Paul Farhi

Trump Books Aren’t Selling Anymore A decade into the Trump era, readers who were once hungry to learn about the man seem to have had their fill.

Once a surefire path to the bestseller list, books about Trump have lately been sputtering. Why? Latest by me for @theatlantic, about the Trump book bust. www.theatlantic.com/ideas/2026/0...

Opinion | Trump's role in the Warner Bros. Discovery sale and other media deals is straight out of Viktor Orban's playbook Paul Farhi: U.S. presidents don’t normally get directly “involved” in who buys what in the media.

Trump's role in the Netflix-Warner Bros. Discovery sale is straight out of Viktor Orban’s playbook. Latest by me (for MSNow.com). www.ms.now/opinion/trum...

Despite all the trashing, despite all the churn of the past couple of decades, despite everything, you’d be vastly less informed without the MSM. And democracy would be vastly weaker. Long may it report. 

End.

Does the MSM have flaws? Of course—many (though not nearly as many as you’d think if you only listened to your ranting uncle, or paid attention to social media, which is pretty much the same thing as a ranting uncle with worldwide reach). But…

4. Credibility and wide reach. Why do those sources talk to an MSM reporter in the first place? Because they know the reporter is very likely to be a) trustworthy and accurate; and b) to work for an outfit that is trustworthy, credible, accurate *and* widely read/followed.

3. Sources. MSM reporters have access to (or certainly try to have access to) people who actually know things, usually developed over years of reporting. Which leads to…

2. Resources. The best investigative work often takes weeks and months of reporting, plus days of editing/copy editing. Plus photos. Plus videos. You think that’s cheap? (See previous product placement announcement).

1. Good reporters. The best and most skilled journalists, despite everything, still work in MSM newsrooms. Fortunately, there’s still enough money to pay them. And enough readers who value their work (product placement: Subscribe today!).

You didn’t read those stories in Breitbart or the Blaze, discover them on a podcast or scroll by ‘em on Instagram (well, eventually you did, once they were reported by others). So how come the old, tired, corrupt MSM keeps telling you all the important things first? Well…

Or @theatlantic.com (and later @nytimes) on Pete Hegseth’s Signal habits? Or the @WSJ on Trump’s (alleged) birthday card to Jeffrey Epstein? Or the Journal’s reporting about the administration’s very shady negotiations with Russia over an Ukraine peace deal? Or a million others?

Things like—Jeez!—the Pentagon is potentially committing war crimes by blowing up helpless survivors of its already questionable boat strikes. Would you know about that if the @washingtonpost hadn’t told you? Nope.

And yet…where do the most important stories still come from? Not “announcements”—those are commodities. Not “breaking news”—good to have a small scoop, but again, a commodity that everyone will (eventually) report. And not “commentary” and opinion—everyone has an opinion…

“Despite everything” covers the changes in the news/info ecosystem of the past 20-25 years. The decline of newspapers, magazines, book publishing, TV news. The rise of partisanship, both among voters and their allied media. Podcasts. Substacks. Social media. Trump trashing. Etc.

There’s something obvious and also not-so-obvious about mega-scoops like this. The obvious: Despite everything, the MSM still matters. A lot. 

Thread time:

Maryland, 11/6/25.

Shout out to you, David!

Trump’s Campaign to Crush the Media The president has launched a frontal assault on the journalism business. So far, he’s winning.

Lawsuits. Executive action. A compliant Congress and regulatory bureaucracy. Trump’s campaign to crush the media is succeeding. Latest by me for @TheAtlantic. www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archiv...

Trump’s Public Radio Cuts Could Mean Calamity for Local Outlets As Hurricane Helene ravaged the mountain communities of western North Carolina last fall, Blue Ridge Public Radio remained a beacon in the storm.

By one estimate, one in 10 public radio stations could go dark under Trump’s plan to eliminate federal funding of public broadcasting. Trump’s Public Radio Cuts Could Mean Calamity for Local Outlets. Latest by me for Medill’s Local News Initiative localnewsinitiative.northwestern.edu/posts/2025/0...

A Revealing Joke in the Oval Office About Getting in Trump’s Good Graces

The most revealing part of this exchange was the reply: “I wish you did.” www.nytimes.com/2025/05/22/u...

Despite MAGA Media’s Teacher’s Pet Status, It’s the Old Guard Churning Out Trump Scoops Top editors from The Wall Street Journal, Axios, and Politico speak with VF about holding Donald Trump’s administration accountable in these nearly 100 days. What’s essential, says the Times’ Carolyn ...

Despite MAGA Media’s Teacher’s Pet Status, It’s the Old Guard Churning Out Trump Scoops. Latest by me for Vanity Fair: www.vanityfair.com/news/story/d...

Much to chew on here. But Ukraine’s soldiers aren’t dying for “no reason.” They’re dying to defend their country from invaders who want to kill them and their families, destroy their culture, erase their history and take over their country.

Year-over-year growth (unique visitors), Nov. 2024 vs Nov. 2023:

—Truth Social, 4.250 million, +39 percent.

—Bluesky, 5.352 million, +1,048 percent  

Source: TheRighting.com, based on ComScore data.

Unaddressed question in ABC-Trump settlement: If ABC (Disney) felt it had to capitulate, why not settle under an NDA? (Trump has used those many times). As is, public disclosure of settlement terms ($15 million, etc.) might set the market for the next claim. Lawyers, any thoughts?

Plus: Editors, copy editors, photographers, etc. Remarkable.

Luigi Mangione, Suspect in CEO Killing, Withdrew From a Life of Privilege and Promise The suspect, Luigi Mangione, was an Ivy League tech graduate from a prominent Maryland family who in recent months had suffered physical and psychological pain.

An amazing piece of journalism, if only for the resources on display. It is the work of:

—Four bylined reporters.

—*19* contributing reporters.

—Three researchers.

Not many news orgs in America (or the world) that can marshal this kind of firepower. www.nytimes.com/2024/12/09/n...

Though at least these people are experienced professionals. Unlike the amateurs online who are making up their own BS.

Happens after every sensational crime (including this CEO assassination): The TVs put on a bunch of people (profilers, former agents, etc.) to speculate about what might have happened and what’s going to happen. Guesswork.

I don’t know about deliberate. Doesn’t have to be—the economic conditions for local newspapers are so grim that it doesn’t take much to spur cuts of all kinds.

In news deserts, Trump won in a landslide

New: Trump won the popular vote narrowly. But in news deserts—counties where there are no local news sources or reporters —he won in a landslide. Latest by me and @volk_maps for Medill School’s Local News Initiative. localnewsinitiative.northwestern.edu/posts/2024/1...

Missing background: Isaacman is an ally/associate of Elon Musk. He is expected to double down on NASA’s reliance on private companies for space flight. Musk owns one such company, SpaceX.