Cabinet.
That was powerful but a small voice in the wind and the only one who saw the weakness.
The responses to your question are both illuminating and troubling. Like so many others, I have stopped watching cable news altogether. The only TV news I now watch is local. I still subscribe to the local newspaper. I dropped social media altogether after my Facebook account was taken over (probably as the result of a data breach on the website of one of the newspapers to which I subscribed). I note that many of your subscribers also subscribe to many of the same other Substacks. It's an information silo of sorts, but it's also a community. In these dark times community is important.
Heather Cox Richardson and Joyce Vance.
Every day.
I canceled my subscription to the Washington Post when Bezos made clear his utter and contemptable capitulation in advance to the incoming regime. I canceled my subscription to the New York Times for the reasons you've cited. I'm appalled and disgusted that the 4th estate is incapable, not up to the moment and more concerned about acquiescence to the regime in return for financial favor than they are in their jobs.
I continue to subscribe to the Seattle Times (I live at the southern end of the Salish Sea) because it is family owned and not owned by a conglomerate that eagerly serves the regime.
I subscribe to the Atlantic, Guardian, read you, HCR but it does become overwhelming. I am on Bluesky and see many of the links others provide to what happened in Elgin. I refuse to watch my local ABC affiliate because it is owned by Sinclair media. I canceled my Paramount after the CBS/Paramount/Colbert b.s. I canceled Hulu. I'm not sure I'll go back to Hulu. I will never go back to ABC. Ever.
I used to watch CNN but when they platformed trump in the townhall way before the election my remote never stopped there again. And after Jake Tapper's ridiculous book on Biden and his 5 alarm fire (which NYT and WA PO freely engaged in as well) implying Biden was unfit, I will never watch CNN again. Ever.
I tried to not watch MSNBC because, of course, they have turned cowardly as well with their dismissal of Joy Reid and then Matthew Dowd. My husband likes them so it's often on.
I think MSNBC recognizes that part of its revenue is in stringing along people who love democracy but they are oligarchy like too and really are more concerned about access. When push comes to shove, they too will knuckle under to the gleeful sadist government.
I am utterly disgusted with journalists right now. There are no brave American journalists who hold those in power to account. If there are any who are brave, they get fired. Media ownership is too concentrated and too fixed on profit. All I have is my consumer power and I refuse to comply. I refuse to give it.
Yes, $$ is the goal and the problem. Print media is similar as is radio. We started down this road when entertainment conglomerates acquired news outlets. Mergers are more lucrative than good reporting; as is hot commentary. Besides they need the blessing of the FCC which is in trump’s pocket. Therefore, owners set parameters for the tone, the reporting and control editing.
I left CNN before Lou Dobbs had to. He was an early subscriber to conspiracy theories and got away with it for years. Appeared on 60 Minutes spreading manure about MX immigrants with leprosy endangering public health. (His wife was MX) Leslie Stahl was incensed. I don’t remember where I heard it but someone called those days “Truth Decay”.
It was MSNBC hosts and an NBC journalist or 2, who rebelled against being required by NBC to use Ronna Romney McDaniel as an analyst — at a time when resources & analysts were being cut. 3 days later Ronna was out. This month MSNBC is spunning off to a new part of the parent company, Comcast with CNBC but without NBC ‘sharing’ resources.
Depending on where you are there may be a non-profit news source. Our Gannet paper is mostly irrelevant. Gannet pushed the reporters out - they form the backbone of the newer nonprofit, Kentucky Lantern. Even the intern left the paper for the Lantern. There is ProPublica for investigative journalism. It partners with local sources too.
I read trusted journalists here on Substack. You, Mark Jacob, Heather Cox Richardson, Dan Rather. I do not read any news except The Guardian. I deleted all my social media accounts earlier this year - they are a huge time suck. If I want to see the weather, I watch my local station WGN here in Chicago. I don’t even watch the early morning shows like GMA or Today.
I follow Marc Elias and he has recommended:
Bulwark
• Down Ballot
• The Contrarian
• Crooked
• Platformer
• Popular Information
• Status
I would add Paul Krugman and G. Elliot Morris' Strength in Numbers, which is a great source for data that you can trust.
Cancelled NYTimes a couple of years ago. Cancelled WaPo this past spring when my subscription ran out. I subscribe to The Guardian. I read Al Jazeera at times. I read BBC, sometimes The Atlantic (although I find their coverage sometimes sensationalistic). ProPublica and of course Heather Cox Richardson. I subscribe to your substack, The Contrarian, Joyce White Vance, Democracy Docket, Adam Kinzinger, Qasim Rashid, Erin in the Morning for transgender news, Decoding Fox News, and my local paper, The Fresno Bee (not too happy with it lately). I seldom watch network or cable news for the reasons you cited. I read Dan Rather, Timothy Snyder, Ruth Ben-Ghiat, Joanne Freeman and Ashley Renee. I follow Threads for breaking news. Bluesky doesn't do it for me in the same way.
You nailed it.
I follow Robin Snyder, JoJofromJerz, Dan Rather, Connie Schultz, Robert Reich and Jen Rubin/Contrarian , Joyce Vance and Mary Trump on SubStack in addition to you, Stephen. Also The Atlantic,NYT and LAT. These are all paid subscriptions and enough.
I watch Lawrence O'Donnell on MSNBC every weeknight. He is amazing.
Lawrence is excellent.