Margaret Sullivan

The best reviewer, the best person

Pinned lizzie johnson @lizziejohnsonnn · Aug 19, 2021 Almost three years ago, my editor called me early one November morning. A wildfire had sparked near a town called Paradise, he said. Could I go? (1/13) 0:02 / 0:10 lizzie johnson @lizziejohnsonnn · 47m I was just laid off by The Washington Post in the middle of a warzone. I have no words. I'm devastated. Quote lizzie johnson @lizziejohnsonnn · Jan 25 Waking up without power, heat, or running water. (Again.) But the work here in Kyiv continues. Warming up in the car, writing in pencil — pen ink freezes — by headlamp.

A publisher who lays off a reporter whose pen is freezing because she's covering a frigid war zone while dodging missiles is not an editor you want to work for, in a more perfect world

The hallmark (the “brand”) of the Washington Post has been accountability journalism. Thus, today’s staff decimation is Bezos’s greatest gift to Trump, so much more valuable than the Melania movie, inauguration money, etc. This disaster began, for real, with the Harris endorsement he killed.

Is Jeff Bezos going to destroy the Washington Post? It sure looks like it | Margaret Sullivan He has the chance to be the steward of a national treasure, but he’s blowing it

... "He had the chance to be the steward of a national treasure, a storied news company with a staff as talented as any in the nation," writes @sulliview.bsky.social. "Now, what matters more is turning the Post around financially while staying in Trump’s good graces."

That approach has failed.

Good opportunity for MacKenzie Scott to get a lot of great press for a reasonable price…

Ofc the media is undergoing a business calamity. The WaPo lacked a good biz model.

Anyone saying that explains Jeff Bezos’s move today should be disqualified forever from expressing opinions.

This is abt billionaire power, oligarchy, Trump’s authoritarianism and the threat truth poses to those.

Is Jeff Bezos going to destroy the Washington Post? It sure looks like it | Margaret Sullivan He has the chance to be the steward of a national treasure, but he’s blowing it

Bezos should "reverse course" at the Post, writes @sulliview.bsky.social.

"He can preserve a great news organization and maybe even recover his own legacy as the paper’s steward—a legacy that was looking good for years until he took a strange, Trump-related bad turn."

Dear media, stop acting like Trump means what he says Whether over "a deal" on Greenland or a "pivot" on ICE, we need far more skepticism

Have you noticed this? I have.

"The news media doesn’t seem to know how to bring anything other than wide-eyed credulity to his utterances, even after all the lies and deceit of the past decade."

That's @sulliview.bsky.social at her site.

margaretsullivan.substack.com/p/dear-media...

Dear media, stop acting like Trump means what he says Whether over "a deal" on Greenland or a "pivot" on ICE, we need far more skepticism

@sulliview.bsky.social “As always, headlines & news alerts are important. All the nuance in the world in the 12th paragraph doesn’t help much if the headline creates a completely different impression”
margaretsullivan.substack.com/p/dear-media...

Thank you!

Dear media, stop acting like Trump means what he says Whether over "a deal" on Greenland or a "pivot" on ICE, we need far more skepticism

Great piece by the former public editor for the NYTimes, @sulliview.bsky.social. An amazing newsletter generally speaking as well.

Dear media, stop acting like Trump means what he says Whether over "a deal" on Greenland or a "pivot" on ICE, we need far more skepticism

Over 10 years of his BS and lies, yet @sulliview.bsky.social still has to write this:

Dear media, stop acting like Trump means what he says

Whether over "a deal" on Greenland or a "pivot" on ICE, we need far more skepticism
open.substack.com/pub/margaret...

Dear media, stop acting like Trump means what he says Whether over "a deal" on Greenland or a "pivot" on ICE, we need far more skepticism

"The news media doesn’t seem to know how to bring anything other than wide-eyed credulity to [Trump's] utterances, even after all the lies and deceit of the past decade," writes @sulliview.bsky.social.

Outlets must start making Trump's lying as much a part of the story as the things he lies about.

Massive win for the people: a federal judge granted a restraining order in our Members’ lawsuit against ICE’s unlawful effort to obstruct congressional oversight. This is a big victory for accountability and we’re going to use our rights and keep fighting for all Members' right to conduct oversight.

Dear media, stop acting like Trump means what he says Whether over "a deal" on Greenland or a "pivot" on ICE, we need far more skepticism

“The idea that Trump is ordering ICE to soften up — whether at protests or in yanking people out of their homes or by rearranging the hierarchy — is hard to believe, and in fact, should not be believed.”

Spot on by @sulliview.bsky.social

open.substack.com/pub/margaret...

Is Jeff Bezos going to destroy the Washington Post? It sure looks like it | Margaret Sullivan He has the chance to be the steward of a national treasure, but he’s blowing it

"Would you inherit a rare Stradivarius violin, polish it up for a few years, and then decide to take a hammer to it?" @sulliview.bsky.social on the tragedy unfolding at @washingtonpost.com

Should the news media 'love America'? Here's how. Not the way CBS News seems to have in mind

“If CBS News were really interested in “loving America,” then new boss Bari Weiss wouldn’t have spiked the 60 Minutes story about the abuses at an El Salvador prison where Venezuelan migrants have been sent without due process.” @sulliview.bsky.social writes:

open.substack.com/pub/margaret...

Here's my full 50-page indictment of CBP and ICE and decades of corruption, abuse of force, racism, and misogyny. I promise you — however bad you've ever thought it was, the full reality is even worse, deadlier, and more corrupt. This isn't a "Trump only" phenomenon:

Defensive caution can’t compete with right-wing propaganda Is it so hard for journalists to clearly state that the Trump administration is lying?

"We desperately need clear, fearless [media] truth-telling that doesn't pull its punches and doesn't hand a megaphone to lies and propaganda in the name of supposed fairness.

"We need the fact-based truth more than ever."
-- Margaret Sullivan (@sulliview.bsky.social)

This is Literally the Job Political journalists need to stop pretending they don't know what Republicans are going to do.

One year into Trump’s second term, some journalists have been “surprised” by the administration’s organized agenda. But Project 2025 was publicly available. Advocacy groups read it and warned us. The press read it and… 🤷‍♀️ www.readtpa.com/p/this-is-li...

Defensive caution can’t compete with right-wing propaganda Is it so hard for journalists to clearly state that the Trump administration is lying?

"With what amounts to civil war raging in the United States, we desperately need clear, fearless truth-telling that doesn’t pull its punches and doesn’t hand a megaphone to lies and propaganda in the name of supposed fairness," writes @sulliview.bsky.social...

Thank you, Victor!

Defensive caution can’t compete with right-wing propaganda Is it so hard for journalists to clearly state that the Trump administration is lying?

"We need the fact-based truth more than ever. . . .

"We desperately need clear, fearless truth-telling that doesn't pull its punches and doesn’t hand a megaphone to lies and propaganda in the name of supposed fairness."
— Margaret Sullivan (@sulliview.bsky.social)

Defensive caution can’t compete with right-wing propaganda Is it so hard for journalists to clearly state that the Trump administration is lying?

"With what amounts to civil war raging in the United States, we desperately need clear, fearless truth-telling that doesn’t pull its punches and doesn’t hand a megaphone to lies and propaganda in the name of supposed fairness."

From @sulliview.bsky.social -->

open.substack.com/pub/margaret...

Is it really a “clash over the facts”?

Great take on coverage of Alex Pretti's killing by @sulliview.bsky.social.
"With what amounts to civil war raging in the United States, we desperately need clear, fearless truth-telling that doesn’t pull its punches & doesn’t hand a megaphone to lies & propaganda in the name of supposed fairness."

Defensive caution can’t compete with right-wing propaganda Is it so hard for journalists to clearly state that the Trump administration is lying?

From @sulliview.bsky.social

"With what amounts to civil war raging in the United States, we desperately need clear, fearless truth-telling that doesn’t pull its punches and doesn’t hand a megaphone to lies and propaganda in the name of supposed fairness."

open.substack.com/pub/margaret...

Always read @sulliview.bsky.social “With what amounts to civil war raging in the United States, we desperately need clear, fearless truth-telling that doesn’t pull its punches and doesn’t hand a megaphone to lies and propaganda in the name of supposed fairness.”

Defensive caution can’t compete with right-wing propaganda Is it so hard for journalists to clearly state that the Trump administration is lying?

@sulliview.bsky.social did what I couldn’t.

“The right-wing media— led by Fox News, as always — was immediately spilling out its propaganda with, yes, passionate intensity…. A few hours after the shooting, I watched Fox’s coverage for as long as I could stand it…”

open.substack.com/pub/margaret...

Defensive caution can’t compete with right-wing propaganda Is it so hard for journalists to clearly state that the Trump administration is lying?

@sulliview.bsky.social

Margaret Sullivan:
“Is it so hard for journalists to clearly state that the Trump administration is lying?”

Citing Yeats: “The best lack all conviction, while the worst are full of passionate intensity.”

open.substack.com/pub/margaret...